Thoreau

Kentfield, California: The Upstairs Press, 1977. First separate edition of Virginia Woolf’s tribute to Henry David Thoreau, number 89 of 100 copies, printed “to honor the 160th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau’s birth and the 60th anniversary of the first publication of this article in the London Times Literary Supplement for July 12, 1917.” Woolf celebrates Thoreau’s remarkable ability to pay attention to his own experience of the world: “Walden – all his books, indeed – are packed with subtle, conflicting, and very fruitful discoveries. They are not written to prove something in the end. They are written as the Indians turn down twigs to mark their path through the forest.” This fine press edition was handset in Caslon type by California printer Mildred Sherrod Bissinger at The Upstairs Press. See Barlow, Notes on Woman Printers in Colonial America and the United States, 1639-1975. In 2001, The Favil Press & Paul Evans Rare Books would issue a facsimile of the Upstairs Press edition. A near-fine copy. Single volume, measuring 8.5 x 6.5 inches: [24]. Original color patterned wrappers, pastedown title label to upper wrapper. Numbered in ink at colophon. Lightest edgewear. (Inventory #: 1003956)