AUTOGRAPH RECEIPT TWICE SIGNED BY THOREAU

THOREAU, Henry David. Autograph receipt signed. Concord, Mass., December 10, 1950. One leaf, measuring 4 by 8 inches. Matted and framed with a portrait, entire piece measures 13-1/2 by 22 inches. $8500.

Original autograph receipt written by Henry David Thoreau in 1850, acknowledging payment for work he did on surveying land for a Concord neighbor, beautifully framed.

For several years, Thoreau had worked on and off as a surveyor to supplement his meager income. As one of his contemporaries noted, "His profession was that of a surveyor; and it is easy to imagine how, with his poetic temperament, while laying out roads and measuring woodlots, he came to be what he was" (Frank Preston Stearns, quoted in Thoreau as Seen by His Contemporaries, 79). The autograph signed document reads in full: "Concord Dec. 10th '50. Cyrus Stow to H.D. Thoreau to lotting off a woodlot $400. Received Payment. Henry D. Thoreau." On the verso is written in another hand "H.D. Thoreau Bill Paid 4,00." The survey that Thoreau did for Stow still exists, and is now held at the Concord Free Public Library, dated November 14, 1850.

Evidence of tape removal. An excellent Thoreau document, beautifully framed.