October Or Autumnal Tints

Two institutions of New England, our fall colors and Henry David Thoreau, are brought together in this posthumously published rumination on Nature. Autumnal Tints was originally published in the October 1862 Atlantic Monthly.

“A gorgeous edition” (Boston Globe) of Thoreau’s classic work, enhanced with an illuminating essay and beautiful watercolors. Originally delivered as a lecture shortly before the writer’s own death, Henry David Thoreau’s classic “Autumnal Tints” is an ode to autumn not as the season of death and decay, but of ripeness, fullness, and maturity. It is perhaps the best piece ever written on the subject of the fall color of the changing leaves. Thoreau hoped one day to turn it into an illustrated book called “October, or Autumnal Tints.” Thoreau’s astute meditations are framed by a biographical essay by acclaimed scholar Robert D. Richardson that delves into the events and relationships influencing Thoreau’s philosophy. Sensuous watercolors by Lincoln Perry bring to life the fall colors described so ecstatically by Thoreau, allowing longtime Thoreau fans and leaf-peepers alike to feel as though they are walking among the falling leaves alongside one of our best observers of the natural world.

DIV A treasure trove of Thoreau’s most noteworthy essays, with plentiful annotations by leading Thoreau scholar Jeffrey S. Cramer /div

In more than 600 striking, thought-provoking excerpts, grouped under 17 headings, Thoreau rails against injustice, gives voice to his love of nature, and advocates simplicity and conscious living. Note.

In more than 600 striking, thought-provoking excerpts, grouped under 17 headings, Thoreau rails against injustice, gives voice to his love of nature, and advocates simplicity and conscious living. Note.

A meditation on apples begins with a short history of the apple tree, tracing its path from ancient Greece to America. Thoreau saw the apple as a perfect mirror of man and eloquently lamented where they both were heading.

Thoreau’s last years have been the subject of debate for decades, but only recently have scholars and critics begun to appreciate the posthumous publications, unfinished manuscripts, and Journal entries that occupied the writer after Walden (1854). Until now, no critical reader has delved deeply enough into botany to see how Thoreau’s plant studies impact his thinking and writing. Thoreau’s Botany moves beyond general literary appreciation for the botanical works to apply Thoreau’s extensive studies of botany—from 1850 to his death in 1862—to readings of his published and unpublished works in fresh, interdisciplinary ways. Bringing together critical plant studies, ecocriticism, and environmental humanities, James Perrin Warren argues that Thoreau’s botanical excursions establish a meeting ground of science and the humanities that is only now ready to be recognized by readers of American literature and environmental literature.