Fine Books and Manuscripts Online
Fine Books and Manuscripts Online
The Property of a Gentleman
Lot Closed
June 21, 04:17 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
The Property of a Gentleman
EMERSON, RALPH WALDO
Nature. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1836
12mo (7 3/8 x 4 1/2 in.; 187 x 115 mm). Pencil correction to p. 32 in the hand of Emerson himself or his assistant, Charles S. Wheeler; scattered foxing, "By Ralph Waldo Emerson" added to title-page in pencil (not in Emerson's hand). Publisher's brown cloth (Myerson's "Cloth 3" with "Stamping E"), upper cover gilt-lettered; some fading and spotting, minor wear to corners, faint dampstaing at the bottom of the rear cover. In custom red cloth covered clamshell case.
First edition of Emerson's first book, apparently corrected by him, and published the year after he had settled in Concord
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.” — Emerson
Based on his earlier lectures, Nature was the fundamental document of Emerson's
transcendental philosophy. The entire first printing of Nature is believed to have consisted of only 1,500 copies. In the present copy p. 94 is properly numbered, which is probably, but not certainly, indicative of the later state.
REFERENCES
BAL 5181; Myerson A3.1a
PROVENANCE
Roswell Dwight Hitchcock (bookplate to front pastedown)