Emerson Society

Writings

      Writings by and about Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

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Emerson's Major Works via The Internet Archive

Writings by Emerson

     -Guidance for scholars-

Scholars should cite the authoritative editions of Emerson’s writings as listed below.  For initial research or non-scholarly use of published texts, the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society recommends the 1903-04 Centenary Edition available in the links above.

For a discussion of some issues raised concerning the editorial practices of the first two volumes of the Harvard edition of Collected Works, see Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Major Prose, ed. Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2015), pp. xxxv-xxxix.

The final three volumes of the Centenary Edition (Lectures and Biographical Sketches, Miscellanies, and Natural History of Intellect) were assembled posthumously by family and friends and are therefore not authoritative.  Uncollected prose works published by Emerson in his lifetime are included in volume ten of the Harvard edition, Uncollected Prose Writings, which also discusses the works that no longer can see seen as wholly Emerson’s.

Scholars should cite the authoritative edition of Emerson’s private writings from Harvard’s Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks not the 19019-1914 Centenary Edition of his Journals.

The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Alfred R. Ferguson, Joseph Slater, Douglas Emory Wilson, Ronald A. Bosco et al. 10 vols. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971-2013.

The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. William H. Gilman et al. 16 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960–1982.

The Early Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Robert E. Spiller et al. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959–1972.

The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson: 18431871, ed. Ronald Bosco and Joel Myerson. 2 vols. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001.

The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ralph L. Rusk and Eleanor M. Tilton. 10 vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 1939–1995.

Complete Sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Albert J. von Frank et al. 4 vols. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989–1992.

Emerson’s Antislavery Writings, ed. Len Gougeon and Joel Myerson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.

The Poetry Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ralph H. Orth et al.  Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1986.

The Topical Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ralph H. Orth et al.  3 vols.  Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1990-1994

Collected Editions

  • Scholars should cite the authoritative editions of Emerson’s writings as listed below. For a discussion of some issues raised concerning the editorial practices of the first two volumes of the Harvard edition of Collected Works, see Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Major Prose, ed. Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2015), pp. xxxv-xxxix.
  • The final three volumes of the Centenary Edition (Lectures and Biographical Sketches, Miscellanies, and Natural History of Intellect) were assembled posthumously by family and friends and are therefore not authoritative.  Uncollected prose works published by Emerson in his lifetime are included in volume ten of the Harvard edition, Uncollected Prose Writings, which also discusses the works that no longer can see seen as wholly Emerson’s.
  • Scholars should cite the authoritative edition of Emerson’s private writings from Harvard’s Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks not the 19019-1914 Centenary Edition of his Journals.
  • Volume I: Nature, Addresses, and Lectures, ed. Robert E. Spiller, Alfred R. Ferguson, 1971
  • Volume II: Essays: First Series, ed. Joseph Slater, Alfred R. Ferguson, Jean Ferguson Carr, 1980
  • Volume III: Essays: Second Series, ed. Joseph Slater, Alfred R. Ferguson, Jean Ferguson Carr, 1984
  • Volume IV: Representative Men, ed. Joseph Slater, Douglas Emory Wilson, et. al., 1987
  • Volume V: English Traits, ed. Philip Nicoloff, Robert E. Burkholder, Douglas Emory Wilson, 1994
  • Volume VI: The Conduct of Life, ed. Barbara L. Packer, Joseph Slater, Douglas Emory Wilson, 2004
  • Volume VII: Society and Solitude, ed. Ronald A. Bosco, Douglas Emory Wilson, 2008
  • Volume VIII: Letters and Social Aims, ed. Glen M. Johnson, Joel Myerson, introduction by Ronald A. Bosco, 2010
  • Volume IX: Poems: A Variorum Edition, ed. Albert J. von Frank, Thomas Wortham, 2011
  • Volume X: Uncollected Prose Writings, ed. Ronald A. Bosco, Joel Myerson, notes by Glen M. Johnson, 2013

Books

  • Letter from the Rev. R. W. Emerson, to the Second Church and Society. Boston: I. R. Butts, 1832.
  • A Historical Discourse, Delivered before the Citizens of Concord, 12th September 1835. On the Second Centennial Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town. Concord: G. F. Bemis, 1835.
  • Nature. Boston: James Munroe, 1836; new edition, Boston: James Munroe, 1849.
  • An Oration, Delivered Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, August 31, 1837. Boston: James Munroe, 1837. The “American Scholar” address.
  • An Address Delivered Before the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge, Sunday Evening, 15 July, 1838. Boston: James Munroe, 1838. The Divinity School Address.
  • An Oration Delivered before the Literary Societies of Dartmouth College, July 21, 1838. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1838. “Literary Ethics.”
  • Essays [First Series]. Boston: James Munroe, 1841; English edition, London: James Fraser, 1841; revised edition as Essays: First Series, Boston: James Munroe, 1847.
  • The Method of Nature. An Oration, Delivered Before the Society of the Adelphi, in Waterville College, in Maine, August 11, 1841. Boston: Samuel G. Simpkins, 1841.
  • Man the Reformer. London: Simpkin, Marshall; Bolton: H. Bradbury, Jun., 1842.
  • Nature; An Essay. And Lectures on the Times London: H. G. Clarke, 1844.
  • Orations, Lectures, and Address. London: H. G. Clarke, 1844.
  • The Young American. London: John Chapman, 1844.
  • Essays: Second Series. Boston: James Munroe, 1844; English edition, London: John Chapman, 1844.
  • An Address Delivered in the Court-House in Concord, Massachusetts, on 1st August, 1844, on the Anniversary of the Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies. Boston: James Munroe, 1844; English edition as The Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies. An Address Delivered at Concord, Massachusetts, on 1st August, 1844, London: John Chapman, 1844.
  • Poems. London: Chapman, Brothers, 1847; American edition, Boston: James Munroe, 1847.
  • Nature; Addresses, and Lectures Boston: James Munroe, 1849; reprinted as Miscellanies; Embracing Nature, Addresses, and Lectures, Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1856.
  • Representative Men. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1850; English editions, London: John Chapman, 1850; London: George Routledge, 1850; London: Henry G. Bohn, 1850.
  • English Traits. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1856; English editions, London: G. Routledge, 1856; London: Knight and Son, 1856.
  • The Conduct of Life. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1860; English edition, London: Smith, Elder, 1860.
  • May-Day and Other Pieces. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867; English edition, London: George Routledge and Sons, 1867.
  • Society and Solitude. Boston: Fields, Osgood, 1870; English edition, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, 1870.
  • Remarks on the Character of George L. Stearns. N.p.: n.p., 1872.
  • Letters and Social Aims. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1876; English issue, London: Chatto and Windus, 1876.
  • Fortune of the Republic. Boston: Houghton, Osgood, 1878.
  • The Preacher. Boston: George H. Ellis, 1880.
  • The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Charles Eliot Norton, 2 vols. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1883; English issue, London: Chatto and Windus, 1883.
  • Miscellanies. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1884; English reprinting, London: George Routledge and Sons, 1884.
  • Lectures and Biographical Sketches. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1884; English reprinting, London: George Routledge and Sons, 1884.
  • The Senses and the Soul, and Moral Sentiment in Religion: Two Essays. London: Foulger, 1884.
  • The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson: Supplementary Letters, ed. Charles Eliot Norton. Boston: Ticknor, 1886.
  • Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1893; English reprinting, London: George Routledge & Sons, 1893.
  • Two Unpublished Essays. The Character of Socrates. The Present State of Ethical Philosophy, ed. Edward Everett Hale. Boston: Lamson, Wolffe, 1896.
  • A Correspondence between John Sterling and Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Edward Waldo Emerson. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1897.
  • Letters from Ralph Waldo Emerson to a Friend, ed. Charles Eliot Norton. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1899; English issue, London: A. P., Watt & Son, 1899.
  • Printed Copy of Sermon Preached by Ralph Waldo Emerson on the Death of George Adams Sampson. 1834. N.p.: n.p., 1903.
  • Correspondence between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Herman Grimm, ed. Frederick William Holls. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1903.
  • Tantalus, ed. F. B. Sanborn. Canton, Penn.: Kirgate Press, 1903.
  • The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes, 10 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1909-1914.
  • Records of a Lifelong Friendship, ed. Horace Howard Furness. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.
  • Uncollected Writings. New York: Lamb Publishing Company, 1912.
  • Uncollected Lectures, ed. Clarence Gohdes. New York: William Edwin Rudge, 1932.
  • Emerson-Clough Letters, ed. Howard F. Lowry and Ralph Leslie Rusk. Cleveland: Rowfant Club, 1934.
  • A Letter of Emerson ed. Willard Reed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1934.
  • Young Emerson Speaks: Unpublished Discourses on Many Subjects, ed. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Jr. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938.
  • The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ralph L. Rusk and Eleanor M. Tilton, 10 vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 1939; 1990-1995.
  • Indian Superstition. Hanover, N.H.: Friends of the Dartmouth Library, 1954.
  • Dante’s Vita Nuova: Translated by Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. J. Chesley Mathews. Boston: Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association, 1957; new edition, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1960.
  • The Early Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Stephen E. Whicher, Robert E. Spiller, and Wallace E. Williams, 3 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959-1972.
  • The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. William H. Gilman, Ralph H. Orth, et al., 16 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960-1982.
  • The Correspondence of Emerson and Carlyle, ed. Joseph Slater. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1964.
  • The Poetry Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ralph H. Orth et al. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1986.
  • The Complete Sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Albert J. von Frank et al., 4 vols. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989-1992.
  • The Topical Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ralph H. Orth et al., 3 vols. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1990-1994.
  • Emerson’s Antislavery Writings, ed. Len Gougeon and Joel Myerson. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995.
  • The Later Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson, 2 vols. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2001.
  • Selected Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2005.

Essays

Not listed here are first separate appearances in unauthorized British editions or unauthorized miscellaneous collections published in Britain, or in posthumous collections edited by people other than Emerson’s literary executors. Emerson occasionally published essays with the same titles; they are listed in order of publication. The prayer “Father We Thank Thee” and the inspirational saying “Success” are not by Emerson; see the entries for them under the “Ephemera” section.

  • “Abraham Lincoln”: Miscellanies
  • “Address at the Dedication of the Soldiers’ Monument in Concord”: Miscellanies
  • “Address on Emancipation in the British West Indies”: published separately in 1844 (see above); collected in Miscellanies
  • “Address to Kossuth”: Miscellanies
  • “Agriculture of Massachusetts”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “American Civilization”:Miscellanies
  • “American Scholar”: published separately in 1837 (see above); collected in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “Aristocracy”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Art”: Essays: First Series
  • “Art”: Society and Solitude
  • “The Assault Upon Mr. Sumner”: Miscellanies
  • “Behavior”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Beauty”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Books”: Society and Solitude
  • “Boston”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Carlyle”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Character”: Essays: Second Series
    “Character”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “The Chardon Street Convention”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Circles”: Essays: First Series
  • “Civilization”: Society and Solitude
  • “Clubs”: Society and Solitude
  • “The Comic”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Compensation”: Essays: First Series
  • “The Conservative”: Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “Considerations by the Way”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Courage”: Society and Solitude
  • “Culture”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Demonology”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Divinity School Address”: published separately in 1838 (see above); collected in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “Domestic Life”: Society and Solitude
  • “Editors’ Address: Massachusetts Quarterly Review”: Miscellanies
  • “Education”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Eloquence”: Society and Solitude
  • “Eloquence”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “The Emancipation Proclamation”: Miscellanies
  • “Europe and European Books”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Experience”: Essays: Second Series
  • “Ezra Ripley”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Farming”: Society and Solitude
  • “Fate”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Fortune of the Republic”: published separately in 1878 (see above); collected in Miscellanies
  • “Friendship”: Essays: First Series
  • “The Fugitive Slave Law”: Miscellanies
  • “Gifts”: Essays: Second Series
    “Goethe; or, the Writer”: Representative Men
  • “Greatness”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Harvard Commemoration Speech”: Miscellanies
  • “Heroism”: Essays: First Series
  • “Historical Discourse in Concord”: published separately in 1835 (see above); collected in Miscellanies
  • “Historic Notes of Life and Letters in New England”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “History”: Essays: First Series
  • “Illusions”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Immortality”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Inspiration”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Intellect”: Essays: First Series
  • “Introductory Lecture” [to
  • “Lectures on the Times”]: Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “John Brown: Speech at Salem”: Miscellanies
  • “A Letter”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Literary Ethics”: published separately in 1838 (see above); collected in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “The Lord’s Supper”: Miscellanies
  • “Love”: Essays: First Series
    “Manners”: Essays: Second Series
  • “The Man of Letters”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Man the Reformer”: Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “Mary Moody Emerson”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Memory”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “The Method of Nature”: published separately in 1841 (see above); collected in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “Michael Angelo”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Milton”:Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Montaigne; or, the Skeptic”: Representative Men
  • “Napoleon; or, the Man of the World”: Representative Men
  • “Natural History of Intellect”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Nature”: Essays: Second Series
  • “New England Reformers”: Essays: Second Series
  • “Nominalist and Realist”: Essays: Second Series
  • “Old Age”: Society and Solitude
  • “The Over-Soul”: Essays: First Series
  • “Past and Present”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Perpetual Forces”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Persian Poetry”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Plato; or, the Philosopher”: Representative Men
  • “Plutarch”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “The Poet”: Essays: Second Series
  • “Poetry and Imagination”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Politics”: Essays: Second Series
  • “Power”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Prayers”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “The Preacher”: published separately in 1880 (see above); collected in Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Progress of Culture”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Prudence”: Essays: First Series
  • “Quotation and Originality”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Remarks at a Meeting Held for the Relief of John Brown’s Family”: Miscellanies
  • “Remarks at the Organization of the Free Religious Association”: Miscellanies
  • “Resources”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Robert Burns”: Miscellanies
  • “Samuel Hoar”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “The Scholar”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Self-Reliance”: Essays: First Series
  • “Shakespeare; or, the Poet”: Representative Men
  • “Social Aims”: Letters and Social Aims
  • “Society and Solitude”: Society and Solitude
  • “The Sovereignty of Ethics”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Speech at the Annual Meeting of the Free Religious Association”: Miscellanies
  • “Speech on Affairs in Kansas”: Miscellanies
  • “Spiritual Laws”: Essays: First Series
  • “Success”: Society and Solitude
  • “The Superlative”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Swedenborg; or, the Mystic”: Representative Men
  • “Theodore Parker”: Miscellanies
  • “Thoreau”: Lectures and Biographical Sketches
  • “Thoughts on Modern Literature”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “The Tragic”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “The Transcendentalist”: Nature; Addresses, and Lectures
  • “Uses of Great Men”: Representative Men
  • “Walter Savage Landor”: Natural History of Intellect and Other Papers
  • “Walter Scott”: Miscellanies
  • “War”: Miscellanies
  • “Wealth”: The Conduct of Life
  • “Woman”: Miscellanies
  • “Works and Days”: Society and Solitude
  • “Worship”: The Conduct of Life
  • “The Young American”: Nature; Addresses, and Lectures