AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST-TABLE

Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1858. First edition, early issue with the general title-page printed in red, “Valuable Books” ads at rear binding state with monograms and flowers in the corners of the covers. Illustrated with the eight original engravings protected by tissue guards. These illustrations were removed in later issues at the request of the author. 8vo, publisher’s original green cloth lettered in gilt on spine, with the called for decorations of monograms and flowers and designs in blind on the covers. viii, 373 including index, 2 ads pp. A fine, bright, clean and very well preserved copy, unusual in this condition. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE QUIRKIEST AND MOST CHARMING BOOKS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. The Grolier Catalogue of One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900 calls it the "distillation of the intellectual and cultural life of New England at its Brahmin zenith,” which is a stuffy way of saying its subject matter ranges amusingly across all the corners of Holmes's...er, The Autocrat's mind.
"Autocrat" first appeared in serial form in the first issue of the Atlantic Monthly. It blends the discursive and whimsicalIy comprehending talk of a boarding-house sage with verses, both light and serious. It was followed by two more titles in the "Breakfast-Table" series, their enthusiastic reception of which has been justified by the place they have retained in American letters.