Ralph Waldo Emerson
Selective Chronology of Emerson's Writings
1820 Emerson began to keep regular journals
1822 "Thoughts on the Religion of the Middle Ages" published in The Christian Disciple and Theological Review
1835 A Historical Discourse, Delivered Before the Citizens of Concord, 12th September, 1835. On the Second Centennial Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town published (Concord: G.F. Bemis)
1836 Nature published (Boston: James Munroe)
1837 An Oration, Delivered Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, August 31, 1837, ["Phi Beta Kappa Address," or "American Scholar"] published (Boston: James Munroe)
"Michael Angelo" published in North American Review
1838 An Address Delivered Before the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge, Sunday Evening, 15 July, 1838, ["Divinity School Address"] published (Boston: James Munroe)
An Oration, Delivered Before the Literary Societies of Dartmouth College, July 24, 1838, published (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown)
Pieces (review, letter, and essay) published in The Christian Examiner, the Washington Daily National Intelligencer, and the North American Review
1839 Pieces (including poems "Each and All" and "The Rhodora") published in The Western Messenger
1840 Pieces (essays, poems, review) published in The Dial
1841 Essays [First Series] published (Boston: James Munroe; also in London)
The Method of Nature. An Oration, Delivered Before the Society of the Adelphi, in Waterville College, in Maine, August 11, 1841, published (Boston: Samuel G. Simpkins)
Pieces published in The Dial
1842 Emerson began to edit The Dial (served as editor until 1844)
Pieces published in The Dial
1843 Pieces published in The Dial, review in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review
First British edition of "Phi Beta Kappa Address" published
1844 Essays: Second Series published (Boston: James Munroe)
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 published (Boston: James Munroe)
Pieces published in The Dial
Multiple titles published in London (including Orations, Lectures, and Addresses; The Young American. A Lecture; and Essays: Second Series)
1847 Poems published in Boston (James Munroe) and London (both editions published December 1846; title pages dated 1847)
1848 Pieces published in Massachusetts Quarterly Review
1849 Nature; Addresses, and Lectures published (Boston and Cambridge: James Munroe); later published under title Miscellanies; Embracing Nature, Addresses, and Lectures
Essay "War" published in Elizabeth Peabody's Aesthetic Papers; pieces published in Massachusetts Quarterly Review
1850 Representative Men published in Boston (Phillips, Sampson) and in London
1852 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (written and edited by Emerson, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke) published (Boston: Phillips, Sampson)
1855 Letter to Walt Whitman published in New York Daily Tribune, also separately
1856 English Traits published in Boston (Phillips, Sampson) and London
1857 Pieces (primarily poems) published in Atlantic Monthly
1858 Pieces (poems, essays) published in Atlantic Monthly
1860 The Conduct of Life published in Boston (Ticknor and Fields) and London
Many pieces published in the Cincinnati Dial (a publication distinct from the Boston Dial)
1862 Pieces published in Atlantic Monthly (including "Thoreau" in August)
"Henry D. Thoreau" (distinct from piece in Atlantic) published in Boston Daily Advertiser
1866 The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson published in two volumes in London (a third volume added in 1883)
1867 May-Day and Other Pieces published in Boston (Ticknor and Fields) and London
1868 First German edition of Nature (Die Natur) published
1870 Society and Solitude published in Boston (Fields, Osgood) and London
The Prose Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson published in Boston (Fields, Osgood) in two volumes; a third volume added in 1879 (Houghton, Osgood)
1875 Parnassus (anthology edited by Emerson) published (Boston: James R. Osgood)
Letters and Social Aims published in Boston (James R. Osgood) and London (English title page dated 1876)
1876 Little Classic Edition of Emerson's writings began publication (completed 1893); a total of twelve volumes published
1883 The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834–1872 published in two volumes in Boston (James R. Osgood) and London
"Historic Notes on Life and Letters in Massachusetts" (later titled "Historic Notes of Life and Letters in New England") published in Atlantic Monthly
Two editions of Emerson's works published (in one volume in New York, in six volumes in London)
Houghton, Mifflin began publication of Riverside Edition of Emerson's writings (completed 1893); a total of twelve volumes published
1892 "The Emerson-Thoreau Correspondence," edited by F. B. Sanborn, published in Atlantic Monthly
1903 Houghton, Mifflin began publication of Centenary Edition of Emerson's writings (completed 1904); a total of twelve volumes published
1909 Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, edited by Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes, published (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin) in ten volumes
1938 Young Emerson Speaks: Unpublished Discourses on Many Subjects, edited by Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Jr., published (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin)
1939 The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, edited by Ralph L. Rusk, published (New York: Columbia University Press). Most letters earlier printed — Emerson's correspondence with Carlyle, John Sterling, Samuel Gray Ward, Herman Grimm, William Henry Furness, Arthur Hugh Clough — not included
1959 The Early Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson began publication (Cambridge: Harvard University Press); completed 1972. A total of three volumes published
1960 The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson began publication (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press); completed 1982. A total of sixteen volumes published
1964 The Correspondence of Emerson and Carlyle, edited by Joseph Slater, published (New York and London: Columbia University Press)
1971 The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson began publication (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)