This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2022
THOREAU, Henry David (1817–1862). A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe and Company; New York: George P. Putnam; Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blackiston; London: John Chapman, 1849. 8vo. One–page advertisement for Walden at end. Original publisher’s presentation blindstamped black cloth with a 5–rule frame enclosing a rococo ornament, gilt–lettered spine (joints tender with few spots of separation, extreme ends chipped partially affecting printer’s imprint at foot, corners rubbed); folding cloth chemise; cloth slipcase. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, IN A PRESENTATION BINDING (BAL binding B) of the author’s first book. In 1849, Thoreau had 1,000 sets of sheets printed at his own expense, of which 706 copies (256 bound and 450 in sheets) were returned to him on 28 October 1853 “to spend the next nine years in his attic bedroom, with Thoreau occasionally selling copies or distributing them to friends” (Borst). In his Journal entry of 28 October 1853 Thoreau commented on his book's lack of success: “I have now a library of nearly 900 volumes, over 700 of which I wrote myself. It is not well that the author should behold the fruits of his labor, my works are piled upon one side of my chamber half as high as my head ...” In 1862, Ticknor and Fields bought the remaining copies and had the 450 sets of sheets bound up with a new title–page (constituting the second issue). BAL 20104; Borst A1.1.a1; Johnson High Spots, p. 73.