Lot 431
  • 431

Thoreau, Henry David

Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • ink on paper
Autograph manuscript, 1 page (the lower half of a sheet of ruled writing paper: 4  7/8  x 8 in.; 125 x 203 mm), n.p., [ca. 1862], being a fragment of "Autumnal Tints"; upper edge frayed, vertical fold, somewhat yellowed.  Half blue morocco slipcase and chemise; some wear and fading.

Provenance

Theo Brown

Catalogue Note

A fine manuscript fragment from the collection of Theo Brown.   The present fragment is from "Autumnal Tints," published in the Atlantic Monthly, October 1862.  A section of the essay is headed "The Red Maple," and this is from the fifth paragraph of that section: "[At the eleventh hour of the year, the tree which no scrutiny could have detected] here, when it was most industrious is thus, by the tint of its maturity, by its very blushes, revealed at last to the careless and distant traveller, and leads his thoughts away from the dusty road into those brave solitudes which it inhabits.  It flashes out conspicuous with all the virtue and beauty of a Maple, — Acer rubrum.  We may now read its title, or  rubric, clear.  Its virtues, not its sins, are scarlet." This is followed by three sentences which have been scored through in ink and pencil, which do not appear in the publsihed article: "In its hue is no regret and repining.  It rejoices in its existence.  Its reflections are unalloyed."

"Autumnal Tints" was collected in Excursions (1863), where this fragment appears on page 230 of the first edition.