About this Item
Offered here is a complete 14-volume set of The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Standard Library Edition, edited by Emerson?s close friend and literary executor James Elliot Cabot. Published by Riverside Press, Cambridge, and printed by H.O. Houghton & Company, this edition represents the culmination of Cabot?s editorial stewardship over Emerson?s legacy.
Dating has been confirmed through Nancy Craig Simmons?s article ?Arranging the Sibylline Leaves: James Elliot Cabot?s Work as Emerson?s Literary Executor? (Studies in the American Renaissance, 1983), which documents the publication timeline:
? Volumes 1?11 originally appeared in 1883.
? Volume 12, Natural History of the Intellect, was first published in 1893.
? Volumes 13?14, Memoir I and Memoir II, Cabot?s biography of Emerson, were first printed in 1887 and incorporated into the complete Works in 1893.
This set predates the later 1903 Centenary Edition edited by Edward Emerson.
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? Details:
? Title: The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
? Editor: James Elliot Cabot
? Publisher: Riverside Press, Cambridge / H.O. Houghton & Co.
? Year: 1893 (Standard Library Edition)
? Volumes: Complete 14-volume set
? Binding: Burgundy cloth with gilt spine titles and top edge gilt
? Pages: Clean and unmarked throughout
? Endpapers: Black
? Condition: Very Good
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? Condition Notes:
? Overall very good with tight bindings and clean, bright pages.
? Gilt on spines and top edges remains strong.
? Minimal shelf wear to cloth covers.
? Volume 9 (Poems): small gouge on the top edge of the front board.
? Volume 2 (Essays I): signed by previous owner ?S.T. Klotz? on front flyleaf; mild staining to upper corner of the first third?half of text block (does not affect readability).
? No other marks, tears, or loose pages.
? A handsome and uniform set, well preserved for its age.
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? Why Collect This Edition:
This Standard Library Edition stands apart as the definitive lifetime editorial set overseen by Emerson?s own literary executor. With Cabot?s introductions and Emerson?s works presented as he intended them, it is both a scholarly reference and an elegant period piece. Ideal for collectors of Transcendentalist literature, 19th-century American publishing, or fine Riverside Press bindings.
?? A Notable Provenance: Solon T. Klotz of Toledo, Ohio
Volume 2 (Essays I) bears the signature ?S.T. Klotz?, likely belonging to Solon T. Klotz, a Toledo attorney, civic leader, and president of Toledo?s Socialist Party during the 1910s?1920s. Klotz served as Mayor of Toledo from 1934?1935, a period of social and economic turbulence in the Great Depression. This set was acquired 30 minutes drive from Toledo.
Klotz?s obituary and biography appear in the Toledo Blade (November 26, 1948), noting his lifelong passion for education, reform, and civic engagement?values closely aligned with Emerson?s transcendental ideals. It?s entirely fitting that a man of such intellectual and moral conviction would have owned and read these works.
This provenance connects the set not only to one of America?s most influential philosophers, but to a figure who embodied Emerson?s call to independent thought and moral courage.
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?? Shipping & Handling:
? Ships securely with each volume individually wrapped and cushioned.
? Expect multiple parcels due to weight.
? Domestic and international shipping available.
Seller Inventory # ABE-1778499614145
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