CURRENTLY AVAILABLE: Manuscript Volume 18 (September 3, 1854 - May 12, 1855) Manuscript Volume 19 (May 13, 1855 - January 3, 1856) Manuscript Volume 20 (January 4 - April 23, 1856) Manuscript Volume 21 (April 23 - September 6, 1856) Manuscript Volume 22 (September 7, 1856 - April 1, 1857) Manuscript Volume 23 (April 2 - July 31, 1857) Manuscript Volume 24 (July 31 - November 25, 1857) Manuscript Volume 25 (November 25, 1857 - June 4, 1858) Manuscript Volume 26 (June 4 - July 8, 1858) Manuscript Volume 27 (July 9 - November 9, 1858) Manuscript Volume 28 (November 9, 1858 - April 7, 1859) Manuscript Volume 29 (April 8 - September 21, 1859) Manuscript Volume 30 (September 22, 1859 - February 13, 1860) Manuscript Volume 31 (February 15 - July 22, 1860) Manuscript Volume 32 (July 23 - November 22, 1860) Manuscript Volume 33 (November 23, 1860 - November 3, 1861)

From 1837 to 1861, Thoreau kept a handwritten Journal that began as a conventional record of ideas, grew into a writer's notebook, and eventually became the principal imaginative work of his career. The source of much of his published writing, the Journal is also a record of both his interior life and his monumental studies of the natural history of his native Concord, Massachusetts.

Thoreau's Journal ultimately filled forty-seven manuscript volumes; the Thoreau Edition is producing a new edition of these documents that will be published by Princeton University Press in sixteen printed volumes. Seven volumes have appeared; they include manuscript volumes dated from October 22, 1837, through August 18, 1853, and from February 13 through September 3, 1854.

THE JOURNAL TRANSCRIPT

Editorial work on the Journal begins with a line-for-line, letter-for-letter transcript of the manuscript volumes; the Online Journal Transcript presents this material, which forms the basis for editors' work on the printed volumes. The transcript is as faithful a rendering of the handwritten document as it is possible to make in type. Interlined text is positioned approximately as in the manuscript, and misspellings and incomplete sentences are not corrected. Text written in pencil is enclosed within percent signs, and uncertain readings appear in braces. Footnotes made by transcribers describe features that may need attention during the editorial process. Click here to see a sample of Thoreau's handwriting.

Transcripts of the sixteen manuscript volumes Thoreau kept from September 3, 1854, through his last entry on November 3, 1861, are presented here. The transcript of Journal Manuscript Volume 18 will form the basis for Journal 9: 1854-1855, to be edited by Wesley T. Mott and Laura Dassow Walls; transcripts of Manuscript Volumes 19 and 20 will form the basis of Journal 10: 1855-1856, to be edited by Minka Misangyi Barton. Transcripts of Manuscript Volumes 21 and 22 will form the basis of Journal 11: 1856-1857; transcripts of 23 and 24, Journal 12: 1857; transcripts of 25 and 26, Journal 13: 1857-1858; transcripts of 27 and 28, Journal 14: 1858-1859; transcripts of 29 and 30, Journal 15: 1859-1860; and transcripts of 31, 32, and 33, Journal 16: 1860-1861. These volumes will be published by Princeton University Press in The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau.

Reading the Online Transcript
These documents are in the Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). An Acrobat viewer such as Acrobat Reader (version 4.0 or later) must be used to view these documents. This program usually comes pre-installed on most Apple and Windows operating systems. If it is not pre-installed on your computer, Adobe's Web site offers a free copy for downloading. To use Acrobat Reader with your Web browser, you need to first download it from Adobe's Web site to some location on your hard drive (e.g., your Program Files folder). Next, go to that location and double click on the Acrobat icon; it will unpack itself and start the installation program. Once Acrobat Reader is installed, you will need to restart your computer, so be sure to save and close out of other programs before unpacking this new software.

We welcome your comments about these transcripts; please send them to Elizabeth Witherell.

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