THOREAU, Henry D.

Walden; or, life in the woods.   Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1854.

First edition of an American classic, one of two thousand copies of the first printing. Originally written in a journal before they were made into a book, the entries date from 1839 and extend to within a few months of the publication. This was the second of two books published during the author's lifetime.

Thoreau (1817-62), New England transcendentalist, natural philosopher and peaceful anarchist, opposed the oppressive forces of government and industrial life upon the individual. He acted variously upon his philosophy, gradually removing himself from economic production, then living apart from the community in his retreat at Walden Pond. Later he was to refuse to pay his poll tax as a protest against the Mexican war, being jailed for a single night before an aunt paid the tax. He further demonstrated his conviction in the supremacy of conscience over law by assisting in the escape of fugitive slaves.

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