The Boatswain's Whistle (1864), a complete run.

Julia Ward Howe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, et. al.

Verlag: Boston, 1864

No. 1 (November 9, 1864) to No. 10 (November 19, 1864), comprising ten daily issues, a complete run, bound in leather and marbled boards. Large Quarto. Binding near fine, professionally rebacked. Contents VG, fragile. This peculiar genre of magazine literature, the Civil War Fair daily, reached its apex in 1864 when a half dozen titles were published throughout the northeast to benefit Union forces relief efforts. This daily, published in conjunction with the National Sailor's Fair, was edited by Julia Ward Howe, with counsel from such notables as John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell. Such an impressive editorial contingent could not help but produce a magazine with significant literary content. The Whistle contains original poetry and prose by Holmes, Whittier, Lydia Sigourney, Charles Godfrey Leland, and Richard H. Dana, Jr. The two most important contributors were Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose poem "Sea-Shore" appeared in the ninth issue, and Henry David Thoreau, whose short prose "Looming of the Sun" appeared in that issue as well. Emerson was responsible for both submissions as he was Thoreau's literary executor (Thoreau had died two years earlier). The poem "Carpe Diem," signed "H.T.", which appeared in the seventh issue has also been attributed to Thoreau, but some Thoreau scholars disagree. Far more likely to be by Thoreau is the prose piece "History," which appeared in the eighth issue. This essay, signed "H.T.", is an impassioned plea for a view of history as it was lived by the common man, not by the ruler or by historic dates. This sentiment is quintessentially Thoreauvian. Adding weight to the argument of attribution is that the essay refers to the sweep of history as running "from 1492 to 1862." This is a perfectly natural date to use if one were writing in 1862, the last year of Thoreau's life, but why would a living writer use that date in 1864? Arguing that it was just a typo begs credulity. A scarce run. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ABE-1645540063388

Bibliografische Details

Titel: The Boatswain's Whistle (1864), a complete ...
Verlag: Boston
Erscheinungsdatum: 1864
Einband: Hardcover
Zustand: Very Good
Auflage: 1st Edition