John Burroughs
THE JOHN BURROUGHS COLLECTION: WORKS BY AND RELATED TO JOHN BURROUGHS MAKE UP THE SINGLE LARGEST BLOCK OF WORKS IN THE COLLECTION. THE CATALOGUE BELOW IS DIVIDED INTO (1) WORKS BY BURROUGHS HIMSELF, (2) WORKS TO WHICH HE CONTRIBUTED OR EDITED, (3) BOOKS ABOUT BURROUGHS, AND (4) OTHER MISCELLANEOUS
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BURROUGHS, John (1837 - 1921)
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Walt Whitman as Poet and Person [Photos]
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1867 - First edition. Burroughs' self-published first book of which he himself said there were only a few copies printed. Inscribed to JB's very close friend Myron Benton, with whom JB first read Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."
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Tan burgundy boards, with crisp gilt lettering to cover - spine is blank. On page 19, JB writes: "Appropriately enough, I at this time, 1861, first made the acquaintance of Leaves of Grass, in the woods. Visiting a friend in the eastern part of the state, I recall that as we went out on a nutting excursion he carried with him this singular-looking book, from which he read to me as we paused in our tramp. I shall never forget the strange delight...." Benton has inserted his initials, MBB, after "friend." The inscription reads: "To Myron Benton with regards of John Burroughs. June 7, 1867." With bookplate of Myron's brother Charles E. Benton on front pastedown. Foxing to pastedowns only. Faint ring from a drink on back cover. Otherwise excellent condition, extremely rare, perhaps best association copy possible (unless he inscribed one to Whitman himself).
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Wake-Robin [Photos]
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1871 - First edition. Published by Hurd & Houghton, Boston. Inscribed to Joel Benton, writer, lecturer and poet - cousin of Myron Benton
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Brown boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Burroughs' first book published by a third-party publisher. Inscription reads: "Joel Benton/Compliments of John Burroughs/Washington D.C./July 16, 1871." Joel Benton was a somewhat well-known writer, lecturer and poet - he was a cousin of Myron Benton, one of JB's closest friends (see Whitman volume above). Bookplate of another prior owner on front pastedown. Otherwise unfoxed and unmarked, VG+ to NF. Acquired in handsome custom slipcase.
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Winter Sunshine
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1876 - First edition. Published by Hurd & Houghton, Boston
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Blue boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Bookplate of prior owner on front pastedown and sig of second owner (dated 1942) on ffe. Otherwise unfoxed and unmarked, VG+ to NF.
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Birds and Poets
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1877 - First edition. Published by Hurd & Houghton., Boston
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Tan boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Tipped into fpd is a label from the New Haven Book Club, detailing rules for holding and forwarding books, and penalties for failing to do so. Club membership was $5 annually. Otherwise unfoxed and unmarked, VG+ to NF.
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Locusts and Wild Honey
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1879 - First edition. Published by Houghton and Osgood, Boston
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Tan boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Gift inscription dated March 1879 on ffe. Another owner's bookplate and owners sig. Otherwise unfoxed and unmarked, VG+ to NF.
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Pepacton
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1881 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston
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Grayish-brown boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Utterly unmarked save some erased pencil marks from a bookseller on ffe, which is starting to separate. Otherwise pristine, unfoxed and unmarked, NF.
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Fresh Fields
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1885 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston
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Vertically split two-tone dark brown and green boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Unmarked with very light foxing
to fpd and ffe. Light spotting on cover. G+ to VG.
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First JB book with publisher's catalogue before title page, the intro to that catalogue is a quote from a review from the Saturday Review of London: "Mr. Burroughs is of the same breed as Gilbert White of Selborne, as Audubon, as Thoreau, and he combines their exactitude of observation, their scientific sympathy, with more careful study of style than they chose to give in jotting down their impressions....It is the manly simplicity of style which gives it so great a charm.....We have very seldom the pleasure of meeting with two little volumes which we can recommend to our readers so entirely without reserve as 'Wake Robin' and 'Locusts and Wild Honey'."
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Signs and Seasons
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1886 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York
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Vertically split two-tone dark brown and green boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Small bookplate on fpd, otherwise unmarked and unfoxed. VG+.
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Indoor Studies
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1889 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York
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Vertically split two-tone dark brown and green boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Unmarked and unfoxed. VG++.
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Riverby
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1894 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York
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Vertically split two-tone dark brown and green boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Unmarked and unfoxed. NF.
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Whitman: A Study
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1896 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Early example of dust jacket
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Rare primitive dj in fair to poor condition but legible. Vertically split two-tone dark brown and green boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and designs. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Gift inscription dated 1908, otherwise unmarked and unfoxed. Offsetting from inside panels of dj on front and rear free endpapers. VG++.
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The Light of Day: Religious Discussions and Criticisms from the Naturalist's Point of View
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1901 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York
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Vertically split two-tone dark brown and green boards with gilt and black embossed lettering and images. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Owner's sig dated 1904 on ffe. Newspaper pic of JB pasted onto second fe. Some offsetting, cover faded and more worn than others in the Collection. G.
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The Light of Day: Religious Discussions and Criticisms from the Naturalist's Point of View
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1901 - Vol IX of the Riverside Edition limited edition (1000 sets) of Burrough's writings. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Inscribed
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Inscribed as follows: "For Oscar Haywood/With Professor Drummond's theology as such I have nothing to do, having long ago made my peace with Calvinism/John Burroughs." Laid in is what appears to be a sale catalogue listing of the volume from a 1918 auction of Haywood's library at the American Art Association. On the second fe is taped in a printed copy of Burrough's poem "Snow-Birds" signed by him and dated May 4, 1918, which is after the 3/13/18 Haywood auction. Green boards with gilt lettering and design. Spine faded. Bookplate on fpd, otherwise unmarked and unfoxed.
Professor Henry Drummond (1851-1897) was an evangelist, biologist, author and lecturer who wrote several highly influential works espousing theistic evolution, a set of theories seeking to conform deistic belief with the theory of evolution. (Note the subtitle of Burroughs' book). The Wikipedia entry on Theistic Evolution contains the line "Some strict Calvinists welcomed the idea of natural selection, as it did not entail inevitable progress and humanity could be seen as a fallen race requiring salvation."
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Literary Values
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1902 - Early edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Signed
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Dark green boards with JB's sig in gilt on front cover. Signed by JB on ffe on May 19, 1906. Publisher's catalogue before text, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of JB before title page. Gift inscription dated 1903, otherwise unmarked and unfoxed. VG+.
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John James Audubon [Photos]
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1902 - Large paper edition limited to 350 copies. First? Published by Small, Maynard & Co., Boston and New York as part of the Beacon Biographies of Eminent Americans series. Dedication copy. Inscribed to dedicatee Clara Barrus, JB's friend, secretary, traveling companion, biographer, literary executor and presumed mistress. This is the only book JB ever dedicated to any person (he dedicated a book of poetry to a bird)
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Inscribed as follows: "To Dr. Clara Barrus/Whose kind surgery and skillful midwifery helped bring this little life into the world/John Burroughs/Aug 29, 1902." The actual dedication reads simply: "To C.B.", (as one does when one is married to someone other than the dedicatee). Someone has added an asterisk to the dedication at "midwifery" and dropped a footnote in a different, unknown hand saying simply "houghmangie" - likely a butchering of "houghmagandie", a Scottish term for sex, used jocularly. There is some marginalia, presumably by Barrus, and a small fall-colored oak leaf pressed in at page 95. The book has plain green cloth boards - the title sticker on spine is illegible. Condition: irrelevant.
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The Beacon Biography series was edited by M.A. DeWolfe Howe, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in biography. Clara Barrus was one of the few women to graduate from medical school in the 19th century - she met JB after sending him a fan letter. See EC History section.
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Far and Near
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1904 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Signed
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Signed on ffe dated June 24, 1905. Green boards with gilt lettering, including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Otherwise unmarked with very light foxing. VG.
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Ways of Nature
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1905 - Early printing. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Signed with separate signed inscription laid in
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Signed on ffe dated October 24, 1909. Photo of JB and, according to a handwritten caption, T.G.P. (T. Gilbert Pearson) glued to fpd. Also laid in is a folded sheet of paper reading "The good wishes of John Burroughs/La Jolla, Cal./Xmas, 1919" in his handwriting. Green boards with gilt lettering, including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Otherwise unmarked with very light foxing. VG.
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Bird and Bough
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1906 - Early edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Inscribed
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Inscribed "To Sue Gill/With many pleasant memories from his friend/John Burroughs/July 27, 1906." JB's only book of poetry, dedicated "To the Kinglet that sang in my evergreens in October and made me think it was May." Light green boards with gilt lettering and design. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Otherwise unmarked with very light foxing. First few pages beginning to separate from binding. VG-.
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Camping with President Roosevelt [Photos]
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1906 - Paper Booklet. First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co.
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A 46-page booklet in paper wrappers measuring 7.5" x 5.0" containing a reprint of an article initially published in The Atlantic Monthly in May 1906. Illustrated with a number of photos. Recounts JB's trip to Yellowstone National Park with Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. JB subsequently added to it and published it as a stand-alone book entitled Camping & Tramping with Roosevelt (see below). It opens with the following excellent paragraph: "At the time I made the trip to Yellowstone Park with President Roosevelt in the spring of 1903, I promised some friends to write up my impressions of the President and of the Park, but I have been slow in getting around to it. The President himself, having the absolute leisure and peace of the White House, wrote his account of the trip nearly two years ago! But with the stress and strain of my life at "Slabsides" - administering the affairs of so many of the wild creatures of the woods about me, - I have not till this blessed season found the time to put on record an account of the most interesting thing I saw in that wonderful land, which, of course, was the President himself."
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In excellent condition, unmarked save an owner's signature on the front cover. Publishers advert for the Riverby Edition of JB's complete works on inside rear cover.
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Camping & Tramping with Roosevelt [Photos]
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1906 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Inscribed by Roosevelt, with a funny, acerbic handwritten note by JB, written 20+ years before the book was published, tipped in
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Inscribed "With the best wishes of Theodore Roosevelt/Dec. 1916" on second fe. Pasted onto ffe is a handwritten note from JB written in West Park (NY) on Nov 8, 1885, reading in full: "Dear Sir, Few authors mind the trouble it takes to give an autograph, but most authors do mind the trouble it takes to write a note to accompany it. I am no exception to this rule. I cannot tell you where you can get an autograph of Bryant. Very Respectfully, John Burroughs." Bryant is presumably William Cullen Bryant, the romantic poet and journalist, who died in 1878. Bookplate reading: "The Theodore Roosevelt Library of Walter Merriam Pratt, Boston."
Pratt appears to have been a high-born and influential New Englander who authored several books, with a focus on local history and genealogy. Interestingly, Pratt's bookplates on their own appear to be something of a collector's item for those who collect such things. Penciled notation on a fep. Tan cloth boards with brown lettering. No publisher's catalogue before title page. Illustrated with eleven photos, including tissue-guarded frontispiece of Roosevelt on Glacier Point in the Yosemite Valley. Housed in a custom clamshell case.​
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Leaf and Tendril
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1908 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Signed
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Signed on ffe, undated. Green boards with gilt lettering, including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Otherwise, unmarked and unfoxed. VG+.
Time and Change
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1912 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York.
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Green boards with gilt lettering, including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Pristine. NF.
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The Summit of the Years
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1913 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York.
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VG gray dj with facsimile JB signature on cover, title/author on spine and publisher's catalogue of a dozen or so volumes of "The Latest Essays" on the back. Green boards with gilt lettering including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Pristine. NF in a G DJ
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The Breath of Life
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1915 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Signed by Burroughs and inscribed by Burrus to their friends John and Adella Shea
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Signed by JB on title page. Inscribed on ffe: "To John + Adella Shea/With the affectionate regard of Clara Barrus/'Riverby' July 15, 1915." [See Under the Apple Trees below for more on the Sheas.] Modern style dj with photo of JB on cover, title/author on spine and publisher's catalogue of a dozen or so volumes of "Recent Essays" on the back. Book summary on inside front flap and ad for a book by a different author on the inside back flap. Back flap has some apparently contemporaneous handwritten notes in pencil, partially legible. Laid in is postcard from the publisher touting Dallas Lore Sharp's Where Rolls the Oregon. Green boards with gilt lettering including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Some foxing. G+ in VG NPCDJ
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Under the Apple Trees
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1916 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York. Personal inscriptions to friend John Shea from both Burroughs and Clara Barrus
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Two inscriptions: "To John Shea from his friend John Burroughs/June 2d, 1916." And "May one of the friends who was under the apple trees with the young friend who tried to make chipmunks eat marbles put her name here with John of Birds + 'Druid John's?'/Clara Barrus." On page 19, in the title essay, Burroughs' recounts a tale of a chipmunk who would come into Slabsides to eat, and when two women were in there instead of him the chipmunk did not change its behavior. In the margin by the references to the two women are handwritten "C.B." and "Adella," the latter being recipient John Shea's wife. Also laid in are a clipping of a New York Times photo of JB taken on his 80th birthday in 1917, and a photo of Slabsides, likely clipped from a magazine. Green boards with gilt lettering including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Heavy foxing on title page. Early pages just beginning to separate. Cover and spine edges scuffed. VG-.
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[As of early April 2023, bookseller James Cummins had for sale a sheaf of letters between JB and AMNH curator G. Clyde Fisher in which, according to Cummins' listing, Burroughs writes: "The best recent outdoor picture of myself was taken last summer by John Shea of Yale Station, New Haven Conn...." The date is thought to be 1913.]
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Field & Study
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1919 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York.
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Good modern style dj with photo of JB on cover, title/author on spine and publisher's catalogue of eleven volumes of "New and Recent Essays" on the back. (Interestingly, eight of the eleven are authored by women. In fact, the first is entitled "The Joy of Being a Woman"). Book summary on inside front flap and publisher's catalogue of JB books on back flap. Green boards with exceptionally bright and crisp gilt lettering, including facsimile JB signature, on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece showing a photo of Woodchuck Lodge. Unmarked save an unobtrusive round embossed personal library stamp of one T.L. Rothmann. VG+ in G+ NPCDJ
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Accepting the Universe
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1920 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York.
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Green boards with crisp gilt lettering including facsimile JB signature on cover. Publisher's catalogue before title page. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Unmarked and unfoxed and apparently unread. Pristine. NF to F.
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Under the Maples
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1921 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York.
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Published shortly after JB's death. Intro by Clara Barrus. Octavo. Green boards with crisp gilt lettering including facsimile JB signature on cover. Tissue-guarded frontispiece is entitled "The Last Portrait of John Burroughs/(March 23, 1921 [six days before his death]/Made at Pasadena Glen, California by his long-time friend Charles F. Lummis." Unmarked with extremely light foxing. VG+.
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Charles F. Lummis (1859-1928) was a prominent journalist, historian, photographer and Native American rights activist, who founded the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. He corresponded with John Muir and a was Harvard classmate of Theodore Roosevelt but left during his senior year and did not graduate.
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The Last Harvest
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1922 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York.
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Good modern style npcdj with photo of JB on cover, under which a paragraph reading: "A final collection of essays by America's great naturalist, including two important studies of Emerson and Thoreau. The book closes with a remarkable article on 'The Great Mystery' - the end which the author knew could not then by far away."
The dj is chipped in spots along edges and corners including part of the title on spine. On back is a publisher's catalogue of "Recent Essays." Catalogue of JB works published by Houghton on inside front flap (with tick marks by previous owner next to most titles). The back inner flap has an ad for Clara Barrus' biography Our Friend John Burroughs. Green boards with exceptionally bright and crisp gilt lettering, including facsimile JB signature, on cover. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Unmarked save some penciled scribbles to endpapers, and unfoxed. NF in G+ NPCDJ
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My Boyhood: An Autobiography
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1922 - Published by Double, Page and Co. Lengthy ALS by JB laid in.
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Published posthumously. Laid in is a lengthy handwritten note dated only June 11 but almost certainly 1920 as he refers to having spent the prior winter in southern CA. The gist of the letter is to thank the addressee, a Mr. Bayrus, for his invitation to visit him at "Merillon" but to beg off until perhaps fall due to commitments for the balance of June and his desire to spend July and August in the Catskills [at Woodchuck Lodge] working. Given the shakiness of the handwriting it is clear Burroughs was enfeebled. Good modern style npcdj which is chipped at bottom of spine and mostly separated at joint to back panel. On back is a publisher's catalogue of "Pocket Nature Guides." Description of present volume on inside front flap and catalogue of three Enos Mills' books on back flap. The first half of the book is by Burroughs, the second half is by his son Julian. The book is illustrated with paintings and photos, both by Julian. VG+ in G NPCDJ
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COMPILATIONS OF BURROUGHS' WRITINGS
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Sharp Eyes and other Papers
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Publication details unclear. Published by Houghton, Mifflin as part of the Riverside Literature Series.
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Contains five pieces, none originally published after 1886. No date on title page. Stylistically appears late 19th/early 20th century. 96 pages. Gray/green cloth boards with "Riverside Literature Series" printed across top of cover. The title on the cover (but not the title page) is "BURROUGHS'S Sharp Eyes and Other Papers." Owner's stamp on ffe, otherwise unmarked and unfoxed.
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A Year in the Fields: Selections from the Writings of John Burroughs [Photos]
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1896 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, Boston and New York. Long handwritten profile about JB by book's illustrator and writer of Introduction. Interesting Provenance
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Illustrated with 20 +/- photographs by JB's friend, and Clara Barrus' nephew, Clifton Johnson. Ownership signature on title page of noted Whitman collector Charles N. Elliot, who in 1915 published the book Walt Whitman: As Man, Poet and Friend, to which JB contributed. Starting at the end of his three-page introduction and continuing onto the next blank page, Clifton Johnson has written: "John Burroughs is a gray man - gray hair, long gray beard, gray clothes. He of late has appeared in black in delivering his lectures, but I do not think he enjoys such a costume. He has an affinity for the mellow tones of the fields and woods and those tints seem characteristic of the man outwardly and inwardly. He is of medium height, rather under the average weight. Though not robust and muscular he has a certain hardiness gained from his out-of-doors life. He has blue eyes and very expressive brows that rise and fall and change much as his moods vary. He is an easy-going man who in his every-day home life wears a soft felt hat and rusty shoes and has a patch or two on his trousers. A charming man." It is signed "Clifton Johnson/Hadley, Mass./Dec 25 - 96."
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Green boards with gilt lettering and decoration. Spine so sunfaded as to be barely legible. Front cover beginning to separate. No other markings. Very light foxing. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Fair.
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Elliot's book on Whitman was a series of anecdotes, reminiscences and tributes to Whitman handwritten by friends and others and solicited by Eliott, primarily for his private collection of Whitman material, but which he felt should publish. Elliot's Whitman collection was ultimately contributed to and resides at the Library of Congress.
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In the Catskills: Selections from the Writings of John Burroughs
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1910 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, Boston and New York. Lengthy handwritten paragraph by JB on ffe, somewhat denigrating the book
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Illustrated with 25 +/- photographs by JB's friend, and Clara Barrus' nephew, Clifton Johnson, who wrote the four-page Intro. On the ffe JB has handwritten: "I had nothing to do with the getting up of this book. I did not suggest that there be such a book. I wrote the different chapters many years ago + they were published in my various volumes. Clifton Johnson suggested the volume + made the selections. Some of the pictures I do not like, but I was not consulted. John Burroughs. Dec. 29, 1910." [I learned in Oct 2024 that Johnson was Clara Burrus' nephew, per Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley's pamphlet on Woodchuck Lodge (1987 - see below). Kelley was JB's granddaughter.]
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Pale green boards with colored art and gilt writing. No other markings save an inconspicuous printed label with a five-digit number on upper corner of fpd. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Relatively pristine. Acquired in a custom slipcovered box.
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Bird Stories from Burroughs
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1911 - Early edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York.
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Gray boards with undistinguished black lettering. With eight beautiful full-color illustrations (of birds, naturally) on coated paper by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Volume is a compilation of previously published essays by JB on birds (as the title suggests). Gift inscription on ffe dated 1920, otherwise unmarked and unfoxed.
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WORKS TO WHICH BURROUGHS CONTRIBUTED OR WHICH HE EDITED [Link to Photos]
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WHITE, Gilbert
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Natural History of Selborne & Observations on Nature (With the Text and New Letters of the Buckland Edition)
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1895. Two Volumes. First edition thus. Published by D. Appleton & Co., New York. Signed by Burroughs, who wrote the introduction, with provenance.
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Two volumes, with a 14-page introduction by John Burroughs, and illustrated with copious photos by JB's friend, and Clara Barrus' nephew, Clifton Johnson. At the end of the introduction below his printed name is Burroughs' signature. On the second fe is written "Introduction was signed by Burroughs Dec. 11, 1913. A.H. Pratt". Pratt went to Woodchuck Lodge to take early video of Burroughs, a trip which he detailed in an article in The Outlook magazine in 1915 (see below), footage of which is available on Youtube. Gray/green boards, gilt design and lettering. Bookplate of prior owner (not Pratt) on front pastedown of both volumes. Tissue guarding frontispiece detached. Otherwise unmarked. VG
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The Rolling Earth: Outdoor Scenes and Thoughts from the Writings of Walt Whitman
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1912 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin.
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A small but thick (221 pgs) pocket volume with selections from Whitman's work, with an eight-page introduction by Burroughs. Edited by Waldo R. Browne. Green cloth boards, crisp gilt design and lettering. Spine slightly sunfaded. Unmarked save a gift inscription in year of publication on ffe. Tissue-guarded frontispiece. Solid. VG
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In Nature's Laboratory [Photos]
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A privately published, beautifully executed photo album and narrative account of a two-week car camping trip (from Aug 28 to Sept 9, 1916) which included Burroughs, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone, signed by each.
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Boards are covered with an unusually soft leather for a book, with stamped title and a design (butterflies). The corners are somewhat worn. The paper stock is heavy, the printing of very high quality. Each page is actually doubled, attached at top. Text block edges are very rough cut and wavy. Pastedowns and endpapers are an unusual, marbled leather-ish composition. Many pages have a woodcut background upon which is pasted in photos, along with printed verse by Burroughs. The whole volume is pristine and unmarked.
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The trip itself was north from the NYC vicinity to the Adirondacks, returning through western VT, MA and CT (as per map of trip at the end of the book).
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The third page reads in full: "Greeting: To Our Friends - Mr. Edison made plans for a Vacation Camping party including beside himself, Mr. John Burroughs, Mr. H.S. Firestone and Mr. Henry Ford (who we regret was unavoidably prevented from being with us.) As a little diary of this trip, which proved so enjoyable to all of us, we are sending this book to our friends who we think will be interested in the events of those two weeks in August and September 1916." The page is hand signed by each of Edison, Burroughs and Firestone (in that order).
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The facing page is a tipped in copy of a full-page, four paragraph TLS by Burroughs, dated 12/11/1916, addressed to Edison and Firestone. Notably, JB refers to John Muir twice, noting he would have described the trip as "glorious."
As with the 1918 described in the album listed immediately below, JB in the letter complains a bit about his age and health, but he clearly enjoyed the trip and the comradery. In paragraph one, he discusses the theoretical health benefits of mechanical vibrations from cars, supplemented by laughter around the campfire. In paragraph two, he gives proper due to the age and power of the Adirondacks. Paragraph three is purely about Edison, noting his ability to relax, nap, shit ("toilet") outdoors, eat very lightly, etc. Paragraph four reads in full: "Such a trip is a very sane and hygienic way of spending a brief vacation, especially if you keep clear of houses and hotels as we did and have so well organized an expedition as we had. The thought of it and the joy of it and the good of it stays with one for many a day."
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Each page/photo has a poem by Burroughs. In the 1918 book (see below) he wrote prose. For this, he wrote poems. It is worth noting that, while he did publish a volume of poetry (see Bird and Bough (1906), above), it was not his strength - perhaps to his chagrin.
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Burroughs, Edison, Ford and Firestone called themselves The Vagabonds and went on a series of lavishly supported car-camping trips (in Ford cars of course) to various parts of the U.S. between 1916 and 1924. Burroughs went in 1916 and 1918, and the trip in 1920 was in part to visit him in the Catskills. The Ford Company sent still and video photographers, and footage from some of the trips, including images of Burroughs, can be found on youtube (see "The Henry Ford" website for links). The following volume documents the 1918 trip.
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Our Vacation Days of 1918 [Photos]
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A privately published, beautifully executed photo album (yes, I cut and pasted from above) and narrative account of a two-week car camping trip including Burroughs (who wrote the narrative), Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, Firestone's son, and Robert DeLoach of Armour Co. Published sometime after Burroughs' death and dedicated to him. A small card reading "Harvey S. Firestone" laid in.
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Cardboard boards with leather spine and corner​s. The paper stock is heavy, the printing of very high quality. The photos themselves appear to have been reproduced and painstakingly cut to shape and pasted into preprinted borders with detailed captions. The whole volume is pristine and unmarked. Housed in a cardboard slipcase, presumably as issued.
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Burroughs, Edison, Ford and Firestone called themselves The Vagabonds and went on a series of lavishly supported car-camping trips (in Ford cars of course) to various parts of the U.S. between 1916 and 1924. Burroughs went in 1916 and 1918, and the trip in 1920 was in part to visit him in the Catskills. The preceding volume documents the 1916 trip. The Ford Company sent still and video photographers, and footage from some of the trips, including images of Burroughs, can be found on youtube (see "The Henry Ford" website for links).
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Firestone wrote the introduction to the volume and the dedication to Burroughs, of whom he says: "John Burroughs, by his own life, as well as by his pen, led mankind into the open and to an appreciation of the beauty of the natural. And so we found him as a campmate - a congenial companion of the outdoors, a philosopher who worshipped God's truths in nature - a life based on simple, sane living.... What a pleasure it was to have with us a man of Mr. Burroughs' character to lure us away from the busy world of material and business developments! His friendship was a wonderful experience and a beautiful inspiration.... Mr Burroughs has written the story for this book, which gives us an insight into the man himself, as well as an account of our travels. To his memory this book is respectfully dedicated."
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Burroughs was in his eighties when he made the trip and freely admits his age impeded his pleasure in the trip. The trip began in Pittsburgh, proceeded WSW into the eastern tip of Tennessee and on to Asheville NC, from which JB took a train home while the rest of the Vagabonds drove when north through the Shenendoah Valley to Washington D.C.
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[See also In American Fields and Forests, In Praise of Walking, Essays from The Critic and Joys of the Road in the Anthologies Section for more books containing essays by Burroughs]
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WORKS ABOUT OR OTHERWISE CLOSELY RELATED TO BURROUGHS:
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PECKHAM, George W. and Elizabeth G.
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On the Instincts and Habits of Solitary Wasps [Photos]
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1898 - First edition. Published by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (Bulletin No. 2, Scientific Series No. 1). Presented by authors to Burroughs, with his bookplate, annotations and an early 180-word draft of an important essay on the last two endpapers
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Gray/green somewhat soiled boards, spine sunfaded. Burroughs has written in the back: "The solitary wasps are evidently more individual than the social wasps. Is their solitary habits the cause? Evidently it is. They are always alone. They have no one to imitate, they are uninfluenced by their fellows. The innate tendency to variation has full play. How fickle they are, how many times they change their minds. The community interests override or check individual whims or peculiarities. The social bees mush be all alike in dispositions and habits. Whole swarms vary, some being crosser than others, but probably the individual bees vary not at all. But apparently no two solitary bees are alike. Mr. & Mrs. P saw one Ammophila use a pebble as a tool, & only one. So it is with man: solitude makes them peculiar. The more a man lives alone, the more he becomes unlike other men - hence the original racy flavor of woodmen, pioneers, craftsmen [?] etc. Isolated communities develop characteristics of their own. Constant intracommunication, the friction of travel, of books, of newspapers, make men alike, all are pebbles upon the same beach, washed by the same waves." These paragraphs serve as an early draft for a portion of Burroughs' essay "Nature's Way", first published in Harper's Magazine in 1904, in which he gives full credit to "George W. Peckham and his wife" for his education on the matter; later published in Ways of Nature. On the front pastedown is written "Mr. John Burroughs/Compliments of the authors". Burroughs' bookplate is on the ffe: "Ex libris John Burroughs" above which is a pencil sketch entitled "The Study at Riverby". Housed in a custom slipcase.
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Works by BARRUS, CLARA (1864-1931)
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The Retreat of a Poet Naturalist (Two Copies)
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1904 - Paper Booklet. Assumed first edition. Published by The Poet Lore Company, Boston. Both copies signed by Burroughs and one inscribed by an acquaintance to a friend
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A 30-page booklet in paper wrappers measuring 7.5 'x 5.25", describing Slabsides. Both signed below the tissue-guarded frontispiece photo of JB. One copy pristine. The second with pages separating and the label sticker slightly peeled off not affecting legibility. The second copy is inscribed by one Caroline Baxter on Easter, 1905, to an unidentified friend. Per the inscription Baxter spent several pleasant days at Slabsides with JB and Barrus.
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Our Friend John Burroughs
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1914 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, New York and Boston. Signed by Burroughs and Barrus. Interesting note on provenance
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Signed by JB and CB on ffe. There is also a prior owner's sig on bottom right of ffe, of one David Russell. In the list of (photographic) illustrations, Russell has crossed out the credit for the photo on page 200, a picture of Burroughs at Woodchuck Lodge, and written in his name instead. Below the actual photo he has written "Taken by D.R." Dark gray/green boards, crisp bright gilt lettering. Otherwise unmarked and unfoxed. VG++
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John Burroughs: Boy and Man
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1920 - First edition. Published by Doubleday, Page & Co, New York. Long inscription by Barrus to close friends of her and JB. Signed by Burroughs and Barrus
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Inscribed on ffe by Barrus: "Here's the book! It's not so bad as it might have been, because of you; and its not so good as it would have been, had you been spending the summer again at Woodchuck Lodge, as you did in the happy days gone by. Affectionately yours, Clara Barrus. The Nest at Riverby/October 26, 1920". Separately signed by both Burroughs and Barrus on the title page. John and Adella Shea were close friends of JB and CB (see entry above for Under the Apple Trees). A couple of penciled margin notes, including noting the use of the word "wounded" instead of "winded" on p. 62. Dark gray/green cloth boards. Spine very sunfaded. Top and bottom of spine worn. Light foxing.
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Whitman and Burroughs: Comrades
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1931 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, Boston and New York.
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Modern-style NPCDJ which is chipped around edges with some tears, not impacting legibility. On back is a publisher's catalogue. Description of present volume on inside front flap and ad for Barrus' The Life and Letters of John Burroughs on back flap. Blue cloth boards. Unmarked and generally unfoxed. VG++ in NPCDJ
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Whitman and Burroughs: Comrades [Second copy]
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1931 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, Boston and New York. Limited edition owned and annotated by noted Whitman scholar and collector Charles E. Feinberg
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Limited first edition of 250 copies. Unadorned red boards with paper label on spine. Owner's signature dated 1939 of ffe. Heavy pencil markings in margins throughout. Per seller Ken Lopez, previously owned and annotated by noted Whitman collector and lecturer Charles Feinberg (but no evidence of this fact). Feinberg is the source of the Charles E. Feinberg Whitman Collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. VG++. Housed in original red slipcase as issued.
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HARING, H.A., Editor
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The Slabsides Book of John Burroughs
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1931 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, Boston and New York. Inscribed
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Issued on behalf of The John Burroughs Memorial Association, the predecessor of today's John Burroughs Association. Ten articles by, among others, Clara Barrus, Theodore Roosevelt's son Theodore, Clifton Johnson, JB's son Julian Burroughs and others. Copious photographs. In a npcdj chipped around edges. Dark green boards with gilt lettering. Unmarked save inscription and unfoxed. VG++ in G+ NPCDJ
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JOHNSON, Clifton
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John Burroughs Talks: His Reminiscences and Comments.
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1931 - First edition. Published by Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, Boston and New York.
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First edition. Johnson visited JB often and kept copious contemporaneous notes from which this volume is compiled. [I learned in Oct 2024 that Johnson was Clara Burrus' nephew, per Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley's pamphlet on Woodchuck Lodge (1987 - see below). Kelley was JB's granddaughter.] Modern dust jacket with photo of JB going up to Slabsides on cover, dj foxed and price clipped but in good shape. Same photo on front cover. Spine sunfaded to illegibility (indicating dj might not be original?). Publisher's catalogues of JB's books before title page and of new biographies on back of dj. Tissue guarding frontispiece detached. Book itself is unmarked and unfoxed. G+ in PCDJ
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KELLEY, Elizabeth Burroughs
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John Burroughs: Naturalist - The Story of His Work and Family by his Granddaughter
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1959 - Stated first edition. Published by Exposition Press. Signed
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Author was daughter of JB's son Julian. Tan boards. NPCDJ. Unmarked save sig. VG++.
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With John Burroughs in Field and Wood
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1969. First. Published by A.S. Barnes & Co., New York and New Brunswick. Inscribed
Edited, illustrated and with introduction by Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley, JB's granddaughter. Inscribed on ffe: "To Katrina Nourse [sp?] Benschoten for whom these essays written at West Park and my sketches will have many associations. With my best wishes/Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley/June 17, 1970." 13 essays from Burroughs after 6.5-page Intro from Kelley. VG in G NPCDJ
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John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge
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1987. 12-page pamphlet published by Riverby Books. Signed
A densely worded pamphlet discussing the history of the property, (the site of JB's boyhood home), books written there, friends who visited, etc. [See the Sept 2023 blog piece about my visit to Woodchuck Lodge.] Some interesting tidbits, including that Clifton Johnson (see above, 1910 and 1931) was Clara Burrus' nephew. EBK's signature dated 3/5/94. F in stapled wraps.
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KENNEDY, William Sloane
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The Real John Burroughs: Personal Recollection and Friendly Estimate
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1924 - First edition. Published by Funk & Wagnalls.
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Kennedy appears to have been a prolific author, writing about literary figures such as Whittier, Longfellow and Whitman. Green boards with gilt lettering. Unmarked and unfoxed. VG+.
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SHARP, Dallas Lore
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The Seer of Slabsides
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1921 - First edition. Published by Houghton Mifflin. Burrough's signature tipped in
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Burroughs' autograph is tipped in on ffe, and the front of the dj is pasted over the front pastedown. Sharp is an important nature writer in his own right and is represented elsewhere in the Collection. Octavo. A short book, only 71 pages. Faux wood boards with green cloth binding. Unmarked and unfoxed. VG+.
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The Boys Life of John Burroughs
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1928 - Stated first printing. Published The Century Co.
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Green cloth boards with gilt lettering. Frontispiece is a photo of author and JB at Woodchuck Lodge five months before JB's death. Sharp is an important nature writer in his own right and is represented elsewhere in the Collection. Spine quite sunfaded but still legible. Funny gift inscription on ffe: "For Paul or Philip or both". Small booksellers tag on rear pastedown. VG
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OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS RELATED TO BURROUGHS
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Snapshots of John Burroughs
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An undated 14-page paper booklet measuring about 4.25" x 5.5" advertising the "Wake Robin" edition of Burrough's complete works. Contains several photos of JB along with excerpts from his writings, and some promotional copy. The "Wake Robin" edition is touted as being the same as the prior set of Burrough's complete works (the Riverside Edition) except it is bound in a faux leather instead of full leather, and it cost $34.50 vs. $138.00 for the prior set.​
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John Burroughs: In Remembrance
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A 23-page paper chapbook measuring about 10.5" x 6.5" containing the program for the funeral services following JB's death. The book was apparently published subsequent to the events as a blurb at the rear explains that there was a service held on April 21, 1921, at The Nest, Riverby, and a subsequent service held at Boyhood Rock near Woodchuck Lodge in Roxbury, where he was buried. The blurb describes the music. The program materials contained in the book include readings including poems and other material by various authors including Wordsworth, Whitman, Myron Benton (see Walt Whitman as Poet and Person above) and Burroughs himself, among many others.
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The Outlook - [Weekly Magazine] - January 17, 1915
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Contains a roughly 3000-word article entitled "John Burroughs and his Haunts" by Albert Houghton Pratt (see the Selbourne entry above). The article (which starts on page 225 - there is no table of contents) recounts a day trip to Slabsides by Pratt to take "moving pictures" of Burroughs (in 1911?) and a subsequent weekend trip to stay with JB and his wife at Woodchuck Lodge. The article includes several full-page photos of JB, including one with his wife, which seems unusual, and one with two dead woodchucks which, as recounted in the article, JB would shoot on sight whenever he could. Also laid in is a separate one-page Outlook piece on Burroughs from April 1915 which lacks authorial credit. As described above, Pratt's footage of Burroughs is accessible on Youtube.
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Invite to Grace Gassette Art Showing - the invite features a copy of her painted portrait of Burroughs
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A folding card invitation, including envelope, the front cover of which says: "Grace Gassette invites you to view some of her canvases which will be on exhibition in her studio February 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th." Her studio was in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago. Inside is tipped in card containing a copy of her portrait of Burroughs, which is identified as having been painted in Roxbury N.Y. [Woodchuck Lodge]. JB's granddaughter Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley mentions Gassette's visit in her 1987 pamphlet about Woodchuck Lodge - see above.
Gassette was an extraordinary woman - she was an (apparently serviceable) painter and sculptor before and after the war, having been a student of Mary Cassatt and part of Gertrude Stein's circle in Paris. During WWI Gassette served as a nurse in France where she ran a large department furnishing all of the medical equipment necessities to nearby hospitals - she made important advances in orthopedic treatments which resulted in many wounded soldiers avoiding amputation, about which she published in medical journals. She was one of the first two American women, along with Edith Wharton, to be awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor by the French government.
Grace Gassette, 1871 – 1955 | Reid Hall (columbia.edu)
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Sharp Eyes: John Burroughs and American Nature Writing
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Edited by Charlotte Zoe Walker
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2000. Stated first. Published by Syracuse University Press.
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In 1994, editor Charlotte Zoe Walker, an English and Women's Studies professor at SUNY Oneonta, organized the first "Sharp Eyes" conference, an academic conference dedicated to the literature and legacy of John Burroughs. This book is an outgrowth from that proceeding, containing papers from the conference and others as well - an Introduction by Walker plus a total of 25 essays including contributions from Walker, Bill McKibben (a reprint of his important 1992 New York Review of Books essay which did so much to rekindle interest in Burroughs), Edward J. Renehan Jr. (Burroughs' biographer) and Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley (JB's granddaughter who, as Walker says in the Acknowledgements section, "has probably done more than any other individual to keep alive an interest" in John Burroughs' work.) F no DJ
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Writing the Land: John Burroughs and His Legacy; Essays from the John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference
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Edited by Daniel G. Payne
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2008. First. Published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Inscribed to dedicatee Charlotte Zoe Walker by multiple contributors.
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Dedicated to John Burroughs' Nature Writing Conference founder Charlotte Zoe Walker and inscribed to her: "To Charlotte: A dear and treasured friend and colleague in nature. Warmest regards always..." signed by contributors Daniel G. Payne (ed.), John Tallmadge and Stephen Mercier. The inscription is headlined "Vassar College/June 16. 2008." There is a separate inscription: "Dear Charlotte/Still have fond memories of 'Sharp Eyes' I/Lisa Breslof." Breslof is an acknowledgee from the John Burroughs Association. Contributions from Walker, editor Payne, JB biographer Edward J. Renehan and 16 other scholars. VG in a VG DJ.
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