Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Thayer and Eldridge, Boston, 1860.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 456 pp., frontis portrait of the author. Early edition of this famous work. Dark maroon colored embossed cloth bound hard cover book w/title stamping on the front & rear covers & spine. A few spots on the binding & sl. wear to the head & heel of the spine o/w good cond. Binding solid. Now housed in a green cloth slip case w/a brown leather label on the spine.
Seller: Ross & Haines Old Book Co., Hudson, WI, U.S.A.
Whitman, Walt. LEAVES OF GRASS.. Thayer and Eldridge. 1860-61, 1860.
Price: US$749.94 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1860 Thayer & Eldridge pebbled cloth boards blind stamped front and rear binding slightly shaken, tissue guarded frontis, small tear to cloth head and toe of spine. 456 pages. Lacks the printer's and stereotyper's imprints indicating a Richard Worthington pirated edition. Please email for photos. Larger books or sets may require additional shipping charges. Books sent via US Postal
Seller: Griffin Books, Stamford, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Description: Third edition. Richard Worthington "pirated" printing, with no printer and stereotype information on copyright page. Frontispiece tissue guard intact. The third edition of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" was initially published by Thayer and Eldridge in 1860. At the beginning of 1861, however, they declared bankruptcy and sold the plates of "Leaves" to Boston publisher Richard Worthington, who would continue to publish pirated copies of this edition for decades. Good only, moderately edgeworn, with hinges starting and contemporary owner names on the first and second blanks.
Seller: Royal Books, Inc., ABAA, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.
Whitman, Walt. LEAVES OF GRASS. Thayer and Eldridge 1860-61, Boston, 1860.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, [i]-iv, 5-546 pages. In Fair condition. Bound in purple/brown cloth with gilt text on spine and blindstamped title on both covers. Boards have fraying and tearing to spine edges, bumping and fraying to corners, sunning to spine and front cover (purple cloth has faded to brown), and rubbing to edges exposing boards. Binding loose. Text block has light age toning, heavy splitting to interior hinges, damp staining to forward pages, writing in pen on second page, title page detached, splitting to gutter between pages 170 and 171 and pages 192 and 193, and pages 171-192 partially detached. BAL 21397, Printing 4. Shelved in Room A. 1371820. Special Collections.
Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.
Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass. Thayer & Eldrige, Boston, 1860.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Thayer and Eldridge: Boston, 1860. Very Good. Third edition. 3rd ed. Bound in terra cotta emobossed publisher's cloth. 465 pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait by S.A. Schoff, calligraphic title. Third Edition, BAL The presumed third printing (though previously thought to be the second), without the printers' imprints on the copyright-page. Myerson, Walt Whitman, a Descriptive Bibliography, A2.3.c (calling it the third printing); BAL 21397 (calling it the second printing). "Always the champion of the common man, Whitman is both the poet and 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. In a sense, it is America's second Declaration of Independence: that of 1776 was political, that of 1855 intellectual."
Seller: Hirschfeld Galleries, Saint Louis, MO, U.S.A.
Whitman Walt. LEAVES OF GRASS. Boston Thayer and Eldridge 1860-61 (spurious), 1860.
Price: US$1155.00 + shipping
Description: Pirated issue of the Thayer and Eldridge edition. Illustrated with and engraved frontispiece portrait of Walt Whitman at an early age. 8vo, publisher's original maroon cloth lettered in gilt on spine, title and pictorial decorations in blind on both covers. iv, 456 pp. An essentially fine copy, very well preserved, the binding clean and strong, the hinges in excellent order, the text-block essentially as pristine and unread, previous owner's name stamped inside. A VERY HANDSOME COPY OF THE WORTHINGTON REISSUE OF THE BOSTON EDITION OF 1860-61. The first Boston printing was the first general trade published issuance of LEAVES OF GRASS. The edition included 122 new poems and two new sections. This is an early reissue of one of the most important editions of this great American literary work which remains attainable. Whitman began this edition with "Proto-Leaf"["Starting from Paumanok"] a lovely apologia for his work. And this edition has the two very important clusters--"Enfans d'Adam" and "Calamus"---focusing on love. Whitmans LEAVES OF GRASS is, arguably, the greatest work in all of American literature. LEAVES OF GRASS portrayed America at the crossroads between an old world, soon to be caste off, and the new world of our future present. With the publication of LEAVES OF GRASS in 1855, Whitman, the poet of democracy, ushered in a new era in American letters, describing specifically American experiences in a distinctly American idiom. From its first publication in 1855, he had complete confidence in the greatness of both the book and its author. "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. In a sense, it is Americas second Declaration of Independence: that of 1776 was political, this of 1855 intellectual. .The poems are saturated with a vehemence of pride and audacity of freedom necessary to loosen the mind of still-to-be-formed America from the folds, the superstitions, and all the long, tenacious, and stifling anti-democratic authorities of Asiatic and European past. To the young nation, only just becoming aware of an individual literary identity distinct from its European origins, Whitmans message and his outspoken confidence came at a decisive moment. LEAVES OF GRASS was Whitmans favorite child. From the time of its original publication,.until the year of his death, he continued revising and enlarging it. If (his) reputation has fluctuated over the years and his position among, if indeed not at the head of, the list of great American poets was not assured until some time after his death, there was never any doubt of the matter in his own mind. I know I am deathless, he wrote. Whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years, I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait. Time has vindicated his conviction." PMM
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Thayer and Eldridge, Boston, 1860.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Octavo, iv, 5-456pp, [2]. Maroon cloth, beveled edges. Title in gilt on spine and stamped in blind on covers. Top edge dyed black. Front and rear flyleaves, light pink endpapers. Frontispiece portrait of Whitman, Form 2, with tissue cover and signed in the plate "S A Schoff." Lacking additional stereotype and printer's imprints, removed for the third printing. Lacking publisher's catalogue, as required. Solid text block, wear to edges, small losses of cloth to spine tips and corners. (Myerson A2.3.d-e.) (BAL 21397) A presentable copy.
Seller: The First Edition Rare Books, LLC, Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.
. Life and Public Services of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. , 1860.
Price: US$1650.00 + shipping
Description: (LINCOLN, ABRAHAM). (ELECTION OF 1860). The Life and Public Services of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine. Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1860. 128pp., plus engraved frontispiece portrait and one other portrait. 12mo. Orig. pictorial wrappers. Minor wear, some soiling, faint dampstaining. Contemporary ownership inscription on verso of frontispiece. Faint tideline near upper gutter or upper outer corner through some text. About very good. HOWES T-154. Wessen, Campaign Lives of Abraham Lincoln 3. Miles 415. Monaghan 83 (note). Fish 514. Midland Notes 24:241. The "emasculated" second edition of a scarce and anonymously-written campaign biography produced for Abraham Lincoln's first successful bid for the White House. It is among the earliest published biographies of the legendary American leader. The work covers Lincoln's life from his early years and career through his nomination as the Republican candidate for the presidency, and includes the text of several of his speeches. The front wrapper and frontispiece show a portrait of Lincoln without a beard. The last quarter of the book is devoted to a biographical treatment of Lincoln's running mate, Hannibal Hamlin, along with an engraved portrait of him. The rear wrapper features a publisher's advertisement for "America's First Distinctive Poem," Walt Whitman's LEAVES OF GRASS. Ernest Wessen describes this edition in detail as the "Second (Emasculated) Edition." He states that a series of "radical resolutions" adopted in 1854, supposedly at a Republican state convention, were actually adopted at a Republican meeting in Kane County. According to Wessen, "Lincoln had found the matter a bothersome one" and these resolutions had "no place in a campaign document issued in the interests of Abraham Lincoln." As a result, "the biographical section of the book was literally emasculated. The sketch of Lincoln's life was reduced to a pitifully scanty affair, requiring barely eight pages, and speeches were inserted to compensate for the deleted material." Being a late-corrected edition, Wessen also states that this emasculated second edition "is somewhat scarcer than the first edition," which he also noted whenever he offered a copy in MIDLAND NOTES.
Seller: G.S. MacManus Co., ABAA, Bryn Mawr, PA, U.S.A.
Whitman, Walt. LEAVES OF GRASS. Thayer and Eldridge 1860-61, Boston, 1860.
Price: US$1750.00 + shipping
Description: Presumed third (first unauthorized) printing [1880]. Octavo (19.25cm); Myerson's Binding A, in deep purplish-red pebble-grain cloth, with titling and decorations stamped in gilt and in blind to spine and front covers; pale yellow endpapers; frontispiece portrait of Whitman is in Form 3 (priority undetermined), signed in plate "S A Schoff" on plain white background; iv,5-456,[2]pp; illus. Pinpoint wear to spine ends, subtle toning to title page (from attendant tissue guard), else a fresh, Fine copy, with the spine gilt quite vibrant, and without fading to the cloth. An exceptional copy of Whitman's most enduring work. Myerson A2.3.c.
Seller: Captain Ahab's Rare Books, ABAA, Stephenson, VA, U.S.A.
WHITMAN, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Thayer and Eldridge 1860-61, Boston, 1860.
Price: US$2857.20 + shipping
Description: In -8°, IV, 5-456, ritratto dell'autore all'antiporta. Legatura editoriale in tela puntinata con incisione cieca ai due piatti e titolo in oro al dorso. Raro esemplare della prima tiratura della terza edizione (la prima intesa per il commercio) della monumentale raccolta di Whitman, che rispetto all'edizione precedente, di trentadue composizioni, ne aggiunse più di cento, oltre a rivedere testi e titoli di quello che aveva in precedenza stampato a proprie spese. Sono presenti il ritratto di Whitman al frontespizio (un'incisione di Stephen Alonzo Shoff da un olio di Charles Hine), e il il nome dello stampatore sul verso del frontespizio ("Electrotyped at the Boston Sterotype Foundry. Printed by George C. Rand & Avery"). Notevole la legatura originale: ne erano state prodotte in vari colori e questa è la versione arancione / terracotta, che sul dorso oltre al titolo reca la farfalla sul dito che ritroviamo spesso come ornamento lungo il testo. Cfr White, William. "Walt Whitman: A Bibliographical Checklist". Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 3 (Summer 1985), 28-43.A rare copy from the first run of the third edition (i.e. the first conceived to be put in commerce), in his original binding.
Seller: Libreria Antonio Pettini, ROMA, RM, Italy
WHITMAN, Walt.. Leaves of Grass.. Boston Thayer and Eldridge -1861, 1860.
Price: US$4235.00 + shipping
Description: Third edition, first printing; 8vo (20 x 14 cm); portrait frontispiece (Myerson Form 1 signed 'Schoff' in plate on irregularly shaped light-brown background), imprints of The Boston Stereotype Foundry and George C. Rand & Avery on copyright page, library stamp to contents page header, old library pocket to rear pastedown; publisher's dark reddish orange cloth (Myerson type D, BAL C), upper and lower panels blindstamped, spine blindstamped and lettered in gilt, cloth faded, joints and extremities rubbed, signatures a little loose but holding, internally browned with occasional spotting, a well-thumbed ex-library copy; iv, 5-456pp. The scarce first trade edition of Walt Whitman's seminal collection of poems on the philosophy of life, Leaves of Grass. Whitman continued to revise and add to the text until his death in 1892. This, the first printing of the third edition, marks the greatest single leap in the evolution of the text, with more than 100 poems added to the original work. It includes the first appearance of the 'Calamus' sequence, considered by many to be Whitman's clearest expression in print of his views on homoerotic love. 'The edition is Whitman's most famous after the first and contains some of his greatest poems, including (using final titles) "Starting from Paumanok" and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking." The first of these is a more literal rendering of the spiritual autobiography in "Song of Myself" (paumanok is the American Indian term for "fish-shaped," referring to Long Island). The second was originally titled "A Child's Reminiscence" in the volume (it had yet another title in an 1859 magazine publication) because it is a meditation on lost innocence as it is realized at midlife ("A man, yet by these tears a little boy again"). The poet comes to realize that the freedom celebrated in his first edition and in "Song of Myself" is not altogether consistent with a way of coping with life's essential imperfection and that the duty of the poet is thus to sing of Love and Death, the common denominators of such imperfection. In a real sense, this poem about a man in crisis at midlife also suggests the crisis of poetry, that is, the power of its romantic illusions to overcome completely the fear of death' (ANB). Myerson A2.3.a1; BAL 21397; Wells pp.7-9.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
Walt Whitman. Leaves Of Grass. Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
Price: US$5500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Third edition, first printing, first issue; 1000 copies printed. First Edition by a Publishing House, with more than 100 additional poems (the Calamus poems) than the prior two self published editions. Myerson's Binding A, in deep purplish-red pebble-grain cloth with beveled edges, goldstamped spine with title, front cover blindstamped with title as on spine, but with drawing of globe arising out of clouds, rear cover blindstamped with title as on spine, with drawing of sun rising over ocean, all edged trimmed. Wear and rubbing to covers, Corners bumped. Frontispiece portrait of Whitman (Form 2, unsigned by S.A. Schoff) with tissue guard. Calligraphic title. Internally bright and lovely, except for small grease splotch through first four pages, not affecting portrait nor reaching title or beyond. White end pages. Hinges starting.
Seller: J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints IOBA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass Imprints. Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
Price: US$5990.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition, first printing of a 64-page pamphlet comprised of 25 reviews of Leaves of Grass compiled by Whitman - including the famed Emerson letter praising and greeting him at the beginning of Whitman s great career. It was offered at no cost to prospective buyers of the third edition of Leaves of Grass published by Thayer and Eldridge. Ever the unabashed self-promoter seeking both sales and fame, Whitman included negative reviews - his view being that there s no such thing as bad publicity. *** A relatively fragile and small publication, it rarely survives in this excellent condition. A few light creases, a small stain on lower front cover, and general light wear - otherwise a very fresh Near Fine copy housed in a custom thick paper chemise and slipcase. It s a really cool piece of Whitmaniana and a historical document shedding light on the contemporary reception of one of America s key poetical works. *** Ref: The Routledge Encyclopedia of Walt Whitman***Please email us for better pricing.
Seller: Anniroc Rare Books, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
Whitman, Walt.. Leaves of Grass.. Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
Price: US$7800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Printing. Myerson A2.3.a. frontis, Binding C. The first commercial edition of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, including 124 additional poems, including Calamus. 456pp., with blank leaf at end, frontispiece portrait of Whitman by "Schoff" (glassine guard). Bound in dull reddish brown vertical wavy-grain cloth, bevelled edges, spine (with butterfly on hand motif), gray topstain, blindstamping to front cover (globe rising from clouds) and rear cover (sun rising). Dull grey thin endpapers front and rear. Pencilled ownership signature and date "April 1875" to first blank leaf. Newspaper clipping to front pastedown with quote from "The Song of the Exposition" (a later poem from 1871 first included in 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass [Myerson A2.7a]--consistent with the dated signature). A Very Good or better unrestored copy, very mild rubbing to spine-ends, mild stressing to two signatures of textblock. Text and endpapers otherwise clean and unmarked. Binding sound, gutters unbroken, no foxing, chips, tears, bumps, or dampstaining. Just a terrific copy! Q16627
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass. Thayer and Eldridge, Boston, 1860.
Price: US$8978.71 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: The first edition of Leaves of Grass to be published by someone other than the poet, who had self-published two much smaller versions of the work prior. This edition represents the single largest jump in the evolution of the work, which Whitman revised and added to for the rest of his life, here adding around 100 further works to the original 12, including the seminal Song of Myself. Scarce, the publisher going bankrupt (and barely paying the poet) soon after its release.
Seller: CASSIUS&Co., London, United Kingdom