In “The Career and Reminiscences of an Amateur Journalist,” Thos. G.
Harrison states that Nathaniel Hawthorne was really a pioneer member of
the clan, having gotten out six weekly issues of a periodical of this
description, called THE SPECTATOR, the first number appearing Aug. 21,
1820. Thus it predates by three years what many have heretofore accepted
as his first literary effort, in the SALEM GAZETTE, in 1823.
Prior to its appearance, Hawthorne, at that time a youth of 16, got out
a preliminary prospectus, stating that THE SPECTATOR would be issued on
Wednesdays, at 12c per annum, payment to be made at the end of the year.
In an early issue, Hawthorne advertised that he proposed to publish by
subscription, a new edition of “The Miseries of Authors,” to which he
promised to add a sequel containing facts and remarks drawn from his own
experience.
Truman J. Spencer, for many years a historian on amateur journalism,
questions whether a copy of either THE SPECTATOR or Hawthorne’s
prospectus, is in existence today. Here, then, is an opportunity for
ambitious bibliophiles and rare book speculators to ransack the garrets
of their ancestors, and “see what they can see.” Harrison states that
THE SPECTATOR was neatly written by the hand of Hawthorne. It was
probably manifolded by some crude reproducing process of that period.
[Illustration: _(_Courtesy Franklin Memorial Institute_)_]
THE JUVENILE PORT-FOLIO,
AND
LITERARY MISCELLANY,