Thoreau, Henry David | A survey plan of "The Kimball Lot, (so called)," April 1853

Thoreau, Henry David

A very large autograph manuscript survey, titled "Plan of The Kimball Lot, (so called), Belonging to Charles White Esq.; Haverhill Mass. Surveyed by Henry D. Thoreau. April 1853"

Autograph manuscript survey map on linen (1265 x 455 mm). Neatly executed in sepia ink in Thoreau's hand; backed, some foxing, expert restoration including two small areas of facsimile. Expertly mounted, glazed, and framed (1347 x 531 mm); not examined out of frame.

A rare survey map in the hand of Henry David Thoreau.

"April 19. Haverhill. — Willow and bass strip freely. Surveying Charles White's long piece. Hear again that same nighthawk-like sound over a meadow at evening" (Thoreau, Journals 5:111).

Although he is now regarded as a giant of the Transcendentalist movement, Henry David Thoreau did not support himself through his writing. In the 1840s, Thoreau became a land and property surveyor, a profession that had no formal requirements at that time. For the essayist, philosopher, and naturalist, it was an occupation that allowed him to spend time outdoors, sauntering through nature.

During his lifetime, Thoreau would come to be regarded as a skilled surveyor. Even by modern standards, his precision is exceptional. Many of Thoreau's surveying commissions kept him in Concord and the nearby towns. In the winter of 1846, he surveyed Walden Pond, and incorporated a reduced version of his map in Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854). His work also took him further afield—including New Jersey, Cape Cod, and Nantucket—and counted properties belonging to Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and others.

Following Thoreau’s death, his surveying compass and tripod were sold through the Concord auctioneer Sam Staples. These were purchased by Sampson Douglass Mason, who presented them to the Concord Free Public Library. Thoreau left his working papers as a surveyor—including field notes and draft surveys—in the care of his sister, Sophia, who bequeathed them to the Library in the 1870s. 

The largest of Thoreau's survey maps to appear at auction.