Henry David Thoreau
n.p., n.d. but ca. 1850s
H.D. Thoreau "Life Without Principle" 2pp AM Tipped Into Ltd. Manuscript Ed., "The Writings of Henry David Thoreau," Vol. I
AM tipped into book

A 2pp autograph manuscript inscribed by American essayist Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), tipped into Vol. I of Henry David Thoreau, "The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, MDCCCVI [1906]). Includes only Vol. I from the Limited Manuscript Edition, #100/600. Signed by publisher Houghton, Mifflin & Company on the limitation page facing the inlaid and tipped-in Thoreau manuscript. Publisher's original binding, with handsome dark green leather three-quarter binding over dappled pale green paper boards, with gilt-embossed and gilt-decorated spine. Mostly clean within, with minor toning and edge darkening affecting some inner pages, and isolated discoloration from the original green ribbon bookmark found on pg. xxiv. Minor edgewear to the covers, and isolated edge fading/sunning to the spine, else very good to near fine. Vol. I features the original Publishers' Advertisement; the Table of Contents; Ralph Waldo Emerson's Biographical Sketch; "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"; Table of Poetical Quotations; and Index; along with eight illustrations (one hand-colored), with original tissue guards. 3-435pp. 6.25" x 9" x 1.625".

Vol. I of "The Writings of Henry David Thoreau" is the most valuable volume of the complete 20-volume set because it contains an original Thoreau manuscript sourced from his personal writings. This manuscript comprises approximately 360 words not including a handful of contemporaneous author's edits in pencil found scattered throughout. Inscribed in ink on either side of a single sheet of blue-lined paper, the first page paginated "24." Expected wear including scattered wrinkles and flattened folds. Laid in and tipped in to the front of Vol. I facing the limitation page.

This Thoreau manuscript is part of the writer's handwritten draft of one of his better known essays. It was first delivered as a lecture under the title "What Shall It Profit?" before auditors in Providence, Rhode Island, in the mid-1850s. After edits, it was then posthumously published under the title "Life Without Principle" in the October 1863 issue of "The Atlantic Monthly." In this essay, Thoreau criticized the mercenary, inattentive way that most mid-19th C. Americans earned their livelihoods. Thoreau argued that it was better to lead a reflective life of subsistence rather than a prosperous though preoccupied one. In the average American's pursuit of wealth, the individual sacrificed all to capitalism, even the destruction of the environment and the neglect of the mind and soul. Thoreau encouraged his readers to instead prioritize living mindfully - appreciating nature, beauty, and tranquility. Rather than being a soul-deadened wage slave, Thoreau championed a freedom of thoughts permitted only through living (and earning) unconventionally.

Comparing this handwritten manuscript with the version published in "The Atlantic Monthly" shows that Thoreau kept much of the original text word for word. The most striking change was Thoreau's deletion of the section which appears in the first paragraph of our first page: "Neither the New Testament nor Poor Richard speaks to our condition. I do not now remember a single page which entertains, much less answers, the questions which must to imply on this subject…"

The manuscript reads in part, with original usage:

- page 1 -

"It is remarkable that there is little or nothing to be remembered written on the subject of getting a living. Neither the New Testament nor Poor Richard speaks to our condition. I do not now remember a single page which entertains, much less answers, the questions which must to imply on this subject. How to make getting a living not merely honest and honorable altogether inviting and glorious. One would think from looking at literature that this question had never disturbed a solitary individual's musings. Is it that men are too much disgusted with their experience to speak of it? The lesson of value which money teaches, which the author of the universe has taken so much pains to teach us - we are inclined to skip altogether. As for the means of living, it is wonderful how indifferent men of all classes are about it, even reformers, so called, whether they inherit, or earn, or steal it. I think that society has done nothing for us in this respect or at least has undone what she has"

- page 2 -

"…done. Cold and hunger seem more friendly to my nature than those methods which men have adopted + advise to ward them off. How can a man be a wise man if he doesn't know any better how to live than other men? - if he's only more cunning + intellectually subtle? Does wisdom work in a tread-mill? or does she teach how to succeed by her example? (Is there any such thing as wisdom not applied to life?) Is she merely the miller which grinds the finest logic? Did Plato get his living in a better way or more successfully than his contemporaries? or did he succumb to the difficulties of life like other men? Did he seem to prevail over some of them merely by indifference or by assuming grand airs - or find it easier to live, because his aunt remembered him in her will?"

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 6.25" x 9" x 1.625"
  • Medium: AM tipped into book

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