[Holmes, Oliver Wendell] The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1858. First edition, First issue, with the period after Company and the vignette title present. (BAL 8781; Grolier, American 100, 69.)
With an Autograph Letter Signed from the author, dated October 19, 1877, addressed to the publisher, “Dear Mr. Osgood, ” with Holmes’ comments regarding “Miss [Elizabeth Stuart] Phelps’s Story of Avis.” At the time of the letter, James Osgood was both Holmes’ and Phelps’ publisher.
Octavo, nicely rebound in leather, gilt-decorated spine, with the original cloth (with three fleur-de-lis) preserved at rear.
This book features a series of dialogues or monologues blending humor, philosophy, and social commentary. Interestingly, the Phelps title has been “rediscovered” in the past twenty years or so, and is now considered a classic feminist novel.
