PEOPLE – CAWTHORNE, Nathanial.

An American author travelling apparently around the North East Coast came to Redcar on 26th, July, 1859, in the quietness that was Redcar at the time, he worked on his final great novel “The Marble Faun”

Accreditation Cleveland Standard.

Where the Novelist Stayed

Nigel Hawthorne

   There is always something a little sad about the passing of the old before the onward push of progress. I wonder how many Redcar folk appreciate that one of the town’s “ancient monuments” has now gone? The house at the corner of High Street and King Street has been converted into a shop. This house was once the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the famous American novelist. Here it was Number 15, the house of Mrs. King, in the summer of 1859, that Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote the eerie story, “The Marble Faun,” and which his English publishers preferred to entitle “Transformation.”
Hawthorne’s stay at Redcar was no holiday but an enforced exile. The U.S.A. at that time refused to accept international copyright and American publishers having free access to the world’s literature by means of piracy, declined to pay a living wage to American authors. Hawthorn perforce became an “Englishman” in order to take advantage of the English copyright laws, and earn a living to which he was justly entitled. Redcar was his choice of a summer retreat for work and in winter he went to stay at Leamington. It is interesting to recall that some time ago the American Book Club of Cincinnati, who were arranging to publish a book about Hawthorne, wrote to the Mayor of Redcar asking for assistance in tracing the house in which he lived. From Hawthorne’s journals they were able to supply the clue that the house holder was Mrs. King, and with this guidance the house was identified as Number 15.

Accreditation Cleveland Standard 12/08/1944

When Nathanial Hawthorne stayed
at Redcar

            Any Americans who get into Cleveland will no doubt be interested to know that the shop at the corner of High Street., and King Street, (once a cottage) was where the great U.S. author, Hawthorne stayed. Probably few local people are aware of the fact yet her it was at number 15, the house of Mrs. King, in the summer of 1859 that Nathanial Hawthorne wrote the eerie story, “The Marble Faun” and which his English publishers preferred to entitle “Transformation.”

Hawthorne’s stay at Redcar was no holiday but an enforced exile. The U.S.A., at that time refused to accept international copyright and, American publishers, having free access to the world’s literature by means of piracy, declined to pay a living wage to American authors Hawthorne perforce- became an “Englishman” in order to take advantage of the English copyright laws and earn a living in which he was justly entitled. Redcar was his choice of a summer retreat for work and in winter he went to stay at Leamington. It is interesting to recall that some years ago the American Book Club of Cincinnati, who were arranging to publish a book about Hawthorne, wrote to the Mayor of Redcar asking for assistance in tracing the house in which he lived. From Hawthorne’s journals they were able to supply the clue that the house-holder was Mrs. King and with this guidance the house was identified as No. 15.

One of Hawthorne’s greatest works was the novel “The Scarlet Letter.”