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[Ralph Waldo Emerson]. Borrowings. Compiled by Ladies of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, California. San Francisc... (Total: 2 )
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Description
[Ralph Waldo Emerson]. Borrowings. Compiled by Ladies of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, California. San Francisco: C. A. Murdock & Co., 1889.8vo. Original quarter textured cream boards over patterned boards, gilt-lettered on upper cover, top edge gilt.
RARE FIRST EDITION of this privately printed anthology of quotations by various authors. On p. 38 appears the first printing of Emerson's: "If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap, than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door."
Burton Stevenson traced down the quotation as its first printing, in Part 19 of The Colophon, December, 1934. The compilers were Mary S. Keene and Mrs. Sarah S. B. Yule, Mrs. Yule contributing the mouse-trap piece. Before she died in 1916, she stated that she "copied it in my handbook from an address delivered long ago." Emerson gave five lectures in San Francisco in April and May of 1871, and one in Oakland on May 18, when Mrs. Yule, then living in Oakland, was a girl of 16.
Inserted is small calling card, SIGNED BY EMERSON in ink, and written in faint pencil on verso: "Will Mr. Munroe send Mr. E. an effective rat trap 2 inch chisel 2 auger." Perhaps the genesis of the quotation cited above.
SCARCE: it was twice reprinted, and the same compilers produced More Borrowings in 1891, a copy of which accompanies this item.
[With:] More Borrowings. Compiled by Ladies of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, California. San Francisco: C. A. Murdock & Co., 1891. 8vo. Original gray cloth, upper cover decorated and lettered in black, top edge gilt.
Condition: Borrowings with spine ends and corners a little worn, and textured cream portions a bit soiled; More Borrowings a little rubbed and soiled. Some marginal toning to both volumes; contemporary gift inscription on front free endpaper in Borrowings. Inserted card with reddish discoloration to finish.
References: BAL 5300. For further details surrounding this very copy of Borrowings, see Wilson's Thirteen Author Collections of the Nineteenth Century (1950), Vol. I, p. 364.
Provenance: Scribner Book Store, New York, 1951, item 52 (Borrowings); Carroll Atwood Wilson (bookplates); purchased from Randall and Windle, San Francisco, item 86, 1977. From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 December 11 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part II, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6300 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2024
11th
Wednesday
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