1860 Gothic 1stED - Sir Rohan’s Ghost by Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford

Author: Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford (published anonymously). 
Title: Sir Rohan’s Ghost. A Romance.
Publisher: Boston, J. E. Tilton and Company, 1860. First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5 x 5 inches.
Pages: viii-352 pages + publisher's catalog.
Binding: Good original publisher’s brown-lavender cloth binding, ruled and decorated in blind on both boards with central blind-stamped vignette. Spine panel faded with gilt title lettering now faint; blind decorative bands remain visible (hinges fine, overall worn, faded and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. A solid and unrestored copy showing uniform sunning.
Content: Good content (tight, foxing and staining mainly on the preliminary and last pages - as shown, lower outer corner of page one cut without affecting the text - as shown). Embossed bookseller stamp on the title page.

Estimate: (USD 250–700).

The book: Sir Rohan’s Ghost is the anonymously published first novel by Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford, a significant figure in 19th-century American literature. First printed in 1860, this Gothic romance echoes the psychological depth and symbolic moralism of Spofford’s mentor, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Blending spectral elements with internalized guilt and romantic tragedy, the novel tells the haunting story of Sir Rohan, a nobleman tormented by the memory—and literal presence—of a woman he once wronged. As the ghost of his sin manifests, Sir Rohan unwittingly falls in love with the daughter of his victim, setting the stage for an unforgettable climax steeped in Gothic justice and psychological terror. The tale culminates in a chilling yet poetic resolution: “Sir Rohan was dead of his Ghost.”

The author: Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford (1835–1921) was an American writer known for her richly atmospheric prose and early contributions to the Gothic and sensational traditions in U.S. literature. Though she later became a respected contributor to The Atlantic Monthly and other major publications, Sir Rohan’s Ghost marked her literary debut, and it stands as an early and important work in the American Gothic tradition. Spofford’s stylistic flourishes and themes of moral consequence, guilt, and haunting memory echo the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Hawthorne, while anticipating the psychological interiority of modern Gothic fiction.