Description:

Emerson Ralph

3pp ALS displayed behind glass in handsome frame with double view. Autograph letter signed by American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) as "R.W. Emerson" at bottom of third page. Bifold watermarked cream paper. Letter is in very good to near fine condition, with expected paper folds. Isolated foxing along gutter verso and minor weathering to blank fourth page. The ebonized and gilt-finished frame size measures 9.625" x 7.875". The letter has not been examined out of the frame.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson penned this letter to an unknown male correspondent on "Wednesday, 3 May" from London. The year is undoubtedly 1848, when Emerson was giving a lecture tour of the British Isles. "I have just come from the two Picture Galleries + from Westminster Hall where I went to seek you. It seems I am to read lectures three weeks hence in London and of course have only three weeks for Paris, all too little for my objects", Emerson wrote. Because of the compressed time frame, Emerson declined an engagement he had scheduled with his friend: "I know you will pardon my disappointing you on Sunday … Nor shall I suffer you to escape me on my return."

 

At least two aspects of this letter corroborate the 1848 date attribution. First, we know that Emerson was staying with John Chapman, his London publisher, at 142 Strand during the spring and summer of 1848, and this is indeed listed as Emerson's return address. Second, Emerson writes in the letter that he is intending to travel to Paris before his London speaking schedule. Emerson did travel to France as he had planned, only to witness the Revolution of 1848 in full swing. Emerson biographers maintain that observing the Revolution greatly influenced Emerson's later political and social views.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson was already a literary celebrity in 1848 following the publication of two essay collections in 1841 and 1844. In addition to writing essays, Emerson also wrote poetry and frequently gave speaking engagements like the one mentioned in this letter. Emerson was one of the leading thinkers of the Transcendentalist movement in the United States, a philosophy which celebrated humanism, individualism, and nature.

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