THOREAU, HENRY DAVID Autograph letter signed ("H.D. Thoreau") to Daniel Ricketson of New Bedford, Concord, Massachusetts, 30 June 1858. 4 pages, 8vo, on lined paper, slight split at central fold, with the original stamped envelope addressed in Thoreau's hand. "PREACHING IN THE WALDEN STRAIN" A very good letter to "Friend Ricketson," a historian and poet, regarding a trip to the White Mountains, muding on the nature of his friendships and referring to his "preaching" in the mode of Walden (published 1854): "I am on the point of starting for the White Mtns . in a wagon...and I write you now rather to apologize for not writing than to answer worthily your three notes. I thank you heartily for them....Indeed my head has been so full of company, &c that I could not reply to your ditty before, nor can I now. [Parker] Pillsbury has been here and [William Ellery] Channing &c. "As for preaching to men these days in the Walden strain -- is it of any consequence to preach to an audience of men who can fail? -- or who can be revived ? There are few besides. Is it any success to interest these parties? If a man has speculated & failed , he will probably do these things again, in spite of you or me. I confess it is rare that I rise to sentiment in my relations to men -- ordinarily to a mere patient and wholesome good-will. I can imagine something more, but the truth compels me to regard the ideal & the actual as two things.. "Channing has come & as suddenly gone, and left a short poem 'Near Home' published(?) or printed by Monroe which I havehardly had time to glance at . As you may guess, I learn nothing of you from him. You already forsee my answer to your invitation to make you a summer visit -- I am bound for the [White] Mts. But I thought that you have vanquished ere this those dusky demons, that seem to lurk around the Head of the River. You know that this warfare is nothing bnut a kind of nightmare, & it is our thoughts alone which give those un worthies any body or existence. "I made an excursion with [Harrison G.O] Blake, of Worcester to Monadnoc, a few weeks since. We took our blankets & food, spent 2 nights on the Mt. , and did not go into a house. Allcott has been very busy, for a long time, repairing an old shell of a house, and I have seen very little of him. I have looked more at the houses which birds build. Watson made us all very generous presents from his nursery in the spring. Especially did he remember Alcott...." Published in Thoreau, Correspondence, ed. W. Harding and C. Bode (New York, l958), pp.517-518. Sold with an Autograph letter signed from Sophia Thoreau (Henry David's sister) to Ricketson, Concord, 9 May n.y., 2 pages, 12mo, with original envelope, thanking him for a volume of his poetry The Autumn Sheaf , delivered to her by Mr. Emerson. Provenance : Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (sale, Christies New York, 6 February 1981, lot 318).
THOREAU, HENRY DAVID Autograph letter signed ("H.D. Thoreau") to Daniel Ricketson of New Bedford, Concord, Massachusetts, 30 June 1858. 4 pages, 8vo, on lined paper, slight split at central fold, with the original stamped envelope addressed in Thoreau's hand. "PREACHING IN THE WALDEN STRAIN" A very good letter to "Friend Ricketson," a historian and poet, regarding a trip to the White Mountains, muding on the nature of his friendships and referring to his "preaching" in the mode of Walden (published 1854): "I am on the point of starting for the White Mtns . in a wagon...and I write you now rather to apologize for not writing than to answer worthily your three notes. I thank you heartily for them....Indeed my head has been so full of company, &c that I could not reply to your ditty before, nor can I now. [Parker] Pillsbury has been here and [William Ellery] Channing &c. "As for preaching to men these days in the Walden strain -- is it of any consequence to preach to an audience of men who can fail? -- or who can be revived ? There are few besides. Is it any success to interest these parties? If a man has speculated & failed , he will probably do these things again, in spite of you or me. I confess it is rare that I rise to sentiment in my relations to men -- ordinarily to a mere patient and wholesome good-will. I can imagine something more, but the truth compels me to regard the ideal & the actual as two things.. "Channing has come & as suddenly gone, and left a short poem 'Near Home' published(?) or printed by Monroe which I havehardly had time to glance at . As you may guess, I learn nothing of you from him. You already forsee my answer to your invitation to make you a summer visit -- I am bound for the [White] Mts. But I thought that you have vanquished ere this those dusky demons, that seem to lurk around the Head of the River. You know that this warfare is nothing bnut a kind of nightmare, & it is our thoughts alone which give those un worthies any body or existence. "I made an excursion with [Harrison G.O] Blake, of Worcester to Monadnoc, a few weeks since. We took our blankets & food, spent 2 nights on the Mt. , and did not go into a house. Allcott has been very busy, for a long time, repairing an old shell of a house, and I have seen very little of him. I have looked more at the houses which birds build. Watson made us all very generous presents from his nursery in the spring. Especially did he remember Alcott...." Published in Thoreau, Correspondence, ed. W. Harding and C. Bode (New York, l958), pp.517-518. Sold with an Autograph letter signed from Sophia Thoreau (Henry David's sister) to Ricketson, Concord, 9 May n.y., 2 pages, 12mo, with original envelope, thanking him for a volume of his poetry The Autumn Sheaf , delivered to her by Mr. Emerson. Provenance : Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (sale, Christies New York, 6 February 1981, lot 318).
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
