"I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY, WHEN I WAS INTERRUPTED": FIRST EDITION OF OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES' AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE

HOLMES, Oliver Wendell. The Autocrat Of the Breakfast-Table. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1858. Octavo, original brown cloth; housed in a custom chemise and slipcase. $1750.

First edition of the work credited with establishing the literary career of Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Holmes, a doctor and Harvard professor of medicine, is perhaps best known for the work that established his literary career. Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. "Although Holmes never allowed the original 1830s pieces called 'The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table' to be reprinted in his lifetime, he revived the title for a popular series of conversational essays, collected in book form in 1858… the 'Professor at the Breakfast Table' series followed in 1859 (collected in 1860), and was in turn followed by 'Poet at the Breakfast Table' (collected in 1872). 'Over the Teacups' (collected in 1891) finally concluded the sequence… Autocrat of the Breakfast Table remains the best of the collections, and contains Holmes's most characteristic prose." First issue, with vignette title page and period after "Company" on the title page, in BAL binding A. BAL 8781.

Cloth with very minor wear. A nearly fine copy.