[Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804-1864, bust portrait, facing left]

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Here is a bust-length engraving of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the novelist who wrote "The Scarlet Letter" (1850) and "The House of the Seven Gables" (1851). The sitter is shown in profile, turned to the left, a pose that engravers often chose for literary portraits of the period because it suggested thought and reserve. The caption card gives no date, so the plate's exact origin is unrecorded, but Hawthorne's reputation was at its height in the 1850s and 1860s, when prints like this circulated widely. The image is a useful reminder of how American authors were introduced to readers before photography became the common route to a writer's face.

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