WHITMAN, WALT. Leaves of Grass [with] Whitman s own copy of his 1860 portrait. Brooklyn, New York, 1855.

Price: US$160000.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: Small folio. Engraved portrait of Whitman (state A, printed on heavy paper). Original gilt decorated green cloth, all edges gilt (binding A), inner hinges expertly repaired. Copyright notice printed in two lines as usual, cities and correctly printed on p. iv. Very minor wear, several leaves neatly repaired at gutter. Morocco case. A very handsome copy. First edition, first issue, one of only 337 copies of the first issue, distinguished by its elaborately gilt-stamped cloth binding prepared in June/July 1855. Whitman reported that only 800 copies were printed; this copy is from the first group to be bound. The copies bound later did not have the extensive gilt stamping. Whitman paid for the book, supervised its production, and even set a number of pages in type. If one attempts to list the artistic achievements of our nation against the background of Western tradition, our accomplishments in music, painting, sculpture, architecture tend to be somewhat dwarfed. The exception is in literature. No western poet, in the past century and a half, not even Browning or Leopardi or Baudelaire, overshadows Walt Whitman or Emily Dickinson. The book that matters most is the original 1855 Leaves of Grass (Harold Bloom, The Western Canon). The 1855 edition [of Leaves of Grass] is brilliantly sui generis and it is the American equivalent of the 1609 sonnets of Shakespeare the single most important volume in its nation s poetic patrimony (Schmidgall). Always the champion of the common man, Whitman is both the poet and the prophet of democracy. The whole of Leaves of Grass is imbued with the spirit of brotherhood and a pride in the democracy of the young American nation (Printing and the Mind of Man). Provenance: a rare example with an 1855 ownership signature, this copy is signed and dated October 1855 by Edmund G. Baker on the verso of the frontispiece. Printing and the Mind of Man 340. Grolier 100 American Books 67. [offered with] Whitman s own signed copy of the famous 1860 portrait WHITMAN, WALT. Signed portrait of Whitman standing, one hand holding his hat, the other in his pocket. 1860, printed in 1889. Photomechanical print on heavy stock, 8 1⁄2 x 6 1⁄4 in. Near fine. Whitman s friend, biographer, and literary executor Horace Traubel pulled this very portrait out the poet s trash. Traubel has written See Notes Mar 3, 91 in the upper right corner. The March 3, 1891 entry in Traubel s With Walt Whitman in Camden states I rescued also from his waste papers a portrait he had marked 1860 usually given about 1850 as date. Whitman sat for the portrait in 1860. He later called it a devilish, tantalizing mystery that he could not date with certainty. Declaring that he would hate to give it up! the poet appreciated its calm don t-care-a-damnativeness its go-to-hell-and-find-outativeness: it has that air strong, yet is not impertinent: defiant: yet it is genial. Provenance: Walt Whitman, rescued from his waste papers by Horace Traubel, as he relates in With Walt Whitman in Camden, March 3, 1891.

Seller: 19th Century Rare Book & Photograph Shop, Stevenson, MD, U.S.A.

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York, 1855.

Price: US$225000.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, first issue. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph, printed on thick paper. xii, [13]-95 pp. 1 vols. Small folio (11-1/8 x 7-3/4 in.; 284 x 197 mm). 'I see and hear the whole'. "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-publishedLeaves was at least partially personallytype-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 the 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). A beautiful copy of a landmark work in American literature. 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 Original green cloth, boards with floral decorations in blind, gilt-lettered ornamental title within a triple-fillet border, spine gilt with title and floral ornaments, marbled endsheets, a.e.g. Title-page very lightly toned, gilt title of upper board a bit dull. Tiniest of repairs to spine (scuffs at center and ends, conserved with no loss). Old description slip tipped to front flyleaf. A fine copy. Half green morocco slipcase, chemise Engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph, printed on thick paper. xii, [13]-95 pp. 1 vols. Small folio (11-1/8 x 7-3/4 in.; 284 x 197 mm)

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.