Manuscripts

Index Rerum

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Description: Manuscript (holograph, signed) commonplace book, "Index rerum," containing an index to Thoreau's Journal, a library catalogue, original compositions, and reviews of books. Partly in pencil. Laid into the volume is a letter to Thoreau from Ticknor & Fields, 1862 April 11 (incomplete); a list of books from Thoreau's library by Elizabeth J. Weir; and a list of "Books in my possession," by F. H. Bigelow, 1872 June.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1836-1860.
Call number: mssHM 945
Creator: Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from H.V. Jones-Bixby sale (lot 1600), March 4-5, 1919.
Restrictions: RESTRICTED. Available with curatorial approval. Requires extended retrieval and delivery time.

General Phenomena for April; Phenomena for Feb. 1860 : indexes to the Journal, 1851-1860

Manuscripts

Manuscript (holograph) of notes by Henry David Thoreau of natural phenomena for April, 1851-1860, used as an index to Thoreau's journal. Laid into a folder bearing a note by F. B. Sanborn. Partly written on the reverse of portions of a draft of Thoreau's "Plea for John Brown."

mssHM 13203

Walden; or, life in the woods : corrected proof, 1854

Manuscripts

Proof sheets with manuscript corrections of entire printed text of "Walden." Corrections in pencil are in Thoreau's hand. On the title page: E.J. Weir from Sophia E. Thoreau. A separate leaf contains a table of contents (in pencil) in Thoreau's hand.

mssHM 925

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Henry David Thoreau poems

Manuscripts

Manuscript poems by Henry David Thoreau copied in the hand of Thoreau's sister Sophia E. Thoreau. Contents: Haze (page 1a); The Funeral Bell (pages 1a-b); Voyagers Song. 1837 June (page 2a); Change Not (page 2b); A Rural Scene, afternoon in May (page 3a); The Ark (page 4a); Enoch (page 4a); The Prayer (page 4b); "Every little spring flows on …" (page 5a); "My feeble bark has reached the shore…" (Michelangelo) (page 6a). At the top of page 1 there is a penciled note of authentication by F. B. Sanborn. A leaf containing 2 pages of penciled notes about books, in Sophia Thoreau's hand, is laid with the above.

mssHM 13190

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Journal : fragments

Manuscripts

Manuscript (holograph) of fragments of the journal of Henry David Thoreau in 3 envelopes. Envelope I contains 30 leaves are assigned by F.B. Sanborn to a period before 1848, including 20 consecutive leaves for 1843 September 24-1844 January 7. Envelope II contains 52 leaves said by Sanborn to be portions of a Journal volume covering the greater part of 1848, the whole of 1849, and more than 3 months of 1850. There is a partial index to this volume in Thoreau's hand. Envelope III contains a miscellaneous group of 13 leaves, dated about 1842-1850 that were segregated by reasons of publication.

mssHM 13182

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[Nature notes for the months of April and May]

Manuscripts

Manuscript (holograph) of notes on nature during the months of April and May in 1851-1853, compiled from Thoreau's journal and written on the reverse of a summons to Henry David Thoreau to appear at the Court of Common Pleas in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the case of Leonard Spalding Lots vs. Wm. C. Benjamin.

mssHM 13198

Calendar for March : index to the Journal, approximately 1860

Manuscripts

Manuscript (holograph). With marginal note on page 1 by Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. Written on the reverse of portions of Thoreau's "Plea for John Brown" (not in sequence).

mssHM 13202

Index Rerum

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General Phenomena for April; Phenomena for Feb. 1860 : indexes to the Journal, 1851-1860

Walden; or, life in the woods : corrected proof, 1854

Henry David Thoreau poems

Journal : fragments

[Nature notes for the months of April and May]

Calendar for March : index to the Journal, approximately 1860