A Tale of a Tub
The "Tale" was originally published in 1704 by John Nutt. Swift had used Benjamin Tooke previously when publishing for Sir William Temple. He would use Tooke for both the fifth edition of the "Tale" (1710) and later works. Tooke's successor, Benjamin Motte, published Swift's "Gulliver's Travels". This difference in printer is only one of the things that led to debate over authorship of the work.
Twice-Told Tales
The title, "Twice-Told Tales", was based on a line from William Shakespeare's "The Life and Death of King John" (Act 3, scene 4): "Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." The quote referenced may also be Hawthorne's way of acknowledging a belief that many of his stories were ironic retellings of familiar tropes. The book was published by the American Stationers' Company on March 6, 1837; its cover price was one dollar. Hawthorne had help in promoting the book from Elizabeth Peabody. She sent copies of the collection to William Wordsworth as well as to Horace Mann, hoping that Mann could get Hawthorne a job writing stories for schoolchildren.