Essays

Boston: James Munroe, 1841. First edition, first printing. BAL's C binding (no priority) with 2 1/8" ornaments, rules and filigrees (rather than boxes) blindstamped on spine. [vi], 303 pp. Bound in publisher's dark brown ribbed cloth with elaborate blindstamped front and back boards, spine lettered in gilt, cream endpapers. Very Good, cloth worn at head and tail; two small stains to rear board; small tear to front free endpaper, and following page has an ink gift inscription and has a tear repaired with mending tissue; small scrape to half title; some foxing to conetnts, a few dog-eared pages. Decorative blindstamping to cloth still quite distinct. An attractive copy, uncommon thus.

The first series of Emerson's essays, including the truly classic "Self-Reliance" and "The Over-Soul."