The Essay on Self-Reliance
East Aurora: The Roycrofters, 1908. Frontispiece portrait. Hardcover. Octavo. 59 pages.
Emerson's "Self-Reliance" emphasizes individualism, personal intuition, and self-trust over societal conformity and external authority. It is a cornerstone of the American Transcendentalist movement.
This handsome edition was printed by Elbert Hubbard's Roycrofters Press on handmade paper and includes a two color portrait sketch of Emerson by Schneider as the tipped-in frontispiece. Typographic elements include decorated initial letters and running title printed in red in side margins of each page. This was the first use of a dust jacket on a Roycroft publication (McKenna) and, remarkably, this copy retains parts of that original dust jacket.
Ref. MCKENNA 160.
Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Bound in printed blue paper over boards with white cloth spine, light blue endpapers, deckle edges, and top edge gilt. Mild bumps to lower fore corners of both boards, else fine. Jacket has a few edge chips, a closed 1" tear to top edge of front panel near joint fold, and a cleanly closed 3" tear at top edge of rear (blank) panel, else fine. A remarkably clean and bright copy of this handsome book in its rare dust jacket--the first issued by the Roycrofters.
Item #1984
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