"To this little book, we would say, 'Live ever, sweet, sweet book.' It comes from the hand of a man of genius.… [Hawthorne's writing] is characterized by a large proportion of feminine elements, depth and tenderness of feeling, exceeding purity of mind." —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 
Hawthorne's writings are "a pure and living stream of manly thought and feeling, which characterizes always the true man, the Christian, the republican and the patriot." —Orestes Brownson, The Boston Quarterly Review
 
Hawthorne's short stories "rivet the attention [of the reader]. The style of Hawthorne is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective—wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes.… We look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth." —Edgar Allan Poe, The Broadway Journal
 
The most influential book of 1837. —The Grolier Club
 
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was a novelist and short story writer. Best known for The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852), and The Marble Faun (1860), as well as the political biography of his friend Life of Franklin Pierce (1852), his first writings were short stories published in a number of magazines and annuals. In the 1830s, he served as the editor of the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge, and then accepted a political appointment at the Boston Custom House. Twice-Told Tales was sponsored by Hawthorne's friend, Horatio Bridge (a lawyer at the time, he later joined the Navy and rose to the rank of commodore). It sold moderately well when it was published, and then saw a resurgence after the publication of The Scarlet Letter.