A Fine Collection of American Literature and History

Rare First Edition of Thoreau's First Book

Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company, etc., 1849. First edition, first issue (one of 1,000 copies printed). 8vo. 413, (3) pp. Publisher's brown cloth-covered boards, stamped in blind and in gilt, rebacked with original spine laid down, front joint splitting; all edges trimmed; two contemporary ownership signatures on front blank, one of Carlos Slafter, presumably the teacher and author from Dedham, Massachusetts; extensive pencil notations erased from title-page; scattered light foxing to text; a few scattered tears and chips in edges. Borst A1.1a; BAL 20104

A rare first edition of Henry David Thoreau's first book, one of apparently only 405 copies sold or given away by Thoreau. Despite good reviews, after two years on the market only around 300 copies of this first edition--published at Thoreau's expense--had sold. On October 28, 1853, the publisher, James Munroe, who could no longer afford to store them, sent the remaining 706 copies (256 bound and 450 in sheets) to Thoreau. For the next decade these languished in Thoreau's attic, with Thoreau occasionally selling copies or distributing them to his friends. In April 1862, when Thoreau's reputation as a writer was more established, Boston publisher Ticknor and Fields purchased the remaining 145 bound copies and the 450 in sheets, and issued them with a new title-page.