A Reprint of the 1916 Edition

Emerson is one of the most influential thinkers in American history. His Transcendentalism preached a close communion with... More > man and nature and is one of the great life-affirming philosophies of any age. Society and Solitude provides a salient exemplification of Emerson's thought. As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emerson embraced a philosophy that championed the individual, emphasized independent thought, and prized "the splendid labyrinth of one's own perceptions." More than any writer of his time, he forged a style distinct from his European predecessors and embodied and defined what it meant to be an American. Matthew Arnold called Emerson's essays "the most important work done in prose." "I was simmering, simmering, simmering. Emerson brought me to a boil."

This classic contains chapters on social aims; poetry and imagination; eloquence; quotation and originality; progress of culture, Persian poetry; inspiration; greatness; and immortality < Less

Conduct of Life

I Fate
II Power
III Wealth
IV Culture
V Behavior
VI Worship
VII Considerations by the Way
VIII Beauty
IX... More > Illusions



Society and Solitude

I Society and Solitude
II Civilization
III Art
IV Eloquence
V Domestic Life
VI Farming
VII Works and Days
VIII Books
IX Clubs
X Courage
XI Success
XII Old Age < Less

REPRESENTATIVE MEN
Uses of Great Men
Plato; or, the Philosopher
Swedenborg; or, the Mystic
Montaigne; or, the... More > Skeptic
Shakspeare; or, the Poet
Napoleon; or, the Man of the World
Goethe; or, the Writer

ENGLISH TRAITS

I First Visit to England
II Voyage to England
III Land
IV Race
V Ability
VI Manners
VII Truth
VIII Character
IX Cockayne
X Wealth
XI Aristocracy
XII Universities
XIII Religion
XIV Literature
XV The "Times"
XVI Stonehenge
XVII Personal
XVIII Result
XIX Speech at Manchester < Less

Volume II

Essays I

I. History
II. Self-Reliance
III. Compensation
IV. Spiritual Laws
V. Love
VI Friendship
VII.... More > Prudence
VIII Heroism
IX. The Over-Soul
X. Circles
XI. Intellect
XII. Art

Essays II

I The Poet
II Experience
III Character
IV Manners
V Gifts
VI Nature
VII Politics
VIII Nominalist and Realist
IX New England Reformers < Less

Volume I - Nature, Addresses & Lectures

Nature: Introduction
I. Nature
II. Commodity
III. Beauty
IV. Language
V.... More > Discipline
VI. Idealism
VII. Spirit
VIII. Prospects
The American Scholar
Divinity School Address
Literary Ethics
The Method of Nature
Man the Reformer
Introductory Lecture on the Times
The Conservative
The Transcendentalist
The Young American < Less

Originally published in 1865 by Houghton and Mifflin’s predecessor, Ticknor and Fields, Henry David Thoreau’s Cape Cod... More > is a earthy, humorous and enlightening account of the arm of Massachusetts, Cape Cod. Cape Cod, Volume V of the Collected Writings of Henry David Thoreau is now available in an affordable quality trade paperback. < Less

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack is Henry David Thoreau's first book first published in 1849. The book is ostensibly the... More > narrative of a boat trip from Concord, Massachusetts to Concord, New Hampshire and back Thoreau had taken with his brother John in 1839. As John had died in 1842, Thoreau wrote the book as a tribute to his memory. < Less

Henry David Thoreau's classic account of self-reliance in an age of encroaching modern developments is inspirational,... More > spiritual, rugged, raw and humorous. This volume, the second in a planned series of twenty-five books, will ultimately comprise the complete collected works of Henry Thoreau. Available for the first time as an affordable series, Thoreau's words are timeless and especially apt in an age of social uncertainty. < Less

Posthumously published in 1864, The Maine Woods collects three separate essays (formerly lectures) written and edited by... More > American author, Henry David Thoreau. Rustic, raw and soberly aware of a vanishing American wilderness, Thoreau takes on environmentalism, Native America and natural history. This book, the third in a planned series of twenty-five, will comprise upon completion the entire collected writings of Henry David Thoreau in an affordable edition. < Less