Thoreau in Fine Press

Thoreau is one of only a handful of authors I specifically collect in fine press. While I've managed to curate a fairly thorough collection over the years, I am aware of some notable gaps, and also expect there are some editions that simply haven't crossed my radar yet.

I would love to hear of any editions missing from my list, alongside thoughts on any I've yet to collect, and in turn am happy to answer questions or offer opinions on any of the Thoreau titles in my collection:

Full-length / compilations

1. Of Woodland Pools, Spring-Holes & Ditches, Lone Oak Press
2. The Winged Life (ed. Robert Bly), Yolla Bolly Press
3. Clear Sky, Pure Light (ed. Christopher Childs), Penmaen Press
4. A Week on The Concord & Merrimack, Limited Editions Club
5. Cape Cod, Limited Editions Club
6. Walden, Limited Editions Club *not yet collected
7. Walden or Life in the Woods, Lakeside Press *not yet collected
8. Walden, Peter Pauper Press *not yet collected
9. Walden, Shambhala Press *not yet collected
10. The Maine Woods, Ascensius Press *not yet collected

Chapbooks / journal excerpts

1. War from Walden, Red Angel Press
2. The Dream of The Toad, Gaspereau Press
3. Still Deep & Sweet, Gaspereau Press
4. The Library a Wilderness, Gaspereau Press
5. Survey of A Swamp, Gaspereau Press
6. A Button Intercepts The Light & Casts a Shadow, Gaspereau Press
7. Shoe Strings, Gaspereau Press
8. Where the Pressed Earth Shines Most, Gaspereau Press.
9. Man is All Together Too Much insisted Upon, Gaspereau Press *not yet collected
10. Walking, Gaspereau Press *not yet collected
11. Walking, Ninja Press *not yet collected
12. The Angle of Dazzle, St. Brigid Press
13. Soundings, Hillside Press (letterpress miniature book)
14. Turtles Nest, Achille J. St. Onge (letterpress miniature book)
15. Two Fragments from The Journals, Windhover Press
16. Sic Vita, The Silverado Press
17. Winter Animals, Georgian Press
18. The Ponds, Comet Press
19. House Warming, Haddon Craftsmen
20. A Pig Tale, A. Colish - Bruce Rogers work
21. Civil Disobedience, The Prototype Press
22. Civil Disobedience, The Gehenna Press *not yet collected
23. Huckleberries, Windhover Press *not yet collected
24. Life Without Principle: Three Essays James Ladd Delkin *not yet collected
25. Essay on Friendship, Roycrofters *not yet collected
26. The Loon of Walden Pond, Rulon-Miller Books / Kutenai Press *not yet collected
27. Henry David Thoreau, a few excerpts from his work Selected by Joseph Ishill , Oriole Press *not yet collected
28. Where I Lived and What I Lived For Golden Cockerel Press
29. Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity: An Excerpt from Walden Ariel Press *not yet collected

Broadsides / ephemera

1. The Wood Frog, Lone Oak Press
2. The Fox, Lone Oak Press
3. Moose Were Silently Watching, Lone Oak Press *not yet collected
4. Surely Joy, Lone Oak Press *not yet collected, but found in "A Wood Engraving & its poem
5. Bufo The First, Lone Oak Press, *not yet collected, but found in "Of Woodland Pools..."
6. Waterlily, Lone Oak Press *not yet collected
7. Walden, Lone Oak Press *not yet collected
8. The Written Word, The Clinker Press *not yet collected
9. A Town is Sand Ninja Press *not yet collected

Featuring Thoreau

1. The Third Thing, The Old Stile Press
2. A Wood Engraving & It's Poem, Society of Wood Engravers
3. Speculum Mundi, Peter Koch Printer
4. A Vision of Thoreau (with text of Civil Disobedience), The Spiral Press *not yet collected
5. Captivity Narrative of Hannah Duston, Arion Press *not yet collected
6. Lac Des Pleurs, Midnight Paper Sales *not yet collected

Two that I know of:

Huckleberries (Windhover Press)
A Pig Tale (A. Colish), Bruce Rogers work

The first came up in correspondence with Merker's daughters. The latter I have encountered in my searches for material by Colish and Rogers.

A third turned up in a search I just ran, first I've header of Powgen Press. They also did an edition of Poe's A Descent Into the Maelstrom, among other titles. I believe they are letterpress but cannot confirm personally.

Life Without Principle (Powgen Press), part of the American Renaissance Series

I really like my Folio Society edition of Walden. It's not letterpress but a nice fine edition nonetheless.

>2 Shadekeep: Thank you, those are great additions! Huckleberries was an oversight of mine, but the other two are brand new to me.

I can't find much on Powgen Press either, though I did find a bibliography listing for a 1939 limited edition of Life Without Principle.

Walden or Life in the Woods. Rudolph Ruzicka, illustrator. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1930. Edition of 1000.

Walden. Peter Pauper Press, 1944. Illustrated by Aldren Watson.

Walden. Boston: Shambhala Press, 2004. Illustrated with wood engravings by Michael McCurdy in an edition of 250.

Civil Disobedience. San Francisco: Sharp Teeth Press, 2012 (is this the one you have listed as Prototype Press?). Illustrated by Nate Van Dyke. Edition of 150.

Civil Disobedience. Boston: David R. Godine, 1969. 50 numbered copies in a total edition of 650 printed by The Gehenna Press.

Life Without Principle: Three Essays. Stanford, CA: James Ladd Delkin, 1946. Printed dust jacket featuring drawings by Lee Mullican. Edition of 500.

Huckleberries. New York: Windover Press/NYPL, 1970. Edition of 150.

The Ponds. Comet Press, 1949. Edition of 1500 copies with drawings by Edwin B. Kolsby.

On Friendship. Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin at the Riverside Press, 1901. Edition of 500 copies designed by Bruce Rogers.

A Pig Tale. New Fairfield, CT: Bruce Rogers, 1947 (is this the A. Colish edition?).

A Vision of Thoreau (with text of Civil Disobedience). New York: The Spiral Press 1965. Edition of 530 with woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi.

The Written Word (broadside) printed at the Clinker Press in 2004 for a joint meeting of the Zamorano and Roxburghe Clubs, October 2004.

A Town is Sand (broadside). Sherman Oaks, CA: Ninja Press.

(Letterpress Broadside) East Hampton, MA, Big Wheel Press.

wcarter noted an edition of Walden by Steel Brothers: https://www.librarything.com/topic/353425

>4 NathanOv: My pleasure! Pretty much anything from Windhover is a win. Do check out the work of Abraham Colish, he's of special interest to those of us with typophilic inclinations. I suspect you'll enjoy his work, if you don't in fact already do so!

>1 NathanOv: Nice list, thank you! Which is your favorite?

>5 dpbbooks: Thank you for that list! I'll work on getting them added.

I may need to seriously consider the Peter Pauper Walden as I haven't been quite satisfied with the other editions I've seen. Though, I did pick up a copy of the Steel Brothers version to read this spring.

>7 astropi: It's hard to pick, but I think Of Woodland Pools, Spring-holes & Ditches is my favorite of the full-length editions. Abigail Rorer is one of my favorite active engravers and her publishing work is impeccable.

While a lot of these are hard-to-find, "The Angle of Dazzle" from St. Brigid Press is a fantastic little chapbook with a beautiful illustration that I recommend picking up while it's still in print.

>8 NathanOv: I highly recommend the Godine/Gehenna edition of Civil Disobedience.

I have a copy of the Peter Pauper Walden -- it's nice, but the printing I have isn't special. Mine has no publication date or colophon, so it might be a lower-quality reprint of a finer edition.

The Walden I like best is from the Heritage Press (1939) with Thomas W. Nason's beautiful wood engravings. It's small, fits perfectly in the hand, and is humble but elegant -- I think Thoreau would approve. ;-)

>10 kermaier: Thank you for the recommendation, I like my Sharp Teeth / Prototype Civil Disobedience, but will have to consider that one as well!

I hadn't considered the Heritage Press Walden, but it sounds like it might appeal to me a little more than the LEC so thank you for that description of it.

Apologies if someone mentioned this and I missed it but Richard Ellis did Winter Animals at his Georgian Press in 1928. (I believe Ellis's other Thoreau design is your House-Warming / Haddon Craftsman.)

>12 eanson: This is a great one, thank you! It looks like I'll have to do some digging to find a copy in decent shape, but I love House-Warming and read it just about every winter, so would be very happy to have a companion to it.

>11 NathanOv: I have the Sharp Teeth Press edition too — they’re very different productions, each pleasing in its own way.

Not sure if this counts as fine press, but Island Press and Shearwater Book's _Faith in a Seed_ from 1993 might be another.

A bit of a tangential one that I found in the William Reese Company fine/small press catalogue, which I am currently trawling for unknown (to me) presses.

Arion Press: Thoreau, Henry D., et al: CAPTIVITY NARRATIVE OF HANNAH
DUSTON RELATED BY COTTON MATHER, JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, NATHANIEL
HAWTHORNE AND HENRY DAVID THOREAU, FOUR VERSIONS OF EVENTS IN 1697
.... San Francisco: The Arion Press, 1987. Folio (43.5 x 32.5 cm). Cloth backed paper
over boards. Illustrated. Bookplate on pastedown, otherwise about fine.

First printing in this format, illustrated with thirty-five woodblock prints by Richard Bosman.
Introduction by Glenn Todd. One of 425 copies (400 for sale) printed on Rives heavyweight
by Andrew Hoyem and associates, and signed by the artist. The extensive introduction
discusses the dissemination of Mather’s text and its revisions (the earliest account),
through the general historians of the 18th and 19th century, up through the use of the
narrative by Whittier, Thoreau and Hawthorne.

>16 Shadekeep: That one was always so close to coming home with me back when I was a subscriber. It was a lovely edition.

>15 abgreens: I've been meaning to pickup a copy of Faith in a Seed for a couple years since I believe it's illustrated by Abigail Rorer, but I've never been able to from the details what sort of production it is either. Do you happen to have this book?

>16 Shadekeep: I'll add it to "Featuring Thoreau!" I'm not seeing any copies available for sale online, but it also doesn't look like recent auction sales went for all that much, so I'll have to keep an eye out for a copy.

>18 NathanOv: My grandmother gave me the book as a present when it came out. It is illustrated by Abigail Rorer. Content-wise, it's a collection of post _Walden_ writings, including _Dispersion of Seeds_ and a few other later natural history pieces. Editing-wise, it's well-done with a helpful intro, end notes, and index. Production-wise it has in-text illustrations, cloth covers, and ribbon binding (not sure that's the right term). It says it's a limited edition on the copyright page, but no indication of the limitation. The printing and paper do not seem special in any way, but the paper is a nice off-white and the binding is tight.

It does come with a signed wood block print (limit 600) on a nicely textured softer paper (like Japanese style paper).

I have put photos in my gallery until I get better at the html that causes the photos to link correctly in text here.

>19 abgreens: Thank you for sharing those! The illustrations look fantastic, and the paper actually looks to have a nice texture to it as well. I'm assuming it's printed offset?

Side note, what book is your Primary Picture from? That printing and text design is stunning.

>20 NathanOv: https://www.librarything.com/topic/302510#8413249

There was a good deal of chatter back and forth about The Hovering Fly, which surprised a number of us with its beauty.

>20 NathanOv: Yes, it's offset (unless there's another printing style that's not letterpress that would be likely to have been used....)...still, a great book.

The primary picture now--I keep changing them by mistake I think--is from _Hovering Fly_....I allowed myself to be enabled by the conversation earlier--thanks, SuttonHoo and Shadekeep! The spine is dissolving but the textblock is solid and it's a lovely book indeed...nice depth of printing and so so full of illustrations....

Let me bring this one to your attention:

Henry David Thoreau. The Loon of Walden Pond. St. Paul, MN: Rulon-Miller Books, 1994. 8vo, pp. 4; stitched, as issued, into gray printed wrappers, hand-colored. Edition limited to 250 copies printed by Emily Mason Strayer at the Kutenai Press "in celebration of the holiday season, for friends of Rob Rulon-Miller and Rulon-Miller Books."

Emily's Kutenai Press first came to life in Missoula, Montana. This book was printed during her stay in St. Paul, Minnesota.

>23 Glacierman: Kutenai Press is good stuff, excellent find there.

>23 Glacierman: There’s an interesting one that’s going right on the search list! Kutenai Press is brand new to me.

>25 NathanOv: You can learn a bit about that press by clicking on the link in my note, but you'll learn much more when I manage to get my book, Small Presses in the Rocky Mountain West published later this year.

Another inclusive volume, and one in my own collection: A Handbook for Creative Protest: Thoreau, Gandhi, & King in Conversation (St Brigid Press).

Stumbled across another - I Left the Woods from Éditions Verdigris.

>28 Shadekeep: Very interesting find! I can appreciate a nicely made artist book when it's designed around a compelling text and gives me plenty to read.

I'd love to also find a copy of their Dickinson poem ...

>28 Shadekeep: An edition of 15? Wow, that's a bit crazy. You might never see one of those on the second-hand market... a bit sad.

>30 astropi: Aye, they have those livres d'artiste tiny limitations going on like you see on Vamp & Tramp. It is rather a shame, as there are a number of truly gorgeous books at this press.

>28 Shadekeep: Beautiful. I really like the shape of the pond embossed on the colophon. I'd take that one and dust off my high school French...

The next 'Henry' chapbook from Gaspereau Press is looking very nice, more info in the posting here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8XkXjuJsam/

Where the Pressed Earth Shines Most is out now from Gaspereau Press.

Here's an obscure one which you will play hell in ever finding a copy:

Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity: An Excerpt from Walden. Rochester: Ariel Press, 1975. (12) pp, 14-1/8"; 25 copies. One of Carol Denison's student projects. She later established the Calliopea Press in Missoula, Montana.

A classic press option:

Where I Lived and What I Lived For. Golden Cockerel Press, 1924. A lovely excerpt from Walden with engravings by Gibbings.

Nice deal on the LEC A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers here: https://www.rarecollections.co.za/pages/books/951/david-henry-thoreau/a-week-on-...

Shipping may shave off some of the savings, depending where you're at, of course.

Here's one for you:

Henry David Thoreau, a few excerpts from his work. Selected by Joseph Ishill. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Oriole Press, 1958. Joseph Ishill's Oriole Press is a very important private press that he operated from 1926 until his death in 1964, although he published earlier than that under several imprints (The Modern School Association of N. A., The Free Spirit Press, Joseph Ishill). Ishill was a Romanian-born Jewish anarchist typesetter and bookbinder.

>36 newdigate: >38 Glacierman: Excellent additions! I got a little behind on this, but have now added the last several mentioned to the list.

>38 Glacierman: Thanks for the reminder about Oriole Press, I did a fresh search on them. A couple of tangential Thoreau titles in their output as well:

The Thoreau Family Two Generations Ago, Mabel Loomis Todd, 1958
Thoreau Society booklet. Genealogy, local history. Limited edition, 570 copies, not numbered. String bound booklet, 23 pages.

Concord Books ~ Henry David Thoreau, Hannah R. Hudson, 1961
Excerpted from her June, 1875 Harper's Monthly article. Pamphlet. 12 pages, wraps, string binding, 3.5x6.25 inches.

EDIT: And just stumbled across a third while browsing the catalogue of Bolerium Books, looking for something else entirely:

Thoreau: The Cosmic Yankee, Joseph Ishill, 1954
Cromwell & Cloister Oldstyle types; printed in black and green; 65 copies on W & A All Rag and Hamilton Text papers; decorated boards with linen spine and printed labels; 4.25 x 7.75 inches; 35 pages. This essay was originally published in the Thoreau Centennial in 1946. Includes the poem Thoreau's Flute by Louisa May Alcott.

>40 Shadekeep: Looks like I started something....

>40 Shadekeep: I may need to add a new category for these! I cannot tell if any of them contain writing by Thoreau, or if they are simply about Thoreau.

>42 NathanOv: The think they are largely metatextual, or in one case genealogical.

Received an email from Gary Dunfield at Gaspereau Press, he found a couple copies of Shoe-strings in stock. I'm picking up one of them, but anyone else interested should get in touch with him about ordering a copy.