Unpublished Ralph Waldo Emerson 166 pages Biography Typescript circa 1950s

J. Worth Estes Ralph Waldo Emerson

Manuscripts & Autographs

[Ralph Waldo Emerson][Transcendentalism] Worth, J. Estes. Unpublished biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, circa 1950s, a mid-twentieth-century scholarly interpretation of Emerson grounded primarily in close reading of his journals and early intellectual development. Produced by a Boston University pharmacology professor. The manuscript concentrates on Emerson’s Unitarian and Transcendentalist networks, his education at Harvard, his early ministry, and his emergence as a central figure in American literature and philosophy. Particular attention is given to the influence of the Channing brothers during Emerson’s student years, his brief marriage to Ellen Tucker, his travels in Europe, and his encounters with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Worth also addresses Emerson’s engagement with natural science, including discussion of pre-Darwinian evolutionary thought, and situates works such as Nature within broader currents of nineteenth-century religious and philosophical reform.

Worth, J. Estes. Draft of unpublished biography on Ralph W. Emerson. Circa 1950s. Typescript manuscript. 166 typed pages measuring approximately 9.5 x 11.5 inches. Incomplete draft consisting of partial introduction and chapters 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, and Book II chapters 1, 3, 4, and 9. The manuscript devotes special attention to Emerson’s early clerical career, resignation from the Unitarian ministry, intellectual life in Concord, and relationships with Bronson Alcott and Elizabeth Peabody, emphasizing Emerson's central place in the Transcendentalist movement. Chapters covering European travel examine visits to the Jardin des Plantes and conversations with leading Romantic figures, linking Emerson’s philosophical development to transatlantic intellectual exchange. Worth’s focus on Emerson’s journals shows a diligent scholarly reliance on manuscript sources to identify authorial intent and interior life. Pages show light handling wear; typescript clean and legible; overall very good condition. A substantial unpublished mid-twentieth-century scholarly study of Emerson’s intellectual studies and Transcendentalist community.

Item #18973

Price: $1,750.00