Search Results: Books by thoreau

Second edition. Remboitage in contemporary leather binding of the same book. Concord Library stamp to title page, fore-edge a bit chipped. Pages quite clean, Very Good. HDT s ownership signature and annotations in bold ink.***The signature is an early one, sometime around 22 years of age. Thoreau had studied Greek and the Classics at Harvard, graduating in 1837 and began translating Aeschylus in his journal circa 1839 - his translation of Prometheus Bound would appear in the third installment of The Dial in 1843. This is a young Thoreau still developing as a person and an intellectual. He obviously used this book heavily, as it contains lengthy annotations on 16 pages - his additions of Greek words with definitions. ***This book was gifted in 1874 by his devoted sister, Sophia, to the Concord Library and later de-accessioned by the library in 1906 and purchased by the celebrated collector Stephen H. Wakeman. It doesn't need any trinkets of imaginative dressing from me, but to go full bore, it's more… Read More

[N.p., Concord, 1853. 2 pages on a single sheet, inlaid and folded. 8vo. Fine. Some spines of set faintly toned. 2 pages on a single sheet, inlaid and folded. 8vo. 'The best books are not read even by those who call themselves readers'. The deluxe binding of the 1906 Houghton Mifflin Manuscript Edition in three quarter dark green levant gilt, here with a leaf from a resonant passage in Thoreau's Walden, from a draft of Chapter III, "Of Reading" (here in an undetermined state varying slightly from the final published text, where it appears as pp. 114-6). The manuscript is in ink, with additions in pencil. Shanley notes that the "first draft" manuscript is missing three pages at this chapter and he identifies no other manuscript source for the passage. Thoreau laments the absolute scarcity of readers, noting that even in Concord, there is little effort made to read the great books of English literature, and "as for the recorded wisdom of mankind - the ancient classics ... - there are the feeblest… Read More

1854. Signed. THOREAU, Henry David. Autograph manuscript leaf from Walden. Concord, Massachusetts, 1854. One leaf, measuring eight by ten inches, of blue paper, writing in ink and pencil on both recto and verso. Matted and window framed with a portrait, entire piece measures 15 by 18 inches. $39,500.A wonderful item: an original autograph manuscript leaf from Henry David Thoreau's masterpiece, Walden, with an extensive passage from the chapter ""Sounds"" where Thoreau discusses the railroad on the other side of Walden Pond.""Thoreau's Walden occupies a special place in our American heritage. Moreover, the book is still alive and vibrant, and it reaches out to touch the life of each one of us who is receptive… it has come to be thought a central document in the American experience"" (Thorpe, Treasures of the Huntington Library). ""For almost a hundred years an inspiration to nature-lovers, to philosophers, to sociologists… and to… Read More

Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company, 1849. First Edition. Fine. First edition, first printing of the author's first book, which was published at his own expense. 413, [1], [1, ad for Walden: "Soon to be published"] pp. Bound in publisher's original trade binding with boards ruled in blind and spine decoratively stamped in blind and lettered in gilt, pale yellow endsheets. Small ownership bookplate of former Wall Street executive and 2016 Republican candidate for Vermont Governor Bruce Lisman to front pastedown, as well as the more contemporary ownership signature of William Ingersoll Bowditch dated 1862. Bowditch was a Boston lawyer who participated in the anti-slavery movement, aided freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad as a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee, and served as a leading figure in the Womans' Suffrage Movement. A Fine copy with remarkably bright pages, sharp gilt. Light rubbing to cloth, bruising to spine ends, fore edge cut by binder a little rough. A very… Read More

1906. Signed. THOREAU, Henry David. The Writings. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1906. Twenty volumes. Octavo, original three-quarter brown crushed morocco, raised bands, gilt-decorated spines, top edges gilt, uncut. $37,500.Manuscript Edition, beautifully bound and illustrated, limited to 600 copies, with manuscript leaf from Walden (two sides) entirely in Thoreau’s hand.Each set in this important limited edition includes a Thoreau manuscript leaf mounted and bound into the first volume. The leaf in this set is from the chapter entitled ""Baker Farm"" from Walden, Thoreau's masterwork. The leaf reads, in large part: ""[If it had] lasted longer it might have tinged my employments and life. As I walked on the railroad causeway, I used to wonder at the halo of light around my shadow, and would fain fancy myself one of the elect. One who visited me declared that the shadows of some Irishmen before him had no halo about them, that it was only natives that… Read More

Concord; Boston: n.p./Ticknor and Fields, 1862. Hardcover. Good. Single page autograph letter. Although unaddressed, it is obviously to Thoreau's first publisher, arranging to dispose of the unsold copies of his first book. In his journal he describes how he had to take back and pay for nearly unsold copies, which he stored in his attic. Ticknor and Fields report that 595 bound and unbound copies were bought from Thoreau in 1862. New title pages were prepared, dated 1862, and were issued with the first edition sheets in July of that year. Together with a copy of the book with the cancel title page, but with the announcement of the impending publication of 'Walden' at the end, even though that title had been issued in 1854. The binding shows significant wear at edges and spine tips, and the front endpapers are worn with a small marginal piece lacking at the foredge of the free endpaper and cracked inner hinge. With the three lines lacking at the bottom of page 396, uncorrected. Charles Francis… Read More

First edition of Thoreau's first book – 1000 copies published at his own expense of which only 550 were bound - less than 300 were sold or given away by the publisher and Thoreau, and in 1853 the remainder was returned to him whereupon he hauled it up to his attic and sarcastically bemoaned the dismal sales. Top edge uncut. Minor wear to spine ends, minor sporadic foxing, lettering at spine foot rubbed off(a common occurrence with the wispy spine cloth), else a Fine, crisp copy with bright gilt. Scarce in this condition, even 100 years ago when this copy sold at auction.
Ex-Jacob Chester Chamberlain, famed turn of the century collector with three lines of text dropped by the publisher penciled in his hand on page 396, along with his acquisition slip from another noted collector, Beverly Chew of the Grolier Club in New York City. Housed in an amazing contemporary custom pull off case with elaborate tooling, commissioned by Chamberlain, as was his custom for many of his most fantastic books. Sold at… Read More

Boston; Boston and New York: Ticknor & Fields; Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1906. First edition. Original cloth. Very Good. FIRST EDITION OF A SEMINAL WORK OF AMERICAN LITERATURE WITH MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM THOREAU'S MEMOIRS. First published in a run of two-thousand copies in Thoreau's native Massachusetts, Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (1854) synthesises the thematic core of the Transcendentalist movement: a simple life with immediate connection to the natural world. During the second quarter of the nineteenth century, Thoreau cloistered himself in a cabin built by himself within the acreage of Ralph Waldo Emerson's woodland in Concord, Massachusetts. From this isolated sojourn emerged Thoreau's most prolific work, which encapsulates his ideas on self-reliance and humankind's relationship with nature. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer," writes Thoreau, continuing, "Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far… Read More

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. First edition, one of 2000 copies printed. Illustrated with a title vignette of Thoreau's cabin in the woods and an engraved plan of Walden Pond. 357, [1, blank] pp. Without ads (no priority established among the catalogues). 1 vols. 8vo. Original brown vertical-ribbed cloth with covers decoratively stamped in blind and spine ruled in blind and lettered in gilt, pale yellow coated endpapers. First edition, one of 2000 copies printed. Illustrated with a title vignette of Thoreau's cabin in the woods and an engraved plan of Walden Pond. 357, [1, blank] pp. Without ads (no priority established among the catalogues). 1 vols. 8vo. A superb unsophisticated copy of the American classic. "Solid chunks of thought, in the midst of a solid chunk of nature, proving that the minimum of cash expenditure and of creature comfort may result in the maximum of acute observation and cerebration, - for almost a hundred years an inspiration to nature-lovers, to philosophers, to… Read More

Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. First Edition; twenty volumes; publisher’s 3/4 green morocco; raised bands; gilt spine decoration; top edges gilt. Spines sunned slightly to brown; very minor occasional wear; an excellent set. One of 600 numbered copies with a manuscript leaf bound in. For the most part, the publisher provided leaves from Thoreau’s Journals, the source and notes for his published work. However this particular leaf is exceptional. For one thing, Thoreau’s last name appears twice in his hand (in the body of the leaf). For another, more important point, this leaf, about two hundred words in ink, with minor additions and marks in pencil, is apparently a draft of the work he is best-known for, Walden. Analysis strongly suggests that, rather than adapting a page from his Journals (as ordinarily expected), it appears to be an actual draft (likely from Draft C, as delineated in Howarth’s 1974 publication The Literary Manuscripts of Henry David Thoreau), describing Colonel Quoil, a… Read More

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. First edition of Thoreau's masterpiece, one of 2,000 copies. Octavo, original publisher's brown cloth decoratively ruled and stamped in blind, gilt titles to the spine, wood-engraved title page vignette of Thoreau's cottage after a sketch by his sister Sophia, lithographed plan of Walden Pond, 8 pages of publisher's advertisements dated September 1854. Allen 8; Borst A2.1.a; BAL 20106. In near fine condition with a touch of shelfwear. Contemporary ownership inscription. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example of this cornerstone of Transcendentalism. Combining nature, philosophy and the classics, Thoreau's account of his year in a shack along the shore of Walden pond was wholly unlike what had come before, and his achievement was a uniquely American contribution to literature. "[Walden] still seems to me the best youth's companion yet written by an American, for it carries a solemn warning against the loss of one's… Read More

Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1906. Manuscript Edition. Hardcover. Manuscript leaf detached and laid in loosely. Spines of 19 volumes evenly sunned to a light tan; very minor wear. Near Fine. Large octavo (6" x 8-3/4"), 20 volumes, the first volume in publisher's 3/4 green morocco leather with gilt-lettered and decorated spine, the remaining 19 volumes in 3/4 green morocco leather with different gilt-lettered and decorated spines. Each volume illustrated with a frontispiece in two states, one hand-colored, as well as additional gravures after photographs by Herbert Gleason. The first volume is copy #119 of 600 numbered sets SIGNED by the publisher; the remaining 19 volumes are from set 561. The first volume with an inlaid leaf of Thoreau's original holograph manuscript written on both sides of the sheet. The two-page manuscript fragment, detached and laid in loosely, comprises 55 lines, from Chapter 2 of CAPE COD, "Stage-coach Views" (first published in June of 1855 in PUTNAM'S MONTHLY, Vol.… Read More

Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1906. The manuscript edition of the writings of Henry David Thoreau. With the original manuscript sheet by Thoreau from his journal tipped-in to volume 1. The two page manuscript fragment comprises 58 lines from "Autumnal Tints," in altered form, published in the Atlantic Monthly, October 1862, and collected in Excursions the following year. The fragment concludes with the line containing the title phrase: "When you come to observe faithfully the changes of each humblest plant, you find that each has sooner or later its peculiar autumnal tint, or tints [...]." Octavo, 20 volumes. Bound in the publisher's three-quarter green morocco over marbled boards, spine elaborately tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, raised bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Signed by the publisher. Illustrated in each volume with a photograph of flowers and a hand-colored scenes used as frontispieces and additional plates inserted throughout. In fine condition without wear.… Read More

East Aurora: Roycroft Press, 1903. First Edition. First Edition. 4to, (11 1/2 x 8 inches). Limited of 50 Copies Only. One of Louis Kinder's greatest bindings, a monument in design form and and execution, on a large scale format, which are extremely scarce and sought after. The binding, in full sumptuous turquoise crushed morocco, features a striking design of inlaid morocco and ornate gilt tooling in graceful arching geometric patterns. There are eight large olive green morocco inlays that form outer arches coming together in four concave spaces at each corners which are filled with gilt-tooled spiral cross-hatches. Along with stars and winding gilt ruling (nearly all over), the covers feature a central panel surrounded by curving stylized garlands. At middle, bottom there is wonderful gilt tooled device (((())))) and at the middle top, a pair of clasped hands. The spine, with five raised bands and six large panels is further tooled in gilt with a similar design motif. Finally, the dentelles are wide… Read More

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1866. First edition. Original green cloth, stamped in gilt, and blind, extremities slightly rubbed, extreme corner of front endpaper chipped, but a very good bright copy, in the "A" binding described by BAL, which is more ornate than the other two bindings. A rare Thoreau family copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "Charles Lowell / with the love / of S. E. Thoreau". Charles Lowell of Bangor, Maine, was a cousin by marriage of Henry & Sophia. Aunt Nancy Thoreau married Caleb Callender Billings in 1810. Their first child, Mary Ann Thoreau Billings (1810-1888), married Charles Lowell (1807-1895), a Bangor merchant, in 1834. Following the wishes of her older brother, Sophia Elizabeth Thoreau edited a number of his papers both with him (as he lay dying) and after his death. That she was the sole editor of the collection of papers in Yankee has been established by recent scholarship. (See Kathy Fedorko, "‘Henry's Brilliant Sister': The Pivotal Role of Sophia Thoreau… Read More

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854. First Edition, First Printing of this cornerstone work of American literature, the ads dated "June 1854" with no bibliographical significance as noted by BAL, though these were printed prior to the July 1854 publication of the book. Illustrated with the map of Walden Pond printed on a separate leaf and inserted at p. 306, and with a vignette illustration to the title-page showing Thoreau's house in the woods at Walden Pond. 8vo, in the publisher’s original ribbed brown cloth lettered in gilt and ruled in blind on spine, bordered and decorated in blind on all covers with small floral designs coming in from the corners towards a large central floral scrollwork, pale yellow flies and endpapers. Now housed in a light brown cloth-covered folding case and with wrap around chemise, the spine of the case with a dark brown morocco label lettered in green. 357, [8 ads (dated June 1854)] pp. A especially handsome copy indeed, one of the nicest we've seen in quite some… Read More

Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1906. First edition, manuscript edition. Very Good. COMPLETE EDITION OF THOREAU'S WORKS WITH TWO-PAGE MANUSCRIPT LEAF IN THOREAU'S HAND. IN ORIGINAL LEATHER BINDINGS. In 1906, Thoreau's complete writings were published by Houghton Mifflin in a unique "Manuscript Edition". The first volume in each set contains an original leaf from Thoreau's autograph manuscript mounted and tipped-in before the title page and frontispiece. What also sets this edition apart from previous collections of Thoreau's writings is that it contains his entire Journal in fourteen volumes which had recently been edited and published by Bradford Torrey. The present manuscript leaf appears to be a draft from his Journal entries of October 1858 at Walden, for a section titled "The Colors of the Oaks". Thoreau describes the autumnal changes in foliage, noting how the leaves of various white and black oaks are fading or deepening in hue. "Many leaves of the small white oaks have… Read More

Boston: Ticknor and Fields , 1854. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. 357p octavo illustrated with a map facing p 307 (bearing the faint Chandler imprint). Two sets of advertisements, both dated May 1854 and both inserted by the publisher between the paste-downs and the flyleaves (Per BAL there is no priority for the advertisements, as the book was not published until August, and thus books with ads dated from April through August would have been available contemporaneously). A fresh clean copy in the publisher's brown cloth, very near fine indeed. Small expert repair to the crown. Contents clean, crisp and bright, with no foxing. Sharp corners. Attractive early 20th century bookplate of a New England collector on the front paste-down. Small, neat contemporary owner's name on the front free endpaper, else unmarked. A beautiful example of one of the most important books of the 19th century, one of just 2000 copies printed BAL 20106. Grolier American 63

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906. Book. Near Fine. Half-Leather. Signed by Publisher. 1st Edition. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Twenty (20) volumes in half green morocco over mottled boards with matching endpapers. Spines with pleasing floral gilt decoration. Top edges gilt. Edition limited to 600 copies only, each with a page in the first volume ( written both sides) from Thoreau's journal in his own hand. The subject of these pages seems to be the Moon and Aurora Borealis.Also signed by publisher. This is copy #94. Each volume has colour frontis and gravure as well as additional gravures from photos in the text. Leather has faded to brown on spines but not unattractively. Edgewear to extremities but o/w a near fine set and rare thus. .

Boston & Cambridge: James Munroe & Company. New York: George P. Putnam, [et al.], 1849. First edition, and one of only 1000 copies printed at Thoreau's own risk, 12mo, pp. 413, [3] including the advertisement leaf for Walden; a bit of slight chipping at the top of the spine, bottom of the spine slightly cracked (but the imprint "Munroe & Co." is preserved); otherwise, a very good, bright and sound copy, in BAL's brown cloth binding 'A' ("trade binding," no priority) with no cracking of the hinges. A better copy than most. Thoreau's first book, published at his own risk, and with Walden, the only book published in his lifetime. The book did not sell well and the publisher returned a remainder of 706 copies to him in October of 1853 which prompted Thoreau to write: "I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself. Is it not well that the author should behold the fruits of his labor?" By April of 1862, Thoreau had disposed of 111 of these copies leaving… Read More