Walden: A Fully Annotated Edition
(Yale University Press, 2004)
This is the authoritative edition of an American literary classic: Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, an elegantly written record of his experiment in simple living. This edition meticulously corrects errors and omissions from previous editions of Walden and here provides illuminating notes on the biographical, historical, and geographical contexts of the great nineteenth-century writer and thinker's life.
This newly edited text is based on the original 1854 edition of Walden, with emendations taken from Thoreau’s draft manuscripts, his own markings on the page proofs, and notes in his personal copy of the book. The editor’s notes quote from sources Thoreau read, showing how he used, interpreted, and altered these sources. References to Thoreau’s essays, journals, and correspondence are glossed. With the wealth of material in this edition, readers will find an unprecedented opportunity to immerse themselves in the unique and fascinating world of Thoreau.
This newly edited text is based on the original 1854 edition of Walden, with emendations taken from Thoreau’s draft manuscripts, his own markings on the page proofs, and notes in his personal copy of the book. The editor’s notes quote from sources Thoreau read, showing how he used, interpreted, and altered these sources. References to Thoreau’s essays, journals, and correspondence are glossed. With the wealth of material in this edition, readers will find an unprecedented opportunity to immerse themselves in the unique and fascinating world of Thoreau.
What people are saying...
“A handsome ‘all-things-Walden’ edition.”— Michael Kenney, Boston Sunday Globe
“Thoreau’s masterpiece—here freshly refurbished by Jeffrey S. Cramer—speaks to our material and spiritual condition as powerfully as on the day it first appeared. Now, more than ever, Walden is our indispensable American book.” —Alan D. Hodder, professor of comparative religion, Hampshire College
“Cramer’s notes are immensely useful. His edition of Walden will be a boon to ordinary readers and scholars alike.—Denis Donoghue, author of Speaking of Beauty
“Jeffrey Cramer’s Walden is the most accurate and readable text of Thoreau’s masterpiece. Cramer’s version now replaces all other available editions of Walden as the most attractive and reliable way to approach this great American book.”—Joel Porte, author of Consciousness and Culture: Emerson and Thoreau Reviewed
“Meticulous and often fascinating annotations. . . . It is the paradox of Walden, and of all great literature that seeks to represent the real world, that by rooting his narrative so firmly in actualities of his own time and place, Thoreau created a work that remains vitally relevant to our own.”—Robert Finch, Los Angeles Times
“By far the best edition currently available of that weirdly central work of American literature, and somewhat surprisingly the prettiest as well.”—Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly
“For those who aspire to a deeper understanding of the man and his milieu, the annotated Walden, edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer, is the edition to choose."—Allan D. Smith, Trenton Times
“Cramer’s side notes are like short, illuminating conversations.”— Jacqueline Blais, USA Today
“No other currently available selection of Thoreau's journals better demonstrates the diversity of the author's vision. . . . Cramer's is the first such work to represent the journal and its author in their full complexity. Cramer's generous annotations will be useful to a broad audience. . . . Highly recommended.”—"Choice"