Leaves of Grass
- Engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph, printed on thick paper. xii, [13]–95 pp. Small
- Brooklyn, New York , 1855
Brooklyn, New York, 1855. First edition, first issue. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph, printed on thick paper. xii, [13]–95 pp. Small folio (11–1/8 x 7–3/4 in.; 284 x 197 mm). Original green cloth, boards with blind-stamped floral decorations, title and triple-fillet border gilt, spine with title and floral ornaments gilt, marble endpapers, a.e.g. Some expert restoration to head and foot of spine, inner hinges tightened; original tissue-guard, a few small dampspots to first few leaves, a few spots of neat pencil marginalia and a transcription of Whitman's poem "To the Man-of-War-Bird" on the final leaf. Custom half morocco folding case. First edition, first issue. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph, printed on thick paper. xii, [13]–95 pp. Small folio (11–1/8 x 7–3/4 in.; 284 x 197 mm). “He was and is the poet and prophet of democracy, and the intoxication of his immense affirmative, the fervor of his ‘barbaric yawp,’ are so powerful that the echo of his crude yet rhythmic song rings forever in the American air” (Grolier One Hundred).
The self-published Leaves was at least partially personally type-set by the author on a small handpress in Brooklyn. The portrait of Whitman is here in superior condition, without the foxing often encountered. This copy bears the printed copyright statement on the verso of the title page and has the first version of line 2 of page 49 (“And the night is for you and me and all”) identified by Schmidgall in his article, “1855: a Stop-Press Revision.”
Of the original 795 copies, only 337 were issued in this first binding with extensive gilt stamping, marbled endsheets, and gilt edges (in the second binding only the title was gilt, and plain yellow endsheets were used). BAL 21395; Grolier American 67; Johnson, High Spots 79; Meyerson A.2.1.a1; PMM 340; Wells & Goldsmith 3; Feinberg/ Detroit 269; Schmidgall, "1855: a Stop-Press Revision," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 18, Fall/Summer 2000, pp. 74-76. Provenance: E. A. Bigelow (bookplate, dated Feb’y 1894); Walter P. Chrysler Sr. (morocco booklabel; Parke-Bernet, 8 December 1954, lot 329); Frederic Dannay (Christie’s New York, 16 December 1983, lot 367); Victor and Irene Murr Jacobs (Sotheby’s New York, 29 October 1996, lot 455)
The self-published Leaves was at least partially personally type-set by the author on a small handpress in Brooklyn. The portrait of Whitman is here in superior condition, without the foxing often encountered. This copy bears the printed copyright statement on the verso of the title page and has the first version of line 2 of page 49 (“And the night is for you and me and all”) identified by Schmidgall in his article, “1855: a Stop-Press Revision.”
Of the original 795 copies, only 337 were issued in this first binding with extensive gilt stamping, marbled endsheets, and gilt edges (in the second binding only the title was gilt, and plain yellow endsheets were used). BAL 21395; Grolier American 67; Johnson, High Spots 79; Meyerson A.2.1.a1; PMM 340; Wells & Goldsmith 3; Feinberg/ Detroit 269; Schmidgall, "1855: a Stop-Press Revision," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 18, Fall/Summer 2000, pp. 74-76. Provenance: E. A. Bigelow (bookplate, dated Feb’y 1894); Walter P. Chrysler Sr. (morocco booklabel; Parke-Bernet, 8 December 1954, lot 329); Frederic Dannay (Christie’s New York, 16 December 1983, lot 367); Victor and Irene Murr Jacobs (Sotheby’s New York, 29 October 1996, lot 455)