Henry D. Thoreau’s Copy of the HANDBOOK of Plants & Fruits or The VEGETABLE KINGDOM

Henry D. Thoreau’s Copy of the HANDBOOK of Plants & Fruits or The VEGETABLE KINGDOM

Loring D. Chapin

Jerome Lott, New York

1843

This book has the signature of Henry D. Thoreau and the book plate of Stephen H. Wakeman on the front free endpaper (photo). This book was the personal copy of Henry D. Thoreau. Thoreau annotated the book in two places with pencil marks. The pencil he used to annotate was most probably made in the Thoreau family pencil factory.

From Henry D. Thoreau's journal entry for 28 October 1853, it may be surmised that he had about 200 books in his library at that time. Thoreau was living in Walden when Loring D. Chapin died at age 47.

The Vegetable Kingdom was published three years earlier. This is the only well-known book by Chapin. Thoreau used the book extensively when he botanized.

When Thoreau died at age 44, his sister Sophia Thoreau took charge of his estate. Sophia donated the bulk of the books in Thoreau's collection to the Concord Free Public Library. Over the years, however, several of his books found their way into other places.

This volume of The Vegetable Kingdom was sold in the auction of Stephen H. Wakeman’s collection after his death. The TG Mathai Rare Book Museum in Milwaukee, WI, acquired this volume from a collector in New Hampshire.

In this volume, Thoreau marked two passages:
On p. 55 of Pt. I, he marked a passage with three vertical lines in the margin in pencil, "Acorns that have lain for centuries, on being ploughed up, have soon vegetated." Thoreau cited this passage in "The Succession of Forest Trees," a lecture he delivered in 1860.
On p. 142 of Pt. II, Thoreau marked a passage in this volume with an X in the margin in pencil. I did not find Thoreau citing this passage in any of his writings. For further reading: Book of Books, Libri Publishing (2021), pp. 54-58

James Mathew, TG Mathai Rare Book Museum, Milwaukee, WI