Leaves of Grass

Whitman, Walt

Publication Date: 1860

About this Item

Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, Year 85 of the States (1860-1861). 8vo, 456 pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait on light brown background, signed in plate, "Schoff." Original brown wavy-ribbed cloth, backstrip lettered & pictorially decorated in gilt, covers lettered and pictorially decorated in blind, floral patterned endpapers. Cloth rubbed with a few marks, backstrip ends and corners worn, slightly cocked and shaken, hinges cracked, front flyleaf excised; neat ink notation at p. 10; a good or better unrestored copy. § Third edition (first trade edition), first printing, first state of the frontispiece, binding B, per BAL 21397. BAL's binding A consisted of wrappers found only on advance copies. Although no name appears on the title page, Whitman's name is on the copyright page and his portrait is the frontispiece. This is the highly significant first commercial edition of Leaves of Grass following the two editions self-published by Whitman. For this edition the book was dramatically expanded with over 100 poems, including the first appearance of the "Calamus" sequence considered by many to be Whitman's clearest celebration of male homoerotic love.

Seller Inventory # 123793

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Leaves of Grass
• Publication Date: 1860
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature