Books

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 Women's 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 bright and sharp copy, unusually nice and scarce thus; one would be hard-pressed to find a nicer copy. Housed in a custom slipcase.

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers is a book by the American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. In it, Thoreau recounts a boating trip he took with his brother John from Concord, Massachusetts to the mountains of New Hampshire. It blends travel writing with nature observations and philosophical reflections inspired by the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was Thoreau's friend and mentor.