LETTERS TO VARIOUS PERSONS - DELANO FAMILY COPY
Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865. First Edition. Item #8075
First Printing, one of 2,100 copies. Octavo (18.75cm); publisher's dark green dotted cloth (Blanck's binding A / Borst's binding 2, with spine reading "Author of Excursions and A Week on Concord River") titled in gilt on spine, with holly wreaths embossed within an elaborate blind-ruled border on covers; brown endpapers; [viii],[1],2-229,[3]pp. A Delano family copy, inscribed on the front flyleaf 2 months prior to publication by Annie L. Delano to her uncle, Edward Delano: "For my dear Uncle Ned / from his affectionate niece / Annie L. Delano / July 31st 1865." Hint of sunning to spine, a few tiny nicks to spine ends, with some foxing to text edges and margins (most evident in the preliminary and terminal leaves); hinges sound, with the cloth unspoiled, and the gilt titling still quite bright; Very Good+.
The first collection of Thoreau's letters, accompanied by a small selection of poems, published posthumously and edited by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "These letters, most of which were addressed to a single confidential friend, give us Thoreau's thoughts in undress, and there has been no previous book in which we came so near him. It is like engraving the studies of an artist, – studies many of which were found too daring or difficult for final execution, and which must be show in their original shape or not at all" (review in The Atlantic, October, 1865). This copy was inscribed by Annie Delano to her uncle Ned well prior to publication (Letters was deposited for copyright on August 14, 1865, and published in October). The recipient, Edward Delano, was the brother of one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's maternal grandfathersl; Annie Delano was his aunt. An attractive, early copy with an interesting pedigree. Borst A6.1.a; BAL 20116.
Price: $1,500.00