The autocrat of the breakfast table.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1859. 8vo. viii, 373 pp. FIRST EDITION, LARGE PAPER ISSUE. With half-title, woodcut title, second title in red and black, and 8 woodcut plates. Original tan pebbled cloth, decorated in blind, with title, author’s name, and 4 rings in gilt to spine. End-papers printed with publisher’s advertisements. Morocco bookplate of Alfred Sutro. A fine copy in a half-morocco slip case. Item #18184
First edition, the large paper issue printed from the same plates as the 12mo. despite having a printed date of 1859 on the title page. These large paper copies were issued just before the failure of the firm Phillips, Sampson in 1859. Previously, Holmes was famous primarily for being a poet, physician and lecturer. Thanks to Lowell, who refused to undertake tihe editorship of The Atlantic Monthly without Holmes’ agreement to contribute a series of essays, Holmes is now also known as a great writer of prose as well. Contains not only the famous essays on the intellectual and cultural life of New England at the time, but also the first printing of two of his most famous poems, The chambered nautilus, and The one hoss shay.
Price: $950.00