Extra-textual Features in the Walden Manuscript
In addition to the evolving text of Walden, HM 924 contains a variety of markings, some in Thoreau’s hand, some in others’. Most of the non-authorial markings appear to have been made by Thoreau admirer Franklin Benjamin Sanborn.
The table below, a work in progress, represents our ongoing effort to categorize these markings—distinguishing Thoreau’s marks from Sanborn’s and identifying the likely purposes of both.
Thoreau’s marks
Thoreau’s extra-textual marks provide insight into his revision process. He uses lines, symbols, and abbreviations, in ink, pencil, and orange grease pencil to mark passages for omission, retention, and transposition, and to connect material on disparate leaves by means of cross-references. Occasionally, he adds marginal question marks, apparently indicating uncertainty about the disposition of material.
Some of the marks in the first three drafts (late September 1846 through late summer 1849), as well as in the fourth draft (early 1852 to September 1852) reflect revisions for lectures Thoreau delivered from early 1847 to April 1852 that draw on his Walden experience. The direction to “omit” or “retain” a passage in these drafts may be related to the content of a specific lecture.
Sanborn’s marks
As our overview of the manuscript’s history explains, in 1905, St. Louis collector William K. Bixby purchased from George Hellman a group of Thoreau manuscripts that included the leaves making up HM 924. Bixby hired Sanborn to work with the manuscripts, and Sanborn embarked on a project to create a new edition of Walden that incorporated passages Thoreau had omitted from the drafts; the result was the two-volume Bibliophile Edition, published in 1909.
In preparation for this project, Sanborn numbered passages in Thoreau’s manuscript to correlate their contents with their locations in an edition derived from the 1889 Houghton Mifflin edition of Walden; he added other notes as well. Sanborn’s marks—in gray pencil, blue pencil, and ink—appear on almost every page of the leaves of HM 924. This table includes Sanborn’s numbers only when they are part of more substantive notes by him.
Table of Extra-textual Features
Use the dropdown menus to filter on particular manuscript images or features.
| Image # | Huntington | Full size | Feature | Description | Related |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | omit | "omit" in pencil referring to a portion of text enclosed in ink and pencil | |||
| 21 | omit | "omit" in pencil referring to an ink addition | |||
| 38 | retain | "Retain" in pencil across two paragraphs circled in pencil and marked through in pencil and ink | Image 40: earlier version (based on revision accepted in 38) of two paragraphs circled in pencil and marked through in pencil and ink and marked “Retain” in pencil on 38 | ||
| 42 | retain, omit | "Retain" written over "Omit", both in pencil, above most of a paragraph circled and marked through in ink "Omit" overwritten by "Retain", both in pencil, above most of a paragraph circled and marked through in ink | |||
| 50 | omit | "omit" pencilled up left margin beside text (fable of Momus) circled, marked to insert on preceding page (49), and marked through, all in ink, and marked through in pencil | Image 52: later version of fable of Momus (based on revision on 50 accepted here) (note also faint pencilled notes written up left margin before ink text was added) | ||
| 52 | FBS | FBS “This is omitted from P. 55” pencilled in left margin | |||
| 60 | transpose | transposition indicated by circling text and numbering in margin in pencil | |||
| 66 | transpose | transposition indicated by adding open paren before lines and numbering in pencil | |||
| 67 | omit | "omit" in pencil 2x for several lines marked off in pencil | |||
| 68 | transpose | transposition indicated by circling text in ink and and numbering in margin in ink | |||
| 70 | retain | "retain" in pencil written over ink text marked through with wavy ink line | |||
| 78 | FBS | FBS note in left margin in upper left “P. 122 / Much rewritten”. This applies to “Every class and order . . . dried and healing herbs--” which contains some ideas that are in Eco-108b but are worded differently on 78. “I want the flower . . . a multitude of sins.” appears in Eco-108b. FBS “copy” in pencil in left margin beside “He must serve another and a / better use that any he can consciously”. That paragraph, through “Silence.” on 79 does not appear in the published Walden. | |||
| 79 | copy | "Copy" in pencil in right margin | |||
| 84 | transpose | transposition indicated by marking off text and numbering in margin in ink | |||
| 85 | transpose | transposition indicated by marking off text and numbering in margin in ink | |||
| 86 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil used for partial circling | |||
| 88 | orange grease pencil, ? | orange grease pencil used to cancel “as near to the immortal city” which is parenthesized in pencil and cancelled in pencil ? in pencil precedes “(as . . .” | |||
| 89 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil used to cancel "toward elysian realms" which is parenthesized in pencil and cancelled in pencil | |||
| 90 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil offset from 89 over " | |||
| 90 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil used to interline "All" above ink "Greek" which is cancelled in pencil. "All" in added in pencil preceding ink "Greek"; "All" in pencil, "All" in orange grease pencil. and ink "Greek" cancelled in pencil are all cancelled in ink orange grease pencil used to partially surround upper left corner and lower right corner of text from "If we" through "a perpetual morning." and to connect those corners with a diagonal mark. "If we" through "a perpetual morning." also circled in pencil and crossed over with large "X" in pencil. "If we" through "them. And" circled in ink and overwritten with wavy ink line. | |||
| 94 | transpose | transposition indicated by marking text with vertical lines text and numbering in margin in pencil | Stray? number 1? in ink in margin | ||
| 96 | orange grease pencil, retain | orange grease pencil used to parenthesize and mark through "When I first got a cinder in my eye I suspected I was not going to heaven." which is also parenthesized 2x and cancelled in pencil and marked "retain" "retain" interlined in pencil within "When I first got a cinder in my eye I suspected I was not going to heaven." which is also parenthesized 2x and cancelled in pencil and parenthesized and marked through in orange grease pencil | |||
| 97 | orange grease pencil, retain | orange grease pencil used to cancel "I drink at it" which is also cancelled in pencil and marked "retain" "retain" interlined in pencil above "drink" orange grease pencil used to parenthesize and cancel "Its thin current glides away, but eternity remains" which is also parenthesized and cancelled in pencil and marked "retain" in pencil in margin "retain" added in pencil in margin beside "Its thin current glides away, but eternity remains" which is parenthesized and cancelled in pencil and orange grease pencil | |||
| 98 | orange grease pencil, ? | orange grease pencil used to parenthesize and mark through "I cannot count one-- I know not the first letter of the alphabet. I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born." which is surrounded in pencil on three sides "?" in pencil in left margin beside "I cannot count . . . born." which is surrounded on three sides in pencil and parenthesized and marked through in orange grease pencil "?" in pencil in right margin beside "Lives but a moral death, / Whose life is not coeval" | |||
| 99 | transpose | transposition indicated by marking text with vertical lines text and numbering in margin in pencil | |||
| 99 | FBS | FBS “Intended for Walden” written up left margin in ink | |||
| 100 | FBS | FBS “Omitted” written up left margin in blue pencil | |||
| 101 | transpose, orange grease pencil | transposition indicated by marking text with vertical lines text and numbering in margin in pencil orange grease pencil used to draw open bracket preceding "It" and mark through remaining lines on page; "It" is also preceded by pencilled open bracket and remaining lines are marked through in pencil | |||
| 102 | transpose, orange grease pencil, FBS | transposition indicated by marking text with vertical line and numbering in margin in pencil orange grease pencil used to draw closed bracket following "future." and mark through preceding lines on page; "future." is also followed by pencilled closed bracket and preceding lines are marked through in pencil FBS "Copy" in pencil up left margin | |||
| 103 | FBS | FBS "Copy" in pencil with double slashes in pencil marking beginning and ending of passage | |||
| 105 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil used to draw vertical lines preceding "For they" and following "given." and to mark through the demarcated passage, part of which, "These . . . given.", is enclosed and marked through with a wavy line in ink orange grease pencil used to draw vertical line through passage, "These . . . given.", enclosed and marked through with a wavy line in ink | |||
| 106 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil offset from 105 across text from "sound" through "inconvenient" orange grease pencil used to bracket and mark through "but . . . instinctive." which are enclosed and marked through in pencil orange grease pencil used to draw one vertical line through passage "When I ask . . . writers" which is enclosed and marked through in pencil | |||
| 107 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil used to draw vertical line down midle of page from first ink line (and interlined pencilled lines) to last; first five ink lines (and interlined pencilled lines) on page also marked through with vertical lines in pencil | |||
| 108 | transpose, orange grease pencil | transposition indicated by marking text with vertical line and numbering in margin in pencil orange grease pencil used to make angled vertical line through final seven ink lines toward right side of page. This may have been accidental. | |||
| 109 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil offset from 110 2x | |||
| 110 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil used to draw vertical line through passage "the lapse of more than 2000 summers . . . them against the corrosions of time." some of which is also marked through with vertical lines in pencil and a wavy line in ink orange grease pencil used to draw vertical line through passage "Their authors . . . after all it is remarkable that" | |||
| 111 | FBS | FBS "Copy 163" in pencil in right margin | |||
| 112 | orange grease pencil, xref, FBS | orange grease pencil used to draw closed bracket and mark across "They . . . solve." which is also cancelled in ink FBS vertical mark in blue pencil between "may" and "think" orange grease pencil used to draw vertical line through final 21 lines on page, parts of which are also marked off by a vertical line in pencil and marked off and through by ink lines "vs", angled line, and vertical line in pencil orange grease pencil used to draw vertical line through final 9 lines on page, which are also marked off and through by ink lines; part marked through by pencilled line FBS "stand" "stand / P 164" "Copy" all in pencil in left margin | |||
| 113 | orange grease pencil | orange grease pencil used to draw vertical line through first 27 lines on page, closed bracket following line 2, and short horizontal line between lines 27 and 28. Lines drawn through parts of these lines in ink and pencil. | |||
| 114 | orange grease pencil, xref | orange grease pencil offset from 113 "V s" in pencil | |||
| 115 | xref | "n p" in pencil |