American novelist, born at Salem, Massachusetts; his early ambition was to be a literary man, and "Twice-told Tales" was the first production by which he won distinction, after the publication of which he spent some months at Brook Farm, leaving which he married and took up house at Concord; from 1848 to 1850 he held a State appointment, and in his leisure hours wrote his "Scarlet Letter," which appeared in the latter year, and established his fame as a master of literature; this was followed by "The House of the Seven Gables," "The Snow Image," "The Blithedale Romance," and by-and-by "The Marble Faun," and "Our Old Home" (1804-1864).