EMERSON, RALPH WALDO | Essays. First and Second Series

The Property of a Gentleman

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO

Essays. First and Second Series

Essays. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1841. 8vo. Half-title; some foxing primarily to preliminary leaves, some pencil annotations. Original black ribbed cloth (BAL binding C, but the sequence is "almost entirely arbitrary"), covers ruled and decoratively stamped in blind, yellow coated endpapers; very minor rubbing to edges, two nicks to foot of spine, some discoloration to endleaves, textblock cracked. BAL 5189 — Essays: Second Series. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1844. 8vo. Contemporary ownership inscription of John M. Cheney to title-page, publisher's advertisements at end; some foxing. Original green-brown cloth, covers ruled and decoratively stamped in blind, yellow coated endpapers; some fading to cloth, nick to head of spine, minor fraying to head and tail of spine. BAL 5198

Two first editions

“The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know the truth when we see it, let skeptic and scoffer say what they choose.” — Emerson, "The Over-Soul"

The essays collected here represent some of the writings most central to Emerson's transcendentalist philosophy, including "Self-Reliance", "The Over-Soul," "Experience," and "Politics." These were largely based on lectures that Emerson gave in the 1830s, but are here published for the first time, and are together regarded as cornerstones of the Transcendental movement.

John Cheney, to whom the present copy of Essays: Second Series belonged, was a founding member of the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company. A resident of concord, he was also a neighbour of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, the Alcotts, and others (see lots 43-46). 

PROVENANCE:

John M. Cheney (signature to title-page of Essays: Second Series)