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Walden

Henry David Thoreau · 1854

Thoreau's 1854 book describing his experiment in simple living at Walden Pond, the central statement of his philosophy.

Thoreau wrote and lived the experiment described in this, his most famous book.

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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.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, title page, first edition, 1854. Ticknor and Fields, Boston.

About this source

What it is

Walden is an 1854 book by Henry David Thoreau, describing his experience living simply in a cabin near Walden Pond, Massachusetts, compressed into a single symbolic year. It was published by Ticknor and Fields in Boston.

Why it matters

The book blends memoir, nature observation, social criticism and spiritual reflection. It expresses Thoreau's transcendentalist belief in self-reliance and deliberate living, while also showing the support he received from his family and friends, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, which complicates the book's image of total independence.

Look closer

  • Why might Thoreau have compressed two years into one symbolic year?
  • What does the title-page illustration suggest about how readers were meant to picture his cabin?
  • How does knowing about his family's help change how you read his claims of self-reliance?

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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