The Maine Woods: A Fully Annotated Edition

385 Pages·2009·2.1 MB·English

by  Henry D. Thoreau

The Maine Woods

The Maine Woods
h e n r y d . t h o r e a u
a f u l l y a n n o t a t e d e d i t i o n
edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer
yale university Press new haven and london
Copyright © 2009 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in
part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that
copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.
Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public
press), without written permission from the publishers.
Designed by Sonia Shannon.
Set in Adobe Garamond type by Tseng Information
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Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
Thoreau, Henry David, 1817–1862.
The Maine woods : a fully annotated edition /
Henry D. Thoreau ; edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-300-12283-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Piscataquis County (Me.)—Description and travel.
2. Maine—Description and travel. 3. Thoreau, Henry
David, 1817–1862—Travel—Maine. 4. Authors,
American—19th century—Biography. I. Cramer,
Jeffrey S., 1955–. II. Title.
f27.p5t43 2009
917.4'1043—dc22
2009015161
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of Ansi/nisO
Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Greg Joly
often on bare rocky carries the trail was so indistinct that i repeatedly lost it,
but when i walked behind him i observed that he could keep it almost like a hound,
and rarely hesitated, or, if he paused a moment on a bare rock, his eye immediately
detected some sign which would have escaped me.
—“the allegash and east Branch”

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Permissions xiii
Introduction xv
the mAine wOOds
Ktaadn 1
Chesuncook 76
The Allegash and East Branch 146
Appendix 278
Supplement 305
Choice of Copy Text 307
Textual Notes and Emendations 309
Bibliography 343
Index 351

Preface
My purpose in editing The Maine Woods: A Fully Annotated Edi-
tion has been twofold: to examine the text of The Maine Woods
in light of the research and commentary that has appeared in the
135 years since it was first published, and to present a reliable text
with a comprehensive series of annotations. While paying tribute
to and honoring the work that has come before, I have tried to
correct errors and omissions of previous editions without creating
new ones.
Preface ix