First Edition of Emerson's "Letters and Social Aims," 1876

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

First Edition

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Letters and Social Aims.” First edition, the first state. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1876. Octavo. Original green cloth over beveled boards ruled in blind. Spine gilt lettered. 314 pages. True First printing, with "N" on page 209 and with "inviolate" and "choices" on page 308 (changed in the second and third printings to "inviolable" and "choice"). The last volume of essays published during Emerson's lifetime, Letters and Social Aims contains essays originally published early in the 1840s as well as those that were the product of a collaborative effort among Emerson, children, and his literary executor James Eliot Cabot. The volume takes up the topics of “Poetry and Imagination,” “Social Aims,” “Eloquence,” “Resources,” “The Comic,” “Quotation and Originality,” “Progress of Culture,” “Persian Poetry,” “Inspiration,” “Greatness,” and, appropriately for Emerson’s last published book, “Immortality.” Contemporary gift inscription to front free paper. Very minor rubbing to head and tail of spine, one or two pencil annotations. The binding is tight, and the boards are crisp. Overall in very good condition or better.

Item #17037

Price: $850.00