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Ralph Waldo Emerson — Essays: Second Series1845 Early Lifetime Printing — Original Cloth — Restoration Copy
EMERSON, Ralph Waldo. Essays: Second Series. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1845.
First edition, second printing. 12mo. Original brown publisher's cloth.
An early lifetime printing of one of the foundational books of American Transcendentalism
Published only one year after the 1844 first printing, this 1845 James Munroe edition preserves one of Ralph Waldo Emerson's most important collections of essays.
The volume contains:
- The Poet
- Experience
- Character
- Manners
- Gifts
- Nature
- Politics
- Nominalist and Realist
- New England Reformers
Together, these essays represent Emerson at the height of his intellectual and literary influence and address poetry, individuality, moral character, nature, society, politics, philosophy, and reform.
The collection opens with “The Poet” and “Experience,” two of the central essays in Emerson's work and in the development of American Transcendentalist thought.
An early James Munroe printing
Essays: Second Series was first published by James Munroe in Boston in 1844. This copy is dated 1845, making it an early lifetime printing issued at the beginning of the book's publication history.
Professional bibliographical and bookselling records describe the 1845 Munroe printing as an early printing of the first edition.
Copies in sound original cloth are now scarce in commerce. A currently offered 1845 copy in original cloth, with a tight binding and intact spine despite ordinary wear and foxing, is priced by a professional bookseller at several hundred dollars.
The present copy is offered at a much lower price because of its severe binding defects.
Original publisher's cloth
The book retains its original brown cloth covers, with the surviving blind-stamped decoration.
This is not a later rebound copy.
The spine cloth has almost entirely perished, however, and the volume is now offered strictly as a:
RESTORATION / REBINDING COPY
The surviving original boards could potentially be retained in a professional restoration.
Condition
Poor condition structurally; offered strictly as a binding or restoration copy. Please read carefully and examine all photographs.
The original brown cloth boards remain present but are heavily rubbed, worn, bumped, and frayed.
The original spine or backstrip is almost entirely perished, with only a small fragment surviving at the head.
The front board is detached and is currently connected only by a small remnant of thread.
The title page and several opening leaves are loose or partially detached.
The text block is fragile and unstable and must be handled with care.
Foxing throughout, as commonly encountered in American books of this period.
The text appears complete, but because of the fragile condition the volume has not been aggressively collated and is sold as pictured.
This copy is not suitable for ordinary reading in its present state.
It is best suited for:
- professional conservation;
- rebinding;
- study;
- a collection of early Emerson editions;
- or use as an affordable placeholder copy of an important American literary work.
Why the book matters
Emerson's first two collections of essays are among the principal statements of American Transcendentalism.
Essays: Second Series includes his sustained reflections on the nature of poetic creation in “The Poet,” the instability and difficulty of lived consciousness in “Experience,” and the relationships among nature, politics, individuality, and reform.
The book belongs to one of the most important periods in nineteenth-century American intellectual history, alongside the work of Emerson's circle and contemporaries including Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Bronson Alcott, and others.
Bibliographical details
Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Title: Essays: Second Series
Place: Boston
Publisher: James Munroe and Company
Date: 1845
Edition: First edition, second printing / early lifetime printing
Format: 12mo
Binding: Original brown publisher's cloth
Condition: Restoration or binding copy
A worthwhile project copy for collectors of
Ralph Waldo Emerson; American Transcendentalism; early American literature; nineteenth-century philosophy; James Munroe publications; publisher's cloth bindings; and restoration projects.
Please study all photographs carefully before purchasing. The book is fragile and will be packed with substantial protective support for shipment.
