This is the penultimate volume in the continuation of Ralph L. Rusk's 1939 edition of Emerson's letters. Vol 9 covers the years 1860-1869, when Emerson switched from using small, local publishers to the prestigious firm of Ticknor and Fields. This edition contains correspondence with the major political figures of the time, including Henry David Thoreau, Samuel Gray Ward, Hermann Grimm, John Sterling and William Henry Furness. It also contains new information about Emerson's response to Thoreau's death in 1862.