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Henry David Thoreau

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:15,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
Henry David Thoreau

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Auction Date:2014 Feb 12 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Partial autograph manuscript, unsigned, one page, 7.25 x 3, no date, presumably taken from one of Thoreau’s notebooks. In full: “principle witness. We do not want want [sic] to see hear the man who saw the track only—or even followed the trail—and found the bones and the hide and deposited them in his cabinet—but him whose sheep the wolf killed who has summered and wintered within hearing of his howl—and who finally encountered and overcame him—This will be—this is the only report which.” On the reverse, Thoreau writes in pencil, “Dr Gould, report this singular fact is recorded in” [most likely Augustus A. Gould of the Boston Society of Natural History]. A color photocopy of the reverse is included. Matted and framed with an engraved portrait bearing a facsimile signature to an overall size of 13.75 x 20. In fine condition, with a bit of scattered light foxing and an uneven bottom edge. This manuscript portion accompanied Thoreau’s Greek Lexicon which was once owned by W. Stephen Thomas, former president of the Thoreau Society, and was sold by his son.

Drawing us back to the heart of Walden—‘I went to the woods…to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life…to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it’—this extraordinary page of unpublished notes underscores Thoreau’s unwavering commitment to direct experience as the most reliable source of information. Learning of a wolf from the man who has known it only from a distance, seeing “the track only” and finding its remains, is nothing to Thoreau; learning of it from one who has lived among wolves, lost his sheep to the wolf, and finally encountered and overcome him “is the only report” with truth. The combination of this page’s significant and poetic content, the rarity of handwritten material by Thoreau, the fact that this letter remains unpublished, and the notable provenance make this one of the finest pieces from the literary master we have encountered.