Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v1.djvu/17



edition of the writings of Thoreau is complete in a way which was impossible in the case of all previous editions, for it contains his entire Journal, which has only recently become available for publication. The four volumes of selections from the Journal edited by his friend and correspondent, Mr. H. G. O. Blake, into whose hands the manuscript volumes passed on the death of Thoreau's sister Sophia, contained only a small part of the whole, and reflected to some extent, as was inevitable, the tastes and interests of the editor. Moreover, the manner chosen for presenting the extracts afforded no such complete view of Thoreau’s daily life and the development of his genius as is now obtainable from the entire Journal, printed in the strictly chronological form, just as it was written.

The writings divide themselves naturally into two sections, the Works and the Journal, the former containing the books, essays, lectures, addresses, and poems which Thoreau himself prepared, more or less completely, for publication. (The Letters have for convenience also been included in this section.) But while this division is natural when the writings are viewed in their present form, there is really no inherent difference between the two sections, for all Thoreau’s works — the two books that he printed during his lifetime, as well as the volumes compiled after his death from his pub-