Source: Robert Sattelmeyer, Thoreau's Reading: A Study in Intellectual History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988)
Sattelmeyer's reconstruction of Thoreau's reading documents far more than the contents of a private library. It brings together works traceable through Thoreau's published writings and Journal, his unpublished notebooks and commonplace books, correspondence, library charging records, Harvard coursework, and the catalogue of his personal library. It offers a comprehensive map of Thoreau's reading across his life.
| Author | Title | Publication | Source | Reading Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before the Dial (1842 and earlier) | ||||
| Pindar | Pindari Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia (Geneva, 1586)A different edition from the cabinet's Commelinus (1597/98). Includes fragments of the nine lyric poets. | Genevae: Henricum Stephanum, 1586 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Cato, Varro, Columella, & Palladius | Scriptores Rei RusticaeThe agricultural writers of antiquity, cited extensively in Walden. | Heidelbergae: Commelini, 1595 | Alcott's Library (AL) | — |
| Hesiod | Works and Days (in Winterton's Fragmenta)Different edition from the cabinet's T. Cooke translation (1740). Read alongside Pindar in the same Winterton volume. | In Winterton, Ralph, Poetae Minores Graeci. Cantabrigiae, 1677 | Unknown | — |
| Rev. David Clarkson | A Discourse of the Saving Grace of God | London: J. Astwood for Tho. Parkhurst, 1688 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Orpheus | Orphei Argonautica, Hymni, et de Lapidibus | Trajecti ad Rhenum: G. vande Water, 1689 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Thomas Stanley | The History of Philosophy1701 ed.; cabinet holds 1700 ed. Source for Thoreau's reading of Aristotle's Meteorologica and other ancient philosophy. | London: W. Battersby, 1701 | Alcott's Library (AL) | — |
| Plutarch | Morals (trans. 'by several hands') | 5th ed. 5 vols. London: W. Taylor, 1718 | Unknown | — |
| John Donne | Poems on Several OccasionsExtensive extracts from Donne's devotional and metaphysical verse across multiple notebooks. | London: J. Tonson, 1719 | Emerson's Library | — |
| William Sewel | The History of the Rise, Increase, and Progress of the Christian People Called Quakers | 3rd ed. Burlington, N.J.: I. Collins, 1774 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| John Evelyn | Terra: A Philosophical Discourse of EarthReferenced in Walden. | York: A. Wood, 1778 | Unknown | — |
| Nathaniel Brassey Halhed (trans.) | A Code of Gentoo Laws, or Ordinations of the PunditsTranslated from a Persian version of the original Sanskrit. Hindu legal code. | London, 1786 | Unknown | — |
| Veeshnoo-Sarma (Charles Wilkins trans.) | The Heetopades of Veeshnoo-Sarma (Hitopadesa)Connected fables with moral, prudential, and political maxims. Hindu wisdom literature. | Bath: R. Cruttwell, 1787 | Unknown | — |
| Xenophon | De Cyri Institutione Libri OctoEdited by Thomas Hutchinson. Latin text of the Cyropaedia. | Philadelphia: Watts, 1806 | Unknown | — |
| Sa'di | The Gulistan; or, Rose GardenPersian moral and mystical literature. Translated by Francis Gladwin. | London: W. Bulmer, 1808 | Emerson's Library | — |
| Confucius (Marshman trans.) | The Works of ConfuciusWith original text, translation, and dissertation on the Chinese language. | Vol. 1. Serampore: Mission Press, 1809 | Emerson's Library | — |
| Jimotavahana (H. T. Colebrooke trans.) | Two Treatises on the Hindu Law of Inheritance | Calcutta: Hindoostanee Press, 1810 | Unknown | — |
| Georg Heinrich Bode | Orpheus, Poetarum Graecorum AntiquissimusCritical scholarly edition of the Orphic corpus. | Göttingen: Dieterichianis, 1814 | Unknown | — |
| Pindar (Friedrich Thiersh trans.) | Werke: Urschrift, Uebersetzung in den pindarischen VersmaassenGerman translation with original Greek and commentary. | 2 vols. Leipzig: G. Fleischer, 1820 | Unknown | — |
| François Fénelon | Les aventures de Télémaque, fils d'Ulysse | Besançon: V. Cabuchet, 1823 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Joseph Butler | The Analogy of Religion, Natural and RevealedAnglican theology on the relationship between nature and revealed religion. | Boston: Hilliard and Brown, 1830 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Joseph Marie de Gérando | Self-Education; or, The Means and Art of Moral ProgressTranslated from the French. | Boston: Carter and Hendee, 1830 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy B. Shelley, & John Keats | The Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and KeatsStereotyped by John Howe. Complete in one volume. | Philadelphia: J. Grigg, 1832 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Thomas Brown | Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human MindScottish Common Sense philosophy. | 4 vols. Hallowell, Me.: Glazier, Masters & Co., 1833 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Antar (Terrick Hamilton trans.) | Antar, a Bedoueen RomanceArabic romance of the pre-Islamic hero-poet Antarah ibn Shaddad. | London: J. Murray, 1820 | Harvard College Library | Mar. 1834 |
| Seneca | Medea (ed. Charles Beck) | Cambridge and Boston: J. Munroe & Co., 1834 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Various (The Phenix) | The Phenix (containing 'Morals of Confucius' & 'Oracles of Zoroaster') | New York: W. Gowan, 1835 | Alcott's Library (AL) | — |
| James Burgh | The Dignity of Human NatureOn the means and art of attaining the true end of human existence. | New ed. 2 vols. London: J. Johnson & J. Payne, 1767 | Harvard College Library | Feb. 1835 |
| Mahabharata (Rev. H. H. Milman trans.) | Nala and Damayanti, and Other PoemsTranslated from the Sanskrit with mythological and critical notes. | Oxford: D. A. Talboys, 1835 | Unknown | — |
| Francis Quarles | The Shepheards OraclesRead at the New York Society Library. Made extensive extracts in notebook F6a. | London: J. Marriot, 1646 | New York Society Library; also Thoreau's personal library | 1836–1843 |
| Amos Bronson Alcott | Conversations with Children on the GospelsAlcott's controversial pedagogical work on children's spiritual intuition. | Boston: J. Munroe & Co., 1836–37 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Sir William Jones (trans.) | Institutes of Hindu Law; or, the Ordinances of MenuHindu legal and moral code; foundational Eastern scripture. | Calcutta, 1794 | Thoreau's personal library | 1836–1840 |
| Anonymous | 'Friar Rush and the Frolicsome Elves of Popular Mythology'Essay on popular mythology and folk traditions. | Foreign Quarterly Review 18 (Oct. 1836): 180–202 | Periodical | c. 1836 |
| Charles Wentworth Upham | Lectures on Witchcraft, Comprising a History of the Delusion in Salem, in 1692 | 2nd ed. Boston: Carter and Hendee, 1832 | Unknown | c. 1836 |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Letters, Conversations, & Recollections of S. T. Coleridge | 2 vols. London: Edward Moxon, 1836 | Unknown | July 1837 |
| Robert Burton | The Anatomy of MelancholyRead from Emerson's copy. 1804 ed.; cabinet holds 1838 ed. | 3 vols. London: J. & E. Hodson, 1804 | Emerson's Library | 1837 |
| Anonymous | Ancient Persian Poetry (Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. 18)Review essay on Persian poetic traditions; extracted in Miscellaneous Extracts notebook. | Oct. 1836 | Periodical | c. 1837 |
| George Herbert | The Works of George HerbertThirteenth edition, with life. Cabinet holds the companion Pickering 'Poems' (1835); this broader 'Works' is a different edition. | 2 vols. London: J. Pickering, 1835–36 | Unknown | June 1837 |
| Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque | De la religion, considérée dans sa source, ses formes et ses développementsComparative study of the origins and development of religious sentiment. | 5 vols. Paris: Bosange, 1824–31 | Harvard College Library | Apr.–June 1837 |
| Carminum Poetarum Novem (Pindar et al.) | Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia / Lyricae Poeseos Principum FragmentaThoreau's source for the Anacreontics — Greek lyrics once attributed to Anacreon (see TR, 164–168). | 2 vols. in 1. Heidelbergae: Commelinus, 1598 | Thoreau's personal library | Dec. 1838 |
| Heinrich Ritter | The History of Ancient PhilosophyTranslated by Alexander J. W. Morrison. | 4 vols. Oxford: D. A. Talboys, 1838–46 | Unknown | — |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge | New York: Harper & Brothers, 1835 | Emerson's Library | Dec. 1839 |
| Plutarch | Lives (trans. John & William Langhorne)Also owned a one-volume abridgment of the Lives. | 8 vols. New York: Samuel Campbell, 1822 | Emerson's Library | Dec. 1839–1845 |
| François Fénelon | Abrégé de la vie des plus illustres philosophes de l'antiquitéLives of ancient philosophers; read intensively July 1840. | Paris: Delalain, 1822 | Alcott's Library (AL) | July 1840 |
| Sir Francis Bacon | Essays. Moral, Economical, and Political | Boston: Joseph Greenleaf, 1807 | Thoreau's personal library | Feb. 1840 |
| Sir Thomas Browne | Miscellaneous Works (ed. Alexander Young) | Cambridge, Mass.: Hilliard and Brown, 1831 | Unknown | Feb. 1840 |
| Xenophon | Minor Works (Memoirs of Socrates, The Banquet, Hiero, Economics) | London: J. Walker, 1813 | Emerson's Library | June 1840 |
| Ralph Cudworth | The True Intellectual System of the UniverseNeoplatonic compendium; read extensively spring–summer 1840. | 4 vols. London: R. Priestly, 1820 | Emerson's Library | Apr.–June 1840 |
| J. C. Hare & J. P. Collier (attrib.) | Morgan's Hampden in the Nineteenth CenturyColloquies on the errors and improvement of society. | 2 vols. London: E. Moxon, 1834 | Alcott's Library (AL) | Jan. 1840 |
| Joseph Marie de Gérando | Histoire comparée des systèmes de philosophieComparative history of philosophical systems. Read from Emerson's copy. | 2nd ed. 4 vols. Paris: A. Eymery, 1822–23 | Emerson's Library | Sept. 1840 |
| Puranas (E. Burnouf trans.) | Le Bhágavat Purána; ou, Histoire poétique de KrichnaPart of the Cholmondeley collection. | 3 vols. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1840–47 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Puranas (H. H. Wilson trans.) | The Vishnu Purána: A System of Hindu Mythology and TraditionPart of the Cholmondeley collection. | London: J. Murray, 1840 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| André Dacier | The Life of Pythagoras, with His Symbols and Golden VersesTogether with the Life of Hierocles and his commentaries upon the verses. | London: J. Tonson, 1707 | Alcott's Library (AL) | c. 1841 |
| Guillaume de Saluste Du Bartas | Divine Weeks and Works (trans. Joshua Sylvester)Read 'Probability of the Celestial Orbs Being Inhabited' section. | Many editions available | Unknown | c. 1841 |
| William Bridgman | Translations from the GreekAristotle's synopsis of the virtues, Pythagoric symbols with Iamblichus's explanations, and Pythagoric sentences by Thomas Taylor. | London: W. Bridgman, by R. Wilks, 1804 | Emerson's Library | c. 1841 |
| Sir Francis Bacon | 'The World' (in Wotton's Reliquiae Wottonianae)Read Bacon's 'Humane Life Characterized' within Wotton's collected papers. | London: B. Tooke & T. Sawbridge, 1685 | Unknown | c. 1841 |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Aids to ReflectionWith appendix, preliminary essay, and additional notes by James Marsh. | Burlington, Vt.: Chauncey Goodrich, 1829 | Alcott's Library (AL) | Jan.–Feb. 1841 |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Confessions of an Inquiring SpiritEdited from the author's manuscript by Henry Nelson Coleridge. | London: W. Pickering, 1840 | Unknown | Apr. 1841 |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge | The Statesman's Manual; or, the Bible, the Best Guide to Political Skill and ForesightA lay sermon addressed to the higher classes of society. | Burlington, Vt.: Chauncey Goodrich, 1832 | Emerson's Library | Jan. 1841 |
| Iamblichus (Thomas Taylor trans.) | Life of PythagorasThoreau read this Taylor translation c. 1841. Provenance of the specific copy he used is not confirmed by Sattelmeyer. | London, 1818 | Unknown | c. 1841 |
| Manu (Sir William Jones trans.) | Institutes of Hindu Law; or, the Ordinances of MenuNew edition collated with the Sanskrit text by Graves Chamney Haughton. Preface by Sir William Jones. | 2 vols. London: Rivingtons and Cochran, 1825 | Thoreau's personal library (Cholmondeley collection) | Mar. 1841– |
| Confucius (Pauthier trans.) | Confucius et Mencius, ou les quatre livres de philosophie moraleCited extensively in Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. | Paris: Charpentier, 1841 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Elizabeth Peabody | Record of a SchoolElizabeth Peabody's account of Alcott's Temple School. | Boston: Russell, Shattuck & Co., 1836 | Thoreau's personal library | Sept. 1841 |
| Porphyry (Thomas Taylor trans.) | Select Works of PorphyrySame edition as the cabinet copy. Contains On Abstinence from Animal Food, On the Homeric Cave of the Nymphs, and Auxiliaries to the Perception of Intelligible Natures. | London: T. Rodd, 1823 | Unknown | Apr. 1841 |
| Benjamin Keach | The Glorious Lover: A Divine PoemDevotional poem on the mystery of redemption. By the author of War with the Devil. | London: J.D. for C. Hussey, 1679 | Harvard College Library | Dec. 1841 |
| Francis Quarles | Emblems, Divine and MoralThoreau's own copy. 1825 ed.; cabinet holds 1680 ed. | Chiswick: C. and C. Whittington, 1825 | Thoreau's personal library | 1842–1844 |
| G. Oegger | The True Messiah; or, The Old and New Testaments, Examined According to the Principles of the Language of NaturePublished by Elizabeth Peabody. Swedenborgian-inflected hermeneutics of scripture. | Boston: E. P. Peabody, 1842 | Unknown | Feb. 1842 |
| Alexander Ross | Mystagogus Poeticus, or The Muses InterpreterClassical mythological handbook. | London: Thomas Whitaker, 1648 | Unknown | 1842 |
| After the Dial (1843–) | ||||
| Sir Francis Bacon | Of the Proficience & Advancement of Learning | London: W. Pickering, 1825 | Unknown | Oct. 1843 |
| Sir Thomas Browne | Works (ed. Simon Wilkins, 4 vols.)Borrowed from Emerson; returned to repeatedly. | London: W. Pickering, 1835–36 | Emerson's Library | Jan. 1843–1846 |
| David Collie (trans.) | The Chinese Classical Work, Commonly Called the Four BooksSource for 'Chinese Four Books' in The Dial's 'Ethnical Scriptures' column (Oct. 1843); extracts only tentatively ascribed to Thoreau. | Malacca: The Mission Press, 1828 | Emerson's Library | c. 1843 |
| Francis Quarles | Divine Poems | London: G. Sawbridge, 1706 | Unknown | Sept. 1843 |
| Giles Fletcher | Christ's Victory (in Chalmers, vol. 6)Borrowed by Emerson on Thoreau's behalf. Devotional epic on salvation as cosmic drama. | In Chalmers, The English Poets | Harvard College Library (by RWE) | Jan. 1844 |
| Phineas Fletcher | The Purple Island (in Chalmers, vol. 6)Borrowed by Emerson on Thoreau's behalf. Allegorical poem mapping the human body as spiritual geography. | In Chalmers, The English Poets | Harvard College Library (by RWE) | Jan. 1844 |
| Richard Crashaw | Sospetto d'Herode (in Chalmers, vol. 6)Borrowed by Emerson on Thoreau's behalf. Crashaw's baroque devotional verse extracted in notebooks. | In Chalmers, The English Poets | Harvard College Library (by RWE) | Jan. 1844 |
| Francis Quarles | Divine Fancies1638 ed.; cabinet holds 1680 ed. | London: M. Flesher, 1638 | Unknown | after Dec. 1846 |
| Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Hints Toward the Formation of a More Comprehensive Theory of LifeEdited by Seth B. Watson. | Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1848 | Alcott's Library (AL) | c. 1848 |
| Christian Carl Josias Bunsen | Egypt's Place in Universal HistoryTranslated by Charles H. Cottrell. Comparative history and chronology of civilizations. | London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1848 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| James Elliot Cabot | 'The Philosophy of the Ancient Hindoos'Essay on Hindu philosophy. Cabot was Emerson's literary executor. | Massachusetts Quarterly Review 1 (Sept. 1848): 401–422 | Periodical | c. 1848 |
| Mahabharata (A. Langlois trans.) | Harivansa, ou Histoire de la famille de HariSource for 'The Transmigrations of the Seven Brahmans' in A Week. | 2 vols. Paris, 1834–35 | Harvard College Library | Sept. 1849 |
| Garcin de Tassy | Histoire de la littérature hindoui et hindoustaniComprehensive survey of Hindi and Hindustani literature. | 2 vols. Paris, 1839–47 | Harvard College Library | Sept. 1849 |
| Sir William Jones | The Works of Sir William Jones, Vol. 9Reading Kalidasa's Sacontala among other pieces. | 13 vols. London: J. Stockdale, 1807 | Harvard College Library | Jan. 1850 |
| Vedas (Rev. J. Stevenson trans.) | Sama Veda: Translation of the Sanhita | London: Oriental Translation Fund, 1842 | Harvard College Library | Apr. 1850 |
| Rammohun Roy | Translation of Several Principal Books, Passages and Texts of the VedsHindu reformer's translations of the Upanishads and Vedantic texts. | 2nd ed. London: Parbury, Allen & Co., 1832 | Harvard College Library | Apr. 1850 |
| Sadananda Yogindra | Vedánta-Sára (A Lecture on the Vedánta, ed. R. Ballantyne)Exposition of Vedanta philosophy. Part of the Cholmondeley collection. | Allahabad: Benares College, 1850 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Gotama (called Aksapada) | The Aphorisms of the Nyaya PhilosophyWith commentary by Viswanatha. Sanskrit logical and epistemological tradition. | Allahabad: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1850 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Isvarakrsna (H. T. Colebrooke trans.) | The Sankhya Karika; or, Memorial Verses on the Sankhya PhilosophyWith the Bhashya or commentary of Gaurapada. | Oxford: S. Collingwood; London: A. J. Valpy, 1837 | Thoreau's personal library | Jan. 1850 |
| Sir Austen Henry Layard | Nineveh and Its RemainsIncludes visits to the Chaldean Christians and the Yezidis, and an inquiry into ancient arts. | London, 1849 | Thoreau's personal library | June 1850 |
| Arnold Henry Guyot | The Earth and Man: Lectures on Comparative Physical GeographyTranslated by C. C. Felton. On the relation of geography to human history. | 3rd ed. Boston: Gould & Lincoln, 1851 | Unknown | — |
| Jaimini | Aphorisms of the Mimánsa PhilosophyWith extracts from commentaries. Sanskrit and English. Part of the Cholmondeley collection. | Allahabad: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1851 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Visvanatha Nyayapancanana | Bhásá Parichcheda and Siddhánta Mukta Váli (Nyaya Philosophy)Exposition of Nyaya philosophy. Part of the Cholmondeley collection. | Calcutta: Encyclopaedia Press, 1851 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| John Evelyn | Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-TreesCited extensively in Walden on arboriculture and natural history. | 3rd ed. London: Jo. Martyn & Ja. Allestry, 1679 | Society of Natural History (SNH) | June 1852 |
| Saddharmapundarika (E. Burnouf trans.) | Le Lotus de la Bonne LoiThe Lotus Sutra — foundational Mahayana Buddhist text. Part of the Cholmondeley collection. | Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1852 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Aesop (Thomas Bewick illus.) | The Fables of Aesop, and OthersCabinet holds L'Estrange's edition of Aesop's Fables (1692). | Newcastle: E. Walter for T. Bewick, 1818 | Unknown | Jan. 1852 |
| Robert Spence Hardy | A Manual of Budhism, in Its Modern DevelopmentTranslated from Singhalese manuscripts. Part of the Cholmondeley collection. | London: Partridge & Oakley, 1853 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Christian Carl Josias Bunsen | Christianity and Mankind, Their Beginnings and ProspectsComparative theology and history of religions. | 7 vols. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1854 | Thoreau's personal library | — |
| Mahabharata (Charles Wilkins trans.) | Bhagvat-Geeta, or Dialogues of Kreeshna and ArjoonThe foundational Hindu scripture on duty and devotion. Also owned J. C. Thomson's 1855 Hertford edition (Cholmondeley collection). | London, 1785 | Harvard College Library | Oct. 1854 |
| Kalidasa (M. Williams trans.) | Sakoontala; or The Lost RingIndian drama translated from the Sanskrit. Thoreau had earlier read the Sir William Jones translation. | Hertford: S. Austin, 1855 | Thoreau's personal library (Cholmondeley collection) | — |
| Vedas (H. H. Wilson trans.) | Rig-Veda-SanhitáHindu sacred scripture. Part of the Cholmondeley collection. | 2 vols. London: Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1854 | Thoreau's personal library | Jan. 1856 |
| Asiatic Society of Bengal | Bibliotheca Indica, vol. 14Collection of Oriental works published under East India Company patronage. | Calcutta, 1853 | Thoreau's personal library | Sept. 1857 |
| Henry Phillips | The History of Cultivated Vegetables | 2 vols. London: H. Colburn & Co., 1822 | Alcott's Library (AL) | c. 1859 |
| Aristotle (Camus trans.) | Histoire des animaux d'AristoteFrench translation of Aristotle's zoological works; borrowed repeatedly 1859–60. | Paris: Chez la veuve Desaint, 1783 | Harvard College Library | Dec. 1859 |