Whitman, WaltLeaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York: [Printed for the author], 1855 Folio. Second state of copyright notice as usual, second state of p. iv, engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman with tissue guard (first state printed on heavy paper); frontispiece washed, some paper repairs to upper inner corners of frontispiece and title and small repairs to subsequent leaves, occasional light foxing and offsetting. Publisher's green cloth (Myerson binding A), covers and spine stamped in gilt with decorative title, covers with gilt triple-rule border, stamped all over in blind with floral ornaments, marbled endpapers; expertly recased with some restoration to extremities and gilt stamping. Housed in a custom velvet-lined cloth box. A newly-discovered first edition of Leaves of Grass, passed by descent through the family of Whitman's friend Frank Baker (1841–1918), physician, founding member of the National Geographic Society, and one-time superintendent of the National Zoo. Prior to an illustrious medical career, Baker served in the 37th New York Volunteers (1861–1863) and then transferred to Washington, D.C., for government service, where he became intimately familiar with John Burroughs and Whitman. In a postcard from 1889, Whitman intriguingly refers to Baker as “my first nurse” (Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 1 May 1889). This copy descends directly through Baker’s family, though it was evidently acquired by Baker on the secondary market, bearing as it does an unrelated ownership signature dating from the 1880s.&nbsp; REFERENCESBAL 21395; Grolier American, 67; Myerson A2.1.a(1) PROVENANCEFrank Baker — Herman Bean (ownership signature on verso of ffep, 1886)

Leaves of Grass, first edition

FInely bound limited-edition set of the Collector’s Camden edition of Whitman's complete works.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 10.</li><li>Walt Whitman (American).</li><li>New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1902.</li><li>Octavo.</li><li>Includes 40 lithographic illustrations.</li><li>Limited edition of 300 sets signed and numbered by the publisher, this being number 10.</li><li>Bound in blue half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spines, and blue cloth over boards, top edges gilt, others untrimmed.</li></ul>

The Complete Works of Walt Whitman

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, first issue of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=walt%20whitman&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Walt Whitman</a>'s Leaves of Grass.<ul><li>Walt Whitman (American).</li><li>New York, 1855.</li><li>Small folio.</li><li>xii, [13]–95 pages.&nbsp;</li><li>Engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph, printed on thick paper.</li><li>Bound in the original green cloth, boards with blind-stamped floral decorations, title and triple-fillet border gilt, spine with title and floral ornaments gilt, marble endpapers, all edges gilt, housed in a custom half morocco folding case.</li></ul> “He was and is the poet and prophet of democracy, and the intoxication of his immense affirmative, the fervor of his ‘barbaric yawp,’ are so powerful that the echo of his crude yet rhythmic song rings forever in the American air” (Grolier One Hundred). The self-published&nbsp;Leaves was at least partially personally&nbsp;type-set by the author on a small handpress in Brooklyn. The portrait of Whitman is here in superior condition, without the foxing often encountered. This copy bears the printed copyright statement on the verso of the title page and has the first version of line 2 of page 49 (“And the night is for you and me and all”) identified by Schmidgall in his article, “1855: a Stop-Press Revision.” Of the original 795 copies, only 337 were issued in this first binding with extensive gilt stamping, marbled end-sheets, and gilt edges (in the second binding only the title was gilt, and plain yellow end-sheets were used).

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