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Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English Literature

Chapter 85: RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882)
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About This Book

The book presents concise bibliographical essays on one hundred significant works of English literature, summarizing authorship, publication histories, typographical features, editional variants, and illustration and collation details. A prefatory explanation outlines the selection criteria and editorial practices used for handling early spelling and printing peculiarities. Individual entries vary in length depending on existing scholarship and rarity, and the volume includes a list of corrections, a contents list, and an index to aid reference. Overall, it documents the physical and textual histories of landmark volumes to assist readers in identifying and understanding important variant issues.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

(1803-1882)

80. Nature. | [Quotation] Boston: | James Munroe And Company. | MDCCCXXXVI.

"My little book is nearly done. Its title is 'Nature.' Its contents will not exceed in bulk Sampson Reed's 'Growth of the Mind.' My design is to follow it by another essay, 'Spirit,' and the two shall make a decent volume." Thus Emerson wrote to his brother William, from Concord, June 28, 1836.

Nature was, however, published alone in September by Metcalf, Torry and Ballou of the Cambridge Press. It received little attention except from "the representatives of orthodox opinion," who violently attacked it. Only a few hundred copies were sold, and it was twelve years before a second edition was called for.

Duodecimo.

Collation:  95 pp.