[Whitman, Walt]

8vo (7 x 4 3/4 in.; 177 x 121mm). Front free endpaper detached, title reinforced with paper affixed to verso, inscriptions and annotations by Whitman as described below.  Publisher's green cloth, spine gilt; worn, remnants of glue on upper cover.  Brown buckram clamshell case, morocco gilt labels on spine.

Walt Whitman (his printed label with Camden, NJ, address on upper pastedown, his signature and annotations; given by him to) — John H. Johnston (signature 1892; given by him to) — Andrew Carnegie — by direct descent to the present owner

As described in catalogue entry.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Walt Whitman's annotated copy of The Works of Robert Burns, from Andrew Carnegie's library at Skibo Castle in Scotland.  Both Walt Whitman and Andrew Carnegie held the poetry of Robert Burns in high esteem.  What is not as well known is that Whitman and Carnegie had an interesting connection.  After Carnegie heard Whitman lecture on Lincoln, he sent the poet a donation of $350, with another donation of $50 following later.  Whitman was moved by this gesture and mentioned it in at least five letters.  Jerome Loving, in his study of Whitman, notes that when Carnegie heard the poet's British admirers were taking up a collection to support the poet in his old age, he remarked, "I felt triumphant democracy disgraced.  Whitman is the great port of America so far."

This volume was one of the cornerstones of Whitman's library.  In addition to his bold signature on the title, he has annotated the book in many places and has preserved clippings (also annotated) on Burns and his work (including a notice of two copies of the Kilmarnock edition of Burns's poems offered at Sotheby's in 1886). This is the edition Whitman had at hand when he wrote "Robert Burns as Poet and Person" for the North American Review issue of November 1886 (later collected in Democratic Vistas).  On the verso of the front free endpaper, Whitman has written, "This Vol: I have had with me for 8 or 9 years—(after trying many edn's this suits me best upon the whole.) I often take it up—open almost at random—seems to me more than a novel.—wrote this April 20 '89—Dwell many times on the Biographical Preface—especially the last pages pp. 36, '7 and '8.  On the titile next to a vignette of Burns, Whitman has written in red ink, "Burns at death had not completed his 38th year. Shelley had not completed his 29th." "29th" is scored through and replaced by "(30th)". On the first page of the preface, Whitman notes, "as I take it this 'biographical preface' is written by Alexander Smith (see the last part—fine)."

Laid in are tear-sheets of Whitman's article on Burns from the North American Review, with the author's corrections and manuscript additions, presumably used to prepare the text for inclusion in Democratic Vistas. In a paragraph discussing Burns's "concrete human points-of-view, Whitman adds the sentence, "The urge and swell of the animal appetites, with masculinity over all, is in the book from first to last." It is interesting to note that in a list of revolutionary luminaries in the second paragraph of the article, Whitman deleted Napoleon's name.

Three newspaper articles on Burns, all dated and labeled by Whitman, are laid in. Other are affixed with straight pins to the final leaves and lower free endpaper.  Smaller clippings are pasted to the lower pastedown and elsewhere.  In addition, the six-page letter from, dated 22 January 1902, from New York diamond merchant and Whitman supporter John H. Johnston, presenting the book to Andrew Carnegie for his library at Skibo Castle is laid in.  A yellow silk commemorative ribbon with portrait of Burns from the Tam O'Shanter Club of Philadelphia, 1888, is used as a book mark.  

This important and revealing volume from Whitman's library has not been seen since it entered Andrew Carnegie's collection 113 years ago.