THOREAU, Henry David.

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.

Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company, 1849. FIRST EDITION 1 blank leaf + TP + [3]-413 + [415] = Advertisement + 1 blank leaf, Octavo. (BAL 20104, Borst A1.1.a)First edition, first printing of the author's first book - the ad on the final printed page announcing: "Will Soon Be Published, Walden, or Life in the Woods. by Henry D. Thoreau". Thoreau himself paid to have this edition of 1,000 copies printed and published in either late May or early June of 1849. One of only 550 surviving copies in this first issue state. Thoreau's famous first book was a failure when it was released. Over four years later, in October of 1853, the publisher shipped all 706 remainder copies (256 bound & 450 in sheets) to the author who kept them in his attic bedroom for the next nine years. From this stock, he would occasionally sell copies or distribute them to friends. In one of his more renowned journal entries he wrote: "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 just 595. These he sold to Ticknor and Fields for 40 cents each. The 450 unbound copies were subsequently reissued with a new title page, dated 1862. Original brown cloth (BAL binding variant A, Trade binding) with five-rule border stamped in blind on front and back covers. Spine lettered in gilt with rules and decorative leaf designs stamped in blind. Buff endpapers with front and back blank flyleaves. Small bookplates of George Mason and Henry William Poor to inside front covers. Head and tail of spine with nicely restored ends (?" at top and ¼" at bottom). Covers and spine edges lightly worn. Still an exceptionally bright copy. (Housed in a cloth chemise and a quarter brown morocco slipcase.) PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

• USD 9,500.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: 273

• bookseller: Athena Rare Books (USA)