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THOREAU, Henry D.
Walden; or, Life in the Woods.
First edition. Following the failure of his first book A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Walden was not a runaway success. The edition of 2,000 took five years to sell through, but it was from the very first an immensely influential text, and remains so today: "For almost a hundred years an inspiration to nature lovers, to philosophers, to sociologists and to persons who love to read the English language written with clarity" (Grolier). "Most copies have publisher's advertisements inserted at the back with varying dates of no known bibliographical significance" (BAL), though April is the earliest. With the bookplate of American journalist and newspaper publisher James Strohn Copley (1916–1973) to the chemise.
Octavo. Original brown ribbed cloth, title gilt to spine, large decorative device within blind panels to the boards, pale yellow endpapers. In a custom blue quarter morocco slipcase and chemise. Wood-engraved title-page vignette of Thoreau's hut, chart of Walden Pond, and 8-page publisher's catalogue dated April 1854. Small "ex libris" sticker and cataloguing entry to front pastedown. Binding very lightly rubbed with a few worn spots to head and tail of spine, very light foxing to endpapers and title page. An exceptionally clean and fresh copy.
