[Whitman, Walt- Very Fine Copy of the Exceedingly Scarce First Issue Drum-Taps, Presented by Whitman to a Boy Nextdoor, As Recorded by the Boy's Subsequent Presentation Inscription Years Later] Drum-Taps. First edition

Whitman, Walt

Published by New York, 1865

7 1 4 x 4 1 2 inches. 72pp. Original publisher s brown sand-grain cloth with blind-stamped triple-rule frame, front cover with bold gilt-blocked circular background in horizontal weave, surrounded by single circular gilt frame; the back cover with exact same motif, but in blind. A FINE COPY, with virtually no signs of wear. PRESENTATION COPY FROM WALT WHITMAN TO A NEIGHBOR BOY, LEONARD HORNER, in the hand of the recipient (though as an older man), as follows: "Presented to Leonard Horner by Walt Whitman- (in Person) Jan - 1885-- (to be given to his Mother)," written in wavering hand on the front free fly. As well, there are signature initials on the upper right of the same page, "PEH," more than likely the party to which Horner later presented the book. Regarding this superb Presentation, Ted Genoways, a noted Walt Whitman scholar, makes the following fascinating observations: "The name Wm. Leonard Horner (apparently in Horner s own hand) appears in one of his notebooks for early 1885, at which time he was only nine or ten years old and lived near Whitman in Camden. (Whitman s house was just off South Fourth Street; Horner s family lived on South Fifth.) Based on his young age at the time of Presentation, it is likely that this inscription was made late in life as a memento for whomever Horner was giving it to, and likely PEH. All of this would go a long way toward explaining the rare first binding version of the book. Whitman bound some copies, but seems to have largely withheld them, probably because of the evolving events around Lincoln s death and burial. Interestingly, Horner s father, George, sold retail groceries in Camden and specialized in butter. Young Leonard may have been a delivery boy for his father, and came to meet Whitman on his deliveries." [supplied by permission of Ted Genoways]. Drum-Taps was first published (privately) as a separate book of 53 poems (72pp.) in 1865, first by Peter Eckler. However, Eckler actually subcontracted with another printer named Alvord, who did the actual printing. The more commonly seen second edition of Drum-Taps included 18 more poems. The first printing (as per our copy) was contracted to print on April 1, 1865, and Whitman reported it was "now to press" on April 26 and would be ready for delivery to the binder by the beginning of May. But Whitman famously halted the original dispersal of his newly printed book in order to add one poem (see below), which then expanded to a 24-page sequel of poetry (i.e. the effective "second printing, but with the new poems, may be considered its own stand-alone printing). The latter became widely referred to as "The Sequel to Drum-Taps." Here s what happened. In the morning of April 15, 1865, newspapers began to unfold the terrible news of the assassination of President Lincoln, and Whitman, deeply saddened by his passing, felt a responsibility to use his book as a vehicle for grieving, splitting time between Brooklyn and the Capitol, while also adding a significant number of new poems to the book. His poem, eulogizing Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom d," became extremely popular, and arguably the final and perhaps greatest single success of his career. Not to be lost in all of this, the second printing far outsold the first, and remained in circulation to a far greater degree than the true first edition. To be sure, the first edition (without the added poems), is one of the great "Whitman holy grails, virtually unobtainable. But How rare is the first issue? Very few copies of the first issue have found their way to the marketplace (we have not been able to locate one in the past 30 years). Ed Folsom, Whitman scholar, declares (private communication, supplied here with permission) "The big question is how many of those original 500 printed sets of pages got bound? We know that Whitman paid for 100 of them to be bound, so there may have been as many as 100 bound copies of the original first issue Drum-Taps that existed back. Seller Inventory # 5030

Bibliographic Details

Title: [Whitman, Walt- Very Fine Copy of the ...
Publisher: New York
Publication Date: 1865