Ralph Waldo Emerson, born May 25, 1803, is one of America s finest essayists and poets. His seminal essay Nature is considered to be the pivotal writing on Transcendentalism of its time, and his Collected Essays (comprised of the First and Second Series) is often cited as one of top 100 books in the English language. The First Series is a companion piece to the Second Series, also available from Arc Manor."