Cape Cod

Title: Cape Cod

Author: Thoreau, Henry D. [David]

Publication: Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865.

Description: Thoreau's chronicles of his walking tours in coastal Cape Cod, Massachusetts between 1849 and 1855, describing the region's natural beauty and his encounters with fishermen and lighthouse keepers. First edition in book form, previously appeared as a series of magazine articles. Edited by William Ellery Channing and Sophia Thoreau and published posthumously. In publisher's purple cloth binding (Binding A in BAL), stamped in blind, with title in gilt on the spine, and brown coated endpapers. 7.5 x 5 inches; [6], 252 pages, 23, [1], pages of publisher's advertisements. Stamp of former owner G.A. Bigelow on page [1] and rear endpaper. From the collection of Arthur Williams Hall (1873-1952) of Massachusetts, bibliophile and manufacturer of laboratory equipment, with his acquisition note in pencil on the front free endpaper; thence by descent through three generations. Spine rather sunned with chipping to head of spine, soiling to a couple leaves, and dampstain and closed tear to rear flyleaf and endpaper. Good+. BAL mentions eight unnumbered pages in the beginning (not counting the flyleaf), while this copy has six. Digitized copies of both possible variants show that the difference in page count can be attributed to an initial blank. Reference: Blanck, J. Bibliography of American literature, 20115.