In the publication of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, Princeton University Press joins university presses throughout the United States in making the works of major American writers available in comprehensive scholarly editions. This project was inaugurated by the Modern Language Association of America and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Although Thoreau has earned a national and international reputation as a naturalist, social critic and philosopher of human rights, and literary artist of the first rank, no scholarly edition of his complete writings has previously been undertaken. In addition to newly edited texts of his major published works, the edition will include his poetry, translations, correspondence, college essays, and unfinished late natural history projects, "Wild Fruits" and "The Dispersion of Seeds." Thoreau's Journal-the private record of his experiences, the source of his many writings, and a unique literary document in itself-will be printed for the first time in its original, unrevised form, including many previously unpublished passages and notebooks.
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Excursions
In the publication of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, Princeton University Press joins university presses throughout the United States in making the works of major American writers available in comprehensive scholarly editions. This project was inaugurated by the Modern Language Association of America and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Although Thoreau has earned a national and international reputation as a naturalist, social critic and philosopher of human rights, and literary artist of the first rank, no scholarly edition of his complete writings has previously been undertaken. In addition to newly edited texts of his major published works, the edition will include his poetry, translations, correspondence, college essays, and unfinished late natural history projects, "Wild Fruits" and "The Dispersion of Seeds." Thoreau's Journal-the private record of his experiences, the source of his many writings, and a unique literary document in itself-will be printed for the first time in its original, unrevised form, including many previously unpublished passages and notebooks.
In the publication of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, Princeton University Press joins university presses throughout the United States in making the works of major American writers available in comprehensive scholarly editions. This project was inaugurated by the Modern Language Association of America and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Although Thoreau has earned a national and international reputation as a naturalist, social critic and philosopher of human rights, and literary artist of the first rank, no scholarly edition of his complete writings has previously been undertaken. In addition to newly edited texts of his major published works, the edition will include his poetry, translations, correspondence, college essays, and unfinished late natural history projects, "Wild Fruits" and "The Dispersion of Seeds." Thoreau's Journal-the private record of his experiences, the source of his many writings, and a unique literary document in itself-will be printed for the first time in its original, unrevised form, including many previously unpublished passages and notebooks.
Naturalist, writer, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau was an American who lived from July 12, 1817, to May 6, 1862. His most well-known work, Walden, is a meditation on simple life in the natural world. He was a forerunner of ecological theory and environmental history, two major influences on contemporary environmentalism. In Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau was born into a humble family. Between 1833 and 1837, he attended Harvard College for his studies. He worked as a land surveyor and continued to keep a two million-word notebook for 24 years, recording ever-more-detailed observations on the natural history of the town, which covered an area of 26 square miles (67 square kilometers). Thoreau never got married and never had kids. He proposed to Ellen Sewall, then 18 years old, when he was 23 years old, but she declined on the advice of her father. On May 6, 1862, Henry David Thoreau passed away. He was 44. After contracting TB in 1835, he intermittently experienced its effects. His final words, spoken while he was still conscious, were "Now comes good sailing," followed by the words "moose" and "Indian." In Concord, Massachusetts' Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, he was laid to rest.
Natural History of Massachusetts 3 A Walk to Wachusett 29 The Landlord 47 A Winter Walk 55 A Yankee in Canada 79 An Address on the Succession of Forest Trees 165 Walking 185 Autumnal Tints 223 Wild Apples 261 Editorial Appendix Index 293 Notes on Illustrations 315 Acknowledgments 317 Short Titles 324 Library Symbols 327 Historical Introduction 330 Textual Introduction 364 Headnotes, Textual Notes, and Tables Natural History of Massachusetts 390 A Walk to Wachusett 403 The Landlord 419 A Winter Walk 425 A Yankee in Canada 471 An Address on the Succession of Forest Trees 544 Walking 561 Autumnal Tints 601 Wild Apples 633 End-of-Line Hyphenation 647
'There was an excellent wisdom in him, proper to a rare class of men, which showed him the material world as a means and symbol… he had in a short life exhausted the capabilities of this world; wherever there is knowledge, wherever there is virtue, wherever there is beauty, he will find a home.' —Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his Biographical Sketch
