A Month of Sundays (1975) Signed First Edition Reference

A Month of Sundays (1975) is the first of three novels in which John Updike reworked Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter — followed by Roger’s Version (1986) and S. (1988), each retelling the Hester-Dimmesdale-Chillingworth triangle from a different character’s perspective. In A Month of Sundays, Tom Marshfield, a minister who has been exiled to a desert rehabilitation facility for his serial adultery, writes a month of journal entries that function as both confession and sermon. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, the novel is Updike’s most sustained engagement with American Protestantism and the theological dimensions of sexual transgression.

First Edition Identification

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York Publication date: 1975 Format: Hardcover, 228 pages First printing indicator: “First Edition” on the copyright page

Signed Copy Values

• Flat-signed: $100–$300
• Inscribed: $200–$500

Lower-tier pricing. The novel is not among Updike’s best-known works, and its theological preoccupations limit its audience. However, as the opening of the Hawthorne trilogy, it has structural significance for collectors interested in Updike’s literary-historical dialogue with the American tradition.

The Hawthorne Trilogy

The three Hawthorne novels — A Month of Sundays, Roger’s Version, S. — can be collected as a set, with each novel retelling the Scarlet Letter from a different perspective. The trilogy demonstrates Updike’s deep engagement with American literary history and his conviction that the religious and sexual tensions Hawthorne identified in Puritan New England remained active in twentieth-century America. A signed set of all three volumes can be assembled for $400–$1,000.

Market Assessment

Affordable completist acquisition. The Hawthorne trilogy connection provides intellectual interest beyond the individual novel’s modest market profile.