"WHEN MAN IS ASLEEP AND DAY FAIRLY FORGOTTEN, THEN IS THE BEAUTY OF MOONLIGHT SEEN OVER LONELY PASTURES WHERE CATTLE ARE SILENTLY FEEDING"

THOREAU, Henry David. The Moon. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1927. Small octavo, original half vellum with purple paper boards, original slipcase. $900.

Limited first edition, one of 500 copies printed at the Shakespeare Head Press in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Found after his death among his manuscripts, The Moon was probably intended by Thoreau "to form the basis of a lecture, which, following the course usual with his writings, would eventually find periodical publication as an essay and later be included in a book" (from the introduction). Which is exactly what happened, albeit in a much abbreviated form. The Moon is an attempt to present these extracts "just as he left them… they are not to be judged as a finished essay, but Thoreau's writing always has distinction and hardly the slightest entry in his Journal but has a dignity and beauty of its own."

A fine copy in a toned slipcase.