Written during Whitman's Bohemian days it was advertised as a
thrilling romance by one of the best novelists in this country
and had a sale of between 20,000 and 25,000 copies, which netted
the author about $200. References to the work in later years
irritated Whitman and he refused to discuss it. The work is
extremely scarce considering the great number that were
published.
1855
Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York. 1855.
First edition. Twelve poems.
Imperial octavo, pink paper wrappers.
"Leaves of Grass" printed in block letters across front wrapper,
end wrapper blank. Steel engraved portrait, title, uncaptioned
preface, xii, Leaves of Grass, pp. 95, end blank.
The author's name appears only in the copyright notice, and in
the first poem: "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a
kosmos."
The poems, twelve in number, are without titles. In the present
authorized edition they appear under the following titles:
Song of Myself.
A Song for Occupations.
To Think of Time.
The Sleepers.
I Sing the Body Electric.
Faces.
Song of the Answer (part one).
Europe.
A Boston Ballad.
There Was a Child Went Forth.
Who Learns My Lesson Complete.
Great Are the Myths.
The preface was later worked into three poems:
By Blue Ontario's Shore.
Song of Prudence.
To a Foil'd European Revolutionaire.
There are three variations of the first edition. The one noted
above in pink wrappers is unquestionably the first issue. The
second issue is bound in green cloth, gilt edges, and with the
title stamped in rustic letters in gilt on the front cover. The
last issue of this edition has all the points of the second
issue with eight pages of press notices bound in at the front.
Less than nine hundred copies were printed in July, 1855, in the
printshop of Andrew H. Rome, 98 Cranberry Street, Brooklyn, the
author assisting in the type composition and presswork. The
volume was placed on sale at Fowler & Wells, Broadway, New York,
and at Swaynes, in Fulton Street, Brooklyn, at two dollars, but
was later reduced to one dollar. Very few copies were sold;
Whitman giving almost the entire edition to critics and friends.
Catalogued from the Maier copy.
A reprint of this edition was issued in January, 1920, by Mr.
Thomas B. Mosher, Portland, Maine.
1856
Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York. 1856.
Second edition. Thirty-two poems.
Thick 16mo, green drab cloth, sprinkled edges. Title stamped in
gilt on face of binding; on back title and quotation from
Emerson's letter "I Greet You at the Beginning of a Great
Career, R. W. Emerson," portrait, same as in the first edition,
title, contents, iv, Leaves of Grass, pp. (5)-342, Leaves
Droppings (reprint of Emerson's letter; Whitman's letter to
Emerson and press notices), pp. 345-384, advertisement. Owing to
the storm of criticism which arose against the book, Fowler &
Wells, the New York publishers, refused to put their name on the
title page, and though they attended to all the details of
presswork and distribution, the volume was issued from Brooklyn,
without imprint. It is said that there are copies in existence
bearing Fowler & Wells imprint, but this is doubtful as such
copies are unknown to Whitman collectors. In this edition the
prose preface of the first edition is worked into four poems: By
Blue Ontario's Shore; Song of the Answerer, part two; To a
Foil'd European Revolutionaire, and Song of Prudence; the
balance being reprinted in Specimen Days and Collect, 1881.
Owing to the refusal of Fowler & Wells to stand sponsor to the
volume, only 1,000 copies were printed and the book was out of
print 1858-1860.
1860
Leaves of Grass Imprints. American and European Criticisms of "Leaves of
Grass." Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
18mo, printed wrappers, pp. 64.
A reprint of current criticisms of the first and second
editions. Pp. 7, 30, 38, contain articles written and
contributed anonymously by Whitman to various New York papers.
They were later reprinted in the Fellowship papers and in In Re
Walt Whitman, 1893.
It is exceedingly rare.
1860
Leaves of Grass. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, Year '85 of The States.
(1860-61.)
Third edition. 154 poems.
Duodecimo, brown cloth, heavily blind embossed. Portrait, at the
age of forty, engraved by Schoff, after the painting by Charles
Hine, in 1859, on an irregular tinted background, title,
contents, pp. iv-456.
Issued May, 1860. The author went to Boston to superintend
the printing and binding. The publishers failed during the
period of financial depression at the beginning of the Civil War
and the plates were sold at auction to R. Worthington, who
surreptitiously used them with the original imprint. There are,
for this reason, four or more editions bearing the original
Thayer and Eldridge imprint. The first issue is distinguished by
the engraved portrait which is on an irregular tinted background
and by the gilt embossed butterfly on the backbone of the
binding. On the verso of the title is the inscription
"Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry. Printed by
George C. Rand & Avery." The second issue has the portrait on
white paper and lacks the gilt butterfly. The third issue, or
the first pirated issue, lacks the printer's inscription and is
bound in cheap cloth. Early issues, all spurious, contain
catalogues of Worthington's publications bound in at the end.
The plates were purchased by Whitman's literary executors after
his death.
In this edition the author abandons calling the months by their
common names and adopts the Quaker style: that of calling
September the Ninthmonth, etc.
Copies of the first issue with the tinted portrait are extremely
scarce. The various editions have heretofore remained
undistinguished.
1865
Walt Whitman's Drum-Taps. New York, 1865.
Duodecimo, brown cloth, title (Drum-Taps) stamped on gold ground
on front cover, title, contents, iv, pp. 5-72.
But few copies had been issued when the death of President
Lincoln occurred and the author withheld the balance until a few
weeks later when he added "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloom'd and other Pieces," with pagination distinct from that of
Drum-Taps, as a sequel. This and the "Sequel" formed the first
and second annexes to the fourth edition, 1867, of Leaves of
Grass, and were later incorporated in the Washington, 1871
edition under the title of Drum-Taps. Copies without the
"sequel" are exceedingly scarce.
1865
Sequel to Drum-Taps (since the preceding came from the press). When
Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. And Other Pieces. Washington, D. C.,
1865-6.
Duodecimo, pp. 24.
It is doubtful if any copies reached the market other than those
issued as a part of Drum-Taps. The remaining copies were bound
up with second issue of the 1867 edition.
1867
Leaves of Grass. New York, 1867.
Fourth edition.
Duodecimo, walnut half-morocco, title, contents, iv, pp. (7)-338.
There is also a cloth bound issue that differs in no manner from
the above. Both have "Ed'n 1867" stamped in gilt on back.
Later issues of this edition have added, under separate
pagination, Drum-Taps, pp. iv-72; Sequel to Drum-Taps, pp. 24;
Songs Before Parting, pp. 36. A blank leaf separates each
section.
In this edition the author changes the writing of the past
participle to 'd. The verses and sections are numbered.
1868
Poems by Walt Whitman. Selected and Edited by William Michael Rossetti
[quotation from Michelangelo]. London: John Camden Hotten, Piccadilly,
1868.
"Rossetti" Edition.
Duodecimo, blue cloth, uncut; half-title, portrait with
facsimile signature, title, page of quotations from Swedenborg,
Carlyle, and Robespierre, note on portrait, dedication (by W. M. R.)
to William Bell Scott, contents, prefatory notices, preface to
Leaves of Grass, pp. 64; half-title, pp. 401, postscript. Eight
pages of advertisements in front, and sixteen pages in back.
The first English, or "Rossetti's Edition." W. D. O'Connor
writing to an European friend called it "A fairly
representative, but nevertheless, castrated edition."
A second edition from new type was issued in 1886 by Chatto &
Windus, London. Third edition, 1910.
1871
Leaves of Grass. Washington, D. C., 1871. [Pointing Hand] See Advertisement
at end of this Volume.
Fifth edition.
Duodecimo, light green paper wrappers, uncut; title, contents,
pp. vi-384.
Copyright notice dated 1870; Later issues were bound in cloth.
1871
Memoranda. Democratic Vistas. Washington, D. C., 1871. [Pointing Hand]
See Advertisement at end of this Volume.
Duodecimo, light green paper wrappers, uncut; title, contents,
pp. 84.
Copyright notice dated 1870.
1871
Leaves of Grass. Passage to India. (Five line poem beginning, "Gliding
o'er all.") Washington, D. C., 1871. [Pointing Hand] See Advertisement
at end of this Volume.
Duodecimo, light green paper wrappers, uncut; title, contents,
pp. iv-120.
Copyright notice dated 1870.
1871
After All, Not to Create Only. Recited by Walt Whitman on Invitation of
Managers American Institute, on Opening their 40th Annual Exhibition,
New York, noon, September 7, 1871 (device). Boston: Roberts Brothers,
1871.
Duodecimo, beveled cloth boards, half-title, title, note, vii;
pp. 24, notes.
There is also a limp cloth issue which is quite common, that was
issued to be sold at the exhibition.
The poem was later published in the Transactions of the American
Institute, 1871-72. Albany, 1872.
1872
Leaves of Grass. Washington, D. C., 1872.
Second issue of the fifth edition.
Duodecimo, green cloth, uncut; title, contents, vi, pp. 384.
Passage to India, pp. 120. Printed from the plates of the
Washington, 1871 editions of Leaves of Grass and Passage to
India.
Later issues have After All, Not to Create Only, pp. 14 bound
in.
1872
Leaves of Grass. As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free. And Other Poems.
Washington, D. C., 1872.
Duodecimo, green cloth, uncut; title, contents, preface, x; One
Song, America, Before I Go, one page; Souvenirs of Democracy,
facsimile signature, one page; pp. 14; Virginia--The West; By
Broad Potomac's Shore, one page, unnumbered; eight pages
advertisements.
1875
Memoranda During the War. By Walt Whitman. Author's Publication. Camden,
New Jersey, 1875-76.
Octavo, maroon cloth, title stamped in gold on cover; page,
"Remembrance Copy;" portrait, title, pp. 68, advertisement.
1876
Leaves of Grass. [Nine-line poem beginning "Come, said my soul," signed
Walt Whitman in the Author's autograph.] Author's Edition, with
Portraits from Life. Camden, New Jersey, 1876.
Sixth edition.
Octavo, half-calf, leather label, title, contents, vi; pp. 384,
advertisement. Portrait same as in the first edition facing page
29; woodcut portrait by W. J. Linton facing page 285.
1876
Leaves of Grass. [Nine-line poem in author's holograph, signed Walt
Whitman.] Author's Edition. With Portraits and Intercallations. Camden,
New Jersey, 1876.
Octavo, half calf, leather label, uncut. The same in every
detail except for a new title. At the end of the table of
contents a slip is tipped in: