A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Volume I

My object in this book has been to offer to the readers and friends of Emerson some further illustrations, some details of his outward and inward history that may fill out and define more closely the image of him they already have, rather than to attempt a picture which should make him known to strangers, or set him forth in due relation to his surroundings or the world at large. The position of literary executor to which he appointed me, and the desire of his family that I would write a memoir of him, have given me access to his unpublished writings (including many letters confided to me by some of his most valued correspondents, to whom I render hearty thanks), and to sources of information in the memories of persons who knew him in his early years and in his home. My aim has been to use these opportunities to furnish materials for an estimate of him, without undertaking any estimate or interposing any comments beyond what seemed necessary for the better understanding of the facts presented.