Paul et Virginie.
Saint-Pierre, J.H. Bernardin. Paul et Virginie. Avec vocabulaire. New York: Roe Lockwood & Son, Librairie Américaine et Étrangère, (1852). 12mo.; tan cloth, red cloth spine; rubbed.
FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE HAWTHORNES' HOME-SCHOOL.
A later edition. Publisher's ads printed on front and rear endpapers. Signed Hawthorne on the blank opposite the title page by Una. Though this copy may have belonged to Una, we know that Sophia was fond of the famous story; she references it more than once in her notebooks written during her time in Cuba.
First published in 1787, on the eve of the French Revolution, Paul et Virginie is the story of two best friends who fall in love, but die together tragically in a shipwreck. The novel has a strong philosophical angle as well, for Paul and Virginia grow up in an idyllic equalized society; all the inhabitants of their hometown of Mauritius live on equal plots of land and share all their possessions, thus eliminating class distinctions.
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