In short: This is a Massachusetts report containing an early appearance of Thoreau’s “The Succession of Trees”.
AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 1860.
C.L. Flint
Boston: William White, Printer to the State. (1861)
Octavo. Hardcover in brown cloth coverd blindstamped boards. Gilt writing on the spine.
Full title:
Eighth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, Together with the Reports of Committees Appointed to Visit the County Societies, with an Appendix Containing an Abstract of the Finances of the County Societies, For 1860.
Contains Early Print Appearance of Henry David Thoreau’s “The Succession of Trees”,
and only version of it in this form.
Who is who, and what is this?
Charles L. Flint was a lawyer and the first Secretary of Agriculture in Massachusetts. The Board of Agriculture produced an annual report, and this listing is for the 1860 report. The Appendix section contains an early print appearance of Thoreau’s speech “The Succession of Trees” that Thoreau presented to the Middlesex Agricultural Society in Concord in September of 1860.
Thoreau’s speech was first printed in the same year by the New York Tribune, and then by Concord printer George Coleman in a report for the Middlesex Agricultural Society for the Year 1860.
A year later, William White, printer to the State, published the State’s official report (offered in this listing). It contains a “dried down” version of “The Succession of Forest Trees”. As noted by Francis H. Allen in his Bibliography of Henry David Thoreau, the version printed by White was an “‘expurgated’ reprint of the [original version] omitting the humorous passages.” [Allen, pp. 75. Borst C3b].
Condition Notes:
Good condition with several spots of wear along the spine joints on the front and back. On the front spine joint, there are several holes in the cloth, the largest being ~1" in length. On the back spine joint, there are two small pinpoint holes in the cloth. Some rubbing and scuffing to front and back covers, and a few spots of cloth loss on the cover. Please see photos.
Inside, the binding is Very Good. The pages are crisp and clean with some light foxing over the front flyleaf, title page, and first few pages. A discoloration stain is noted on the bottom of page 9/10, not extending to surrounding pages.