Ralph Waldo Emerson. Group of Eighteen Uniformly Bound First Editions. Boston: 1837-1878. Titles include: Nature. James Munroe and Company, 1837. [and:] An Oration Delivered at the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, August 31, 1837. James Munroe and Company, 1837. [and:] An Oration Delivered before the Literary Societies of Dartmouth College, July 24, 1838. Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1838. [and:] An Address Delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge, Sunday Evening, 15 July, 1838. James Munroe and Company, 1838. [and:] The Method of Nature. An Oration, Delivered before the Society of the Adelphi, in Waterville College, in Maine, August 11, 1841. Samuel G. Simpkins, 1841. [and:] Essays. James Munroe and Company, 1841. [and:] An Address Delivered in the Court-House in Concord, Massachusetts, on 1st August, 1844, on the Anniversary of the Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies. James Munroe and Company, 1844 [and:] Essays. Second Series. James Munroe and Company, 1844 [and:] Poems. James Munroe and Company, 1847. [and:] Nature; Addresses, and Lectures. James Munroe and Company, 1849. [and:] Representative Men: Seven Lectures. Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1850. [and:] English Traits. Phillips, Sampson, and Company, 1856. [and:] Miscellanies; Embracing Nature, Addresses, and Lectures. Phillips, Sampson, and Company, 1856. [and:] The Conduct of Life. Ticknor and Fields, 1860. [and:] May-Day and Other Pieces. Ticknor and Fields, 1867. [and:] Society and Solitude. Twelve Chapters. Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1870. [and:] Letters and Social Aims. James R. Osgood and Company, 1876. [and:] Fortune of the Republic. A Lecture Delivered at the Old South Church, March 30, 1878. Houghton, Osgood and Company, 1878.

Eighteen volumes of various sizes. Brown morocco, spines lettered in gilt, covers ruled in blind, front boards with gilt-stamped laurels surrounding "E," gilt-decorated dentelles, top edges gilt, mottled yellow-green endpapers. Bindings signed by Best. Spines lightly sunned, small scuffs or nicks to spines and extremities, a bit of mild toning on page edges. An Oration Delivered Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, An Address Delivered Before the Senior Class in Divinity College, Essays: Second Series and Nature; Addresses, and Lectures have light to moderate scattered foxing. Fortune of the Republic has occasional pencil marks and annotations in margins, with pencil ownership inscription on title page and pencil marks on p. 3 of Poems. Ink ownership signature in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures  and Conduct of Life. Overall, a near fine collection of works from a major Transcendentalist figure.