A Virtuoso's Collection

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"A Virtuoso's Collection" is a short story by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was first published in Boston Miscellany of Literature and Fashion , I (May 1842), 193-200, and later included as the final story in the compilation Mosses from an Old Manse .

Contents

The story references a number of historical and mythical figures, items, beasts, books, etc. as part of a museum collection. Some scholars regard the real-life museum of the East India Marine Society in Salem, Massachusetts, as a model for Hawthorne's fictional museum. [1] The narrator is led through the collection by the virtuoso himself who turns out to be the Wandering Jew.

The collection

Editions

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References

  1. Charles E. Goodspeed (1946), Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Museum of the Salem East India Marine Society, Salem, Mass.: Peabody Museum (fulltext via HathiTrust)
  2. "Nicholas Rowe: The Life of Mr. William Shakespear". Archived from the original on 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-09-24.

Bibliography