Publisher Signed, THE WRITINGS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU, Manuscript Edition, Vol. I-XX, No. 133/600, published by Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, Boston and New York, 1906. Hardcover octavos, top edge gilt pages, each volume with handwritten number, frontispieces and additional illustration plates with tissue paper guards, hardbound in three-quarter green Moroccan leather with tan marbled paper sides, gilt floral blind stamping and lettering to spines, five raised hubs, tan marbled end papers, each volume with a green grosgrain ribbon bookmark. Volume I includes a tipped in, double-sided handwritten page in ink from a letter by Thoreau discussing literature. All volumes approximately 9″ H x 6 1/2″ W x 1 1/2″ D. Provenance: the estate of Edith (Edie) M. Bass, Nashville, Tennessee, by descent from her parents, Walter Paul McBride and Claire Childs of Lake Forest, Illinois. The books likely originally belonged to Mrs. Bass’s grandfather, C. Frederick Childs (1875-1955), founder of the C.F. Childs & Co. Securities Co. Mr. Childs was the first dealer of U.S. Government Securities. His offices in Chicago and New York were across the street from the Federal Reserve in each city and his trading office was located at One Wall Street. Edie McBride Bass attended Miss PorterÕs School and graduated from Vassar. She married Jack Maddin Bass of Nashville, Tennessee, whose father owned J.M. Bass and Co., one Nashville’s first securities firms. Edie served numerous charitable institutions in Nashville. She was a Lifetime Trustee of Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and the Ensworth School, and served on the Board of Miss Porter’s School. She was a driving force in establishing fund raising for the Swan Ball, The Land Trust of Tennessee, and the M.S. Society. Additional items from her estate will be offered in our January auction. Condition: Covers in overall very good condition with light shelf wear, corners slightly bumped. Pages in overall very good condition with toning, few minute, scattered foxing spots to some title pages. Toning impressions to bookmarks to some pages. Illustrations are collated. Journal IV with dog-eared end papers.