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Primary sourceBook1906 edition

The Writings of Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau · 1906 edition

The complete collected works of Thoreau in twenty volumes, including Walden, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, and his essays on slavery and civil disobedience.

These are Thoreau's own collected books, journals and essays, the core primary source for his ideas.

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What it is

This is the 1906 edition of the collected Writings of Henry David Thoreau in twenty volumes, gathering his major books, essays and journals, including Walden, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, and essays such as Civil Disobedience and A Plea for Captain John Brown.

Why it matters

This collection brings together Thoreau's writing on nature, society, and politics, including his influential arguments for individual conscience and opposition to slavery. The volumes show the breadth of his work, from detailed natural observation to pointed political argument, and his support for the abolitionist John Brown.

Look closer

  • Why might a writer's essays on nature and his essays on politics be collected together?
  • What does the range of subjects in these volumes suggest about Thoreau's interests?
  • How might his writing on civil disobedience connect to his writing on slavery?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Henry David Thoreau on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of the 1854 first edition of Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry D. Thoreau, with an engraving of a small cabin among pine and deciduous trees, an epigraph, and the publisher Ticknor and Fields, Boston.Book

Primary source

Walden

Henry David Thoreau · 1854

Scanned printed page 189 from 1849 Aesthetic Papers, headed 'Art. X. Resistance to Civil Government' with running head 'Resistance to Civil Government.' Body text is an essay opening: 'I heartily accept the motto, That government is best which governs least.' The page is dense serif text in two columns of prose, with no images.Book

Primary source

Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau · 1849

Sepia-toned black-and-white portrait of a bearded man with tousled dark hair, wearing a dark jacket, bow tie, and white collar, against a plain gray-brown background. He gazes directly at the camera with a serious expression.Photograph

Primary source

Daguerreotype Portrait of Henry David Thoreau

Benjamin D. Maxham · 18 June 1856

Speech

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Slavery in Massachusetts

Henry David Thoreau · 4 July 1854

Speech

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A Plea for Captain John Brown

Henry David Thoreau · 30 October 1859

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