7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 1 of 398 Walden I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up. —Page 81 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 2 of 398 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 3 of 398 Walden HENRY D. THOREAU A FULLY ANNOTATED EDITION Edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer Yale University Press New Haven and London Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 4 of 398 Edward Emerson’s map on p. 151 courtesy of the Thoreau Society (Raymond Adams Collection) and the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods Copyright © 2004 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Sonia Shannon. Set in Adobe Garamond type by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thoreau, Henry David, 1817–1862. Walden:afullyannotatededition/HenryD. Thoreau ; edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. isbn 0-300-10466-9 (alk. paper) 1. Thoreau, Henry David, 1817–1862—Homes and haunts—Massachusetts—Walden Woods. 2. Wilderness areas—Massachusetts—Walden Woods. 3. Natural history—Massachusetts—Walden Woods. 4. Walden Woods (Mass.)—Social life and customs. 5. Authors, American—19th century—Biography. 6. Solitude. I. Cramer, Jeffrey S., 1955– II. Title. ps3048.a2c73 2004 818'.303—dc22 2004009596 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10987654321 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 5 of 398 to my parents Russ and Flo Cramer Though the parents cannot determine whether the child shall be male or female, yet, methinks, it depends on them whether he shall be a worthy addition to the human family. —Thoreau in his journal, 23 November 1852 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 6 of 398 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 7 of 398 Contents list of illustrations ix preface xi acknowledgments xiii introduction xv walden Economy 1 Where I Lived, and What I Lived For 78 Reading 97 Sounds 108 Solitude 125 Visitors 135 The Bean-Field 150 The Village 162 The Ponds 168 Baker Farm 194 Higher Laws 202 Brute Neighbors 214 House-Warming 228 Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors 246 Winter Animals 262 ThePondinWinter 273 Spring 289 Conclusion 309 bibliography 327 notesonthetext choice of copy text 335 textual notes and emendations 335 end-of-line hyphenation 341 index 345 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 8 of 398 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 9 of 398 Illustrations Daguerreotype of Henry David Thoreau xv Detail from H. F.Walling’s map of Concord xix Detail from Herbert Gleason’s map of Concord xxi From the title page of Walden, first edition xxvii Edward Emerson’s map locating Thoreau’s bean field 151 Thoreau’s survey of Walden Pond 278 Illustrations ix Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 10 of 398 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 11 of 398 Preface In honor of the sesquicentennial of the publication of Walden in 1854,Thoreau’s text has been newly edited and annotated. My main purpose has been twofold: to examine the text of Walden in light of the research and commentary that has been published in the past 150 years, and to present a reliable text with as comprehensive a series of annotations as possible. I have tried to correct errors and omissions of previous editions without creating new ones, but I feel like the traveler Thoreau described in his ‘‘Conclusion’’ to Walden who was told by a boy that the swamp before him had a hard bot- tom. On the traveler’s horse sinking in up to the girths, he said, ‘‘I thought you said that this bog had a hard bottom.’’ ‘‘So it has,’’ answered the boy, ‘‘but you have not got half way to it yet.’’ We maynevergettothebottomofWalden, but I hope we have gotten that much closer. Preface xi Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 12 of 398 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 13 of 398 Acknowledgments It is difficult to begin without borrowing. —Thoreau, in ‘‘Economy,’’ Walden IowethegreatestdebttothepreviousannotatorsofWalden— in particular, Walter Harding, Philip Van Doren Stern, and David Rohman. Without the foundations set by these three, this book could not have been made. I proceed humbly in their footsteps, but I proceed knowing that they would all agree with Emerson’s words in ‘‘The Method of Nature’’: ‘‘Nothing solid is secure.... Even the scholar is not safe; he too is searched and revised.’’ A work like this could not have been made without the help of literally hundreds of people, known and unknown. Many are ac- knowledged below, but there are many who, I regret, have become anonymous and for these omissions of credit I apologize. There is generosity and enthusiasm in the world for which I am apprecia- tive, and it is rewarding to know that such dedication and passion exists. Among those I am especially grateful to are Bill Grealish, for- merly of the Boston Public Library, reference librarian par excel- lence, and Nancy Browne, who came through in a pinch to locate and proof some last-minute resources; Thomas Knowles, Ameri- can Antiquarian Society; Jeanne Bracken, Lincoln Public Library; Diane Ota and Janice Chadbourne of the Boston Public Library, who helped with questions about music and art; Russell A. Pot- ter and Chas Cowing, for information on Kane and Franklin; Donald W. Linebaugh of the Program for Archaeological Research, The University of Kentucky, for questions about archaeology and nineteenth-century building practices; all the Stumpers-L wom- bats and, in particular, Denis Lien of the University of Minne- sota Libraries; Jack Larkin, Director of Research, Collections, and Acknowledgments xiii Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 14 of 398 Library at Old Sturbridge Village; Austin Meredith; Ruth R. Rog- ers; and Jack MacLean for his help with Lincoln history. I have also been a beneficiary of the assistance of librarians at Houghton Library at Harvard University, the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library. My thanks to Robert Richardson and Wes Mott for their inci- sive readings of early drafts of, respectively, ‘‘Where I Lived, and What I Lived For’’ and ‘‘TheVillage’’; LeslieWilson, Concord Pub- lic Library, for her invaluable help in locating material and for her reading of an early draft of ‘‘Conclusion’’; and Greg Joly, for the manyenjoyable and informative hours of discussion over the mean- ing of a word or a phrase, and his casting the eye of a printer and a poet over ‘‘Economy.’’ I am grateful to Kathi Anderson, Executive Director of the Wal- denWoods Project and the Thoreau Institute at WaldenWoods, for her support and flexibility in helping me to get this project done. I am indebted to the various Thoreau scholars who have do- nated their research to the collections of the Thoreau Society and the Walden Woods Project. These collections, housed at the Tho- reau Institute at WaldenWoods, Lincoln, Massachusetts, and man- aged by Walden Woods Project, are an invaluable and unparalleled resource, without which this book could not have been completed. Also, John Kulka of Yale University Press for his vision and con- fidence in bringing to fruition a project that was, in many ways, 150 years in the making. Thanks also to my daughters, Kazia and Zoë, who had hoped that when this book was done, so would be my talking about Tho- reau. And finally, but always foremost in my heart and mind, my wife, Julia Berkley, who has been my toughest critic, staunchest sup- porter through everything Thoreauvian or not, and dearest friend. xiv Acknowledgments Tseng 2004.6.17 12:17 7117 Thoreau / WALDEN / sheet 15 of 398 Introduction ‘‘‘Walden’ published.’’ That is all that Thoreau wrote in his jour- nal on 9 August 1854, the day of the publication of Walden, nine years and seven manuscript drafts after his move to Walden Pond. Several months earlier, when he received the first proofs, he simply wrote, ‘‘Got first proof of ‘Walden.’’’ It seems like one of the most uneventful of occurrences, given the lack of notice in his journals. After the failure of his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merri- mack Rivers, he may have been proceeding cautiously and without much hope of success. The day he moved to Walden Pond was similarly minimalized in his journal: ‘‘July 5. Saturday. Walden.—Yesterday I came here to live.’’ Perhaps the place itself was less important than being off on his own and he had not yet come to realize what that would mean to him. Although the name Walden, whether referring to the placeorthebook,isrifewithsymbolandmeaningonbothan intellectual and personal level for millions 150 years later, Thoreau had considered several other spots as sites for a possible residence. It didn’t become a reality until Ralph Waldo Emerson purchased more than a dozen acres of land on the north side of Walden Pond, a 62-acre, 103-foot-deep glacial kettle-hole pond, and gave Thoreau permission to live there.