THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST-TABLE

Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1859. First edition, First State (Issue A with the illustrations) on large paper. With eight engravings as called for. 8vo, publisher's full terra-cotta cloth, the covers richly decorated and blocked in blind, the spine panel lettered in gilt, all edges gilt. viii, 373 pp. A very handsome and fine copy, the binding in excellent condition, the hinges tight and strong, the text-block clean, bright and crisp, the illustrations all in good order. FIRST EDITION, THE SCARCE LARGE PAPER ISSUE IN STATE A WITH THE ILLUSTRATIONS PRESENT. The engravings were subsequently excised by Holmes' request from future states of the first edition printings. Additionally, this copy is in unusually fine condition.
Surrounded by Boston's literary elite (which included friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Russell Lowell) Holmes made an indelible imprint on the literary world of the 19th century. His most famous works, the “Breakfast-Table” series, began with the "Autocrat," which first appeared in serial form in the first issue of the Atlantic Monthly. It blends the discursive and whimsically comprehending talk of a boarding-house sage with verses, both light and serious. One of the quirkiest and most charming books in American literature, the Grolier Catalogue of One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900 calls it the "distillation of the intellectual and cultural life of New England at its Brahmin zenith,” which is a stuffy way of saying its subject matter ranges amusingly across all the corners of Holmes's...er, The Autocrat's mind. It was followed by two more titles, “The Professor” and “The Poet,” and their enthusiastic reception has been justified by the place they have retained in American letters.