AN OBSERVANT EYE. The Thoreau Collection at the Concord Museum

Concord: Concord Museum, 2006. First Edition. PRESENTATION COPY SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Illustrated throughout in colours 4to, publisher's original pictorial boards backed in crimson cloth, the spine lettered in gilt. 159, [1] pp. A pristine copy, near as mint. FIRST EDITION OF THIS COMPLETE WORK ON THE THOREAU HOLDINGS AT THE CONCORD MUSEUM, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. The author 'demonstrates how Thoreau found signifcant meaning in both contemporary and historical objects. By carefully reading Thoreau's journal and studying Thoreau's own possessions---preserved for well over a century---the author shows Thoreau to have been, in many ways, a pioneer in the field of material culture history.
Thoreau was both a museum goer and a collector of objects. He wrote in his journal about his visits to East India Marine Hall in Salem, Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, the Egyptian Museum and Barnum's Museum in New York City. Like many avid museum visitors, he carefully recorded details about intriguing objects he saw on those visits. Although he was often critical about museums, notably those that we would describe today as "natural history museums: he had great respect for the educational aspects of these institutions and the objects they preserved---objects that revealed untold stories about everyday life in the past.
The book offered here is part of an initiative to share the museum's vast Thoreau collection with the general public.' D. Caldwell