EMERSON QUOTES FROM HIS ‘BOSTON HYMN’

WRITTEN IN COMMEMORATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S ISSUANCE OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO. (1803 -1882) Author, poet, abolitionist, and philosopher; leader of the Transcendentalist movement. Choice Autograph Quotation Signed “R.W. Emerson”.  One page, oblong octavo.  Approximately 3.5”x 5.5 inches. No place, [Boston?], February 10, 1864.  Fine condition. Matted and framed in a simple black wood frame by “Goodspeed’s” bookshop in Boston [probably 50 years ago] with their label on verso.   Steel engraving by ‘T. Cole”, depicting Emerson in a ½ bust pose matted above the quotation. The transcendentalist writes:

 

                                  “For what avail the plough or sail

                                   Or land or life, if freedom fail?

                                                                    R.W. Emerson

                                      February 10, 1864”

 

Emerson composed the poem in late 1862 and read it publicly in Boston Music Hall on January 1, 1863. It commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation issued earlier that day by President Abraham Lincoln, tying it and the broader campaign for the abolition of slavery to the ideals established in the founding of the United States.  Despite the massive popularity of this poem, signed quotations are quite scarce, in our experience.

 

$3950.00