Fanshawe is a novel written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It
was his first published work, which he published anonymously in 1828.
Fanshawe was based on Hawthornes experiences as an undergraduate at
Bowdoin College in the early 1820s. He had written successful short
stories before, but this was his first attempt at creating a novel.
Hawthorne published the romance himself, and it was largely unnoticed.
After its commercial failure, he burned the unsold copies: "Later all
the copies that could be obtained were destroyed. A dozen years after
his death a copy was found and the
tale reissued by James R. Osgood & co."
(quote cf. N.E. Brown, Bibl. of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Boston and New
York, 1905) The novel was so rare and Hawthorne was so secretive
about his early attempt at a novel that after his death his wife
Sophia insisted her husband had never written a novel with that title
, despite being shown a copy.