Sarah's Books - Used & Rare

Good morning from the snowy wilds.  Last night's storm lingers, and flakes chase each other around as the wintery sun attempts to break through the clouds.  I have some shoveling to do, but not yet.  It's a good indoor time to share some books and hopefully some good cheer.  We are doing okay here, overall.  Thanksgiving was quiet, just the three of us (Ryan, Hodgie, and yours truly).  The day before, I made a batch of cranberry sauce and a casserole of stuffing, and went straight to leftovers, instead of a big celebratory meal, which didn't feel right.  Although pie was had, rest assured.  This is the beginning of our fourth year of being vegetarian/pescatarian, so my leftovers sandwich was mayo, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and smoked cheddar cheese.  Let me say, it was splendid.  I also made a vegetarian chili with the three sisters: corn, squash, and beans.  And I'm feeling thankful for so many things, in this difficult time: our relative safety and prosperity, and that of our friends and family, and the fact that Ryan can work mostly from home, and me too.  Also beyond grateful that Ryan was called for jury service this month, and right before the trial was due to begin, the accused person confessed.  This is so not the time to be required to sit in a room for hours each day, with other people, even masked and apart.  Now we are planning for the solstice and Christmas at home, by ourselves.  The living room is full of greenery; we found a tree yesterday before the storm began.  It always feels like bringing the wildness of the woods inside, for company:

Decorations soon, after we enjoy the tree as it is for a day or two.  I think we'll leave it up for a long time this year, to lift our spirits in the days and months ahead.  We are going to hunker in for the duration.  I am doing my best to be positive.  Books help.  Here's my current stack:

I carried them downstairs and spread them out on the table and Ryan said, "That's a lot of little green books!"  Yes, the Thoreau Journal set is green, but the spines have faded to earth-brown, and the spines are reinforced in burnt orange.  He might approve.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Before I get into the Journal (and I am into it, as the bookmark in Volume 2 shows), I want to mention what I read before starting it.  This set was edited by Bradford Torrey (Houghton Mifflin 1906), and while I was waiting for it to arrive in mail, after I bought it on eBay, I took a look at the two Bradford Torrey books I have on hand:

I read some of A Florida Sketch-Book (Houghton Mifflin 1894) and meant to start Spring Notes from Tennessee (Houghton Mifflin 1896), but still haven't.  But aren't these covers lovely?  Neither decoration is signed or initialed, but they sure look like the work of Sarah Wyman Whitman.  I've kept these for twenty years, after offering them for sale once at an antiquarian book fair, and not selling them.  Both are inscribed and signed by Torrey: