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Ralph Waldo Emerson. Representative Men: Seven Lectures. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1850....
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Description
Emerson on the Mississippi
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Representative Men: Seven
Lectures. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1850.8vo. Half-title. Original blindstamped dark brown cloth, gilt-lettered on spine; quarter morocco slipcase.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, without the ads at end. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY EMERSON on the front free endpaper: "Mrs. Drury, / With the good wishes of the Mississippi River. / 15 June 1850 / R. W. Emerson." This copy was inscribed by Emerson to a fellow passenger while traveling on the Mississippi during his first travels west. In early June 1850, Emerson journeyed into the upper south with some literary friends after concluding a lecture series in Cincinnati. He was struck by the vastness of the river and remoteness of its unsettled banks. In a letter to his wife written from St. Louis, 16 June 1850, he describes his impressions: "... the great sweeps of the Mississippi the number of its large islands made & unmade in short periods, your distance from either shore, and the unvarying character of the green wilderness on either side from hour to hour, from day to day, - the loneliest river - no towns, no houses, no dents in the forest, no boats almost..." (Rusk, Letters, IV, p. 210).
Emily Mervine Drury, was the daughter of Captain William Mervine of the United States Navy and the wife of Leander M. Drury, whom Emerson met on board a steamship while traveling on the Mississippi.
He and Emily Drury became friends and corresponded with one following this first meeting. In the same letter cited above to his wife Lidian, Emerson mentions meeting Mrs. Drury: "The company in the boat is various but not distinguished. Dr Wild of Brookline whom I found at the [Mammoth] Cave, I found again on this boat. Mr Wiltsie of Newburgh a very worthy man comes with me from Cincinnati thus far, & perhaps farther to Chicago. Captain Mervine, of the U. S. Navy, introduced himself to me & presented me to his daughter, Mrs Drury, of Canandaigua N. Y., a most intelligent woman, who made the miles short."
Among Emerson's works, presentation copies of Representative Men are notably rare.
Condition: Spine a little frayed at ends with minor loss; a few splits or losses to joints near head; a little discoloration; slight wear to corners; minor rubbing; rear hinge cracked; upper hinge tender.
References: BAL 5219; Myerson A22.1.a.
Provenance: Frank J. Hogan (bookplate; his sale, Parke-Bernet, 23 January 1945, lot 165); Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (bookplate; his sale, Parke-Bernet, 7 December 1954, lot 99). From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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