The Scarlet Letter Turns 160 Tomorrow

That's quite a birthday.

Written in six months, The Scarlet Letter was published on March 16, 1850 to immediate critical acclaim. Hailed by critics as "near perfect," the novel that would soon become an enduring classic of American literature, sold out of the first edition of 2,500 copies in just two weeks. The novel that Hawthorne called "positively a hell-fired story" has never been out of print.