Member FruitlandsLibrary

The library of Fruitlands comprised something close to one thousand volumes, many of which were from the library of English transcendentalist James Pierrepont Greaves (1777-1842). Others were acquired directly by Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) or Charles Lane (1800-1870).

In the April 1843 issue of The Dial, edited by Henry David Thoreau, on pp. 545-548 appears "A Catalogue of Books," introduced with the following paragraph:

"Mr. Alcott and Mr. Lane have recently brought from England a small but valuable library, amounting to about a thousand volumes, containing undoubtedly a richer collection of mystical writers than any other library in this country. To the select Library of the late J. P. Greaves, 'held by Mr. Lane in trust for universal ends,' they have added many works of a like character by purchase, or received as gifts. In their Catalogue, from which the following list is extracted, they say "the titles of these books are now submitted, in the expectation that the Library is the commencement of an institution for the nurture of men in universal freedom of action, thought, and being.' We print this list, not only because our respect is engaged to views so liberal, but because the arrival of this cabinet of mystic and theosophic lore is a remarkable fact in our literary history."

The volumes included here are taken from the list as printed in The Dial; there are various reprinted versions of the list, most of which introduce numerous errors. This is the most complete list of the Fruitlands library known.

Other background information on the Fruitlands collection can be found in Richard Francis, Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia (Yale University Press, 2010).

Ralph Waldo Emerson commented on the library in a 26 October 1842 letter to his brother William: "They have brought out a thousand volumes, chiefly mystical & philosophical books, — which I saw safely through the Custom House forms yesterday, & tonight this cabalistic collection arrives in Concord. We shall scarcely need the moon any longer o' nights. They have brought 9 or 10 volumes of Mr Greaves's MSS, & some casts and prints of him & others, & what with these, & their wonderful selves, they hardly believe they have left anything behind them in England."

The Greaves library prompted some arguments between Alcott, Lane, and their fellow organizer Henry Gardiner Wright (1817-1846), who wanted to be paid for his share of the books and left before Fruitlands was established.

The Fruitlands library arrived at the settlement from Concord on 2 July 1843, and a carpenter build shelves to hold them, but the volumes were not in place for many months, as the experiment did not flourish: by November of the same year Lane wrote to former resident Isaac Hecker asking for a loan of $75, offering that Hecker could select books from the library to cover the amount: "You shall select such books as will suit your own reading, [and they] would cover your advance in cash any day you choose to put them up to auction, if I should fail to redeem them" (quoted in Francis, 242-243). When Lane left Fruitlands to take up residence with Harvard's Shaker community in January 1844, Alcott reported "He takes most of the Greaves library with him."

Lane wrote to Emerson on 15 March 1844, offering him any books from the library he liked, at his price, before it was to be sold. Emerson reported to Margaret Fuller on 19 April 1844 "I am to go to Harvard to see Mr Lane's library some day soon ..." (Rusk, ed. The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume III, p. 247).

On 17 July 1844 Fuller wrote to Lane, asking "How is it that you are selling the library, which we understood to be left in your care by Mr Greaves for the profit of scholars in the noblest provences to whomsoever has a mind to buy? For I am told you not only part with these books for money to those who, like Mr Emerson, you know will make a good use of them but are anxious to do so in Boston through the agency of Mr Loring to any purchaser who can be found" (quoted in Margaret Fuller, Letters, Volume III, p. 212).

By August of 1844 Emerson had started to receive books from Lane's library (see Emerson to Fuller, 30 August 1844, Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume III, p. 259), mentioning "I have 'Norris' from Lane ...". It seems that perhaps some sort of loan agreement was reached: on 29 March 1847 William Green, Jr. reported that Lane's books were packed and being shipped to Emerson, and on 11 April 1847 Emerson sent two of the books from Lane's library to Convers Francis of Concord ("Norris's Translation of Waring's Amorous Effigies, and Taylor's Two Treatises of Proclus"). In a 21 November 1850 reply to a lost Emerson letter of 22 October, Lane "suggests that his library might be sent to Philadelphia but does not wish to take away any books that Emerson enjoys" (Rusk, ed. Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume IV, p. 234).

On 15 December 1854, Emerson wrote to George Partridge Bradford, asking him when back in London to "look up Charles Lane, & satisfy yourself as exactly as you can, of his condition & purposes. The Shakers wish to know, & I wish to know of him. A portion of his library still remains in my shelves; nor have I sold any book for the last few years. Alcott thinks, they are not Lane's to sell. My practice, I think, must not be bound by A.'s casuistry, and if Lane is suffering, or is uneasy about them I would make a final sale of them, though there is not I suppose a value of $50. If they were to be sold, I would buy a few volumes" (Rusk, ed. Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume IV, p. 478-479). Some of Emerson's books are known to have originated with the Greaves collection, and were also likely at Fruitlands; these have been noted in the Comments.

After the Fruitlands venture failed, many of the remaining books from its library, those which Lane did not take with him, went back to Concord with the Alcotts and remained part of A. Bronson Alcott's library, which was deposited at Harvard in 1959 and officially donated in 1969 by the family of Frederic Wolsey Pratt (the great-grandson of A. Bronson Alcott). See the finding aid for the entire collection, which notes the books containing the ownership inscription of A. Bronson Alcott. It also notes the volumes known to have been in the Fruitlands library, which are typically inscribed "Fruitlands Library, 1843" inside the front cover in the hand of Frederic Wolsey Pratt. Other books on the list of Alcott's library which also appear in the Dial list have been noted here as possibly being the Fruitlands copy; there are likely many additional volumes from the Fruitlands library included with Alcott's books, and perhaps even more with Emerson's.

Fruitlands was a utopian community established in Harvard, Worcester County, Massachusetts in the summer of 1843. It lasted only until early January 1844.