"A CENTRAL DOCUMENT OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE": FIRST EDITION OF THOREAU'S WALDEN

THOREAU, Henry David. Walden; Or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1854. Octavo, original brown cloth. $13,500.

First edition of this important American classic, one of only 2000 copies published.

"Thoreau's Walden occupies a special place in our American heritage. Moreover, the book is still alive and vibrant, and it reaches out to touch the life of each one of us who is receptive… it has come to be thought a central document in the American experience" (Thorpe, Treasures of the Huntington Library). "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, 100 American, 63). With lithographed map of Walden Pond facing page 307; advertisements at rear dated April 1854. BAL 20106. Myerson A2.1.a. Johnson 73. Magazine photograph of a bust of Thoreau tipped-in opposite title page.

Interior generally clean with closed marginal tears to two leaves (165-68), two locations with offsetting from pressed leaves (38-9, 82-83); expert restoration to cloth spine ends. A very attractive copy.