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1st Edition, 1st Printing, 1st Issue. Limited edition. One of 1000 copies printed. The author's first book. Original publisher's brown cloth binding with gilt lettering on the spine. 5 1/4" x 8." 493 pages, complete. One additional page in the back advertises the upcoming publication of Thoreau's iconic book, Walden, or Life in the Woods. Pages and covers are very clean and intact. Binding is tight. Front and back inner hinges have been neatly reinforced with white cloth tape. Spine has been professionally repaired. Slight rubbing to the front and back covers. Some corner and edge wear. A few pages have offsetting and slight foxing. A Very Good copy. Referenced from the Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography, no. A 1.1.a: "Publication: 1,000 sets of sheets printed at the author's expense. 550 were bound as needed. Published 26 May 1849. Deposited for copyright: title, 6 June 1849; book, 9 July 1849. . Note one: A Week [on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers] did not sell well and on 28 October 1853 the 706 remaining copies (256 bound copies and 450 in sheets) were shipped back to Thoreau to spend the next nine years in his attic bedroom, with Thoreau occasionally selling copies or distributing them to friends. On 12 April 1862 Ticknor and Fields bought the remaining 145 bound copies and the 450 in sheets for 40[cents] each. The 450 sets of sheets were bound with a new title page tipped in for a second issue." The Pittsburgh Bibliography also mentions four binding variations, "priority undetermined": "1. Light brown AR cloth (wavy); front and back covers blindstamped with five-rule border; spine blindstamped with rules. . 2. Black T cloth (ribbed); front and back covers blindstamped with five-rule border; spine blindstamped with rules. . 3. Brown Z cloth (triangular); front and back covers blindstamped with five-rule border; spine blindstamped with rules. . 4. Light brown T cloth (ribbed) or AR cloth (wavy); front and back covers blindstamped with five-rule border surrounding an elaborate design of plumes and scrolls with an oval-shaped scroll design in the center; spine blindstamped with rules and rose-and-leaves design." This edition is also referenced in the Bibliography of American Literature (BAL) as no. 20104. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American author, naturalist, abolitionist, and philosopher. Thoreau is best-known for his poems and essays. Many of his writings interweave themes of nature and philosophy. In this book, Thoreau recollects his travels on a boat trip between Concord, Massachusetts and Concord, New Hampshire, while interweaving, in his signature genre-bending style, a variety of topics relating to philosophy, history, and poetry.
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