Books

Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company, 1849. First Edition. Very Good. First edition. (Three blank lines on p. 396 not filled-in. Trade binding; BAL 20104.) 413, [1], [1, ad for Walden: "Soon to be published"] pp. Original blindstamped brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt, pale yellow endpapers. Very Good with worn and slightly chipped spine ends, edge-rubbing that is heaviest along front joint, a few ink drops to cloth. Top third of front free endpaper excised, penciled former owner's signature to following page, light dampstaining to margins at lower fore-edge, bookplate of John S. Wood on paste down, portrait of Thoreau from early magazine affixed to page facing title page. Housed in custom green cloth with snapping chemise, gilt spine titles. Thoreau's first rare book, published at his own expense.

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.

True first editions can be identified by the publisher's imprint and the date of 1849.