[Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Henry David Thoreau, et al]. First edition of the influential Transcendentalist literary magazine

[EMERSON, RALPH WALDO, HENRY DAVID THOREAU, ET AL] 

THE DIAL: A MAGAZINE FOR LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGION. BOSTON: WEEKS, JORDAN, AND COMPANY (VOL. I); E.P. PEABODY (VOLS. II AND III); AND JAMES MONROE AND CO. (VOL. IV), 1840-1844

16 parts in 4 vols., 8vo (8 x 5 1/4 in.; 204 x 132 mm). General title-page to each volume, manuscript poem, possibly by William Henry Channing, and clipping of article pertaining to Bronson Alcott tipped into vol. I; some foxing. Uniformly bound in early 20th century half brown morocco over marbled boards, spines with raised bands in six compartments, second and fourth gilt lettered, edges speckled blue; some rubbing to extremities. [With the following bound in at end of vol. IV:] Emerson, Ralph Waldo. [With:] Emerson, Ralph Waldo. An Oration Delivered Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, August 31, 1837. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1837. 8vo. Title page, 26pp.; trimmed, some foxing. [With:] Carte-de-visite (4 1/16 x 2 1/2 in.; 104 x 63 mm), albumen photograph, produced by Elliott & Fry, 55 Baker Street, Portman Square, signed by Emerson ("RW Emerson") on the verso; some toning, remnant of hinging tape to top of image.

First edition of the influential Transcendentalist literary magazine

The primary function of The Dial was "to furnish a medium for the freest expression of thought on the questions which interest earnest minds in every community" (lower wrapper). Bronson Alcott suggested the title, Margaret Fuller edited the first eight issues, and Emerson edited the last eight. Among its contributors were Henry David Thoreau, James Russell Lowell, Theodore Parker other great authors and philosophers of the period. Mott notes that its circulation "never exceeded three hundred, and probably never quite reached that figure."

Complete copies of The Dial are rare, with only 6 copies recorded in American Book Prices Current.

The current sent is bound with a first edition of Emerson's "American Scholar" address: "The clarion cry, to think, to create, to become a productive scholar, and above all to fulfil yourself as an individualist." 

REFERENCE:

An Oration Delivered Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society: BAL 5183; Grolier, American 100 43

PROVENANCE:

W.H. Clarke (ownership inscriptions to titles) — Eliot C. Clark (ownership inscriptions to front free endpapers)