1860 Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass American Poetry SEXUALITY Scandal PHOTOGRAPH

1860 Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass American Poetry SEXUALITY Scandal PHOTOGRAPH

“Oh Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won.”

– Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, and is often called the father of free verse. His work, especially “Leaves of Grass”, was very controversial in its time due to its contents containing overt sexuality.

Printed in 1860 by Thayer in Bost, this third edition was the first printed in mass publication – both of the previous two editions were published by Whitman himself. Some of the notable poems included in this collection:

• Children of Adam
• Calamus
• Messenger Leaves
• Debris
• Word Out of the Sea (first appeared in this ed)
• As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life (first appeared in this ed)

According to the ‘Printing and the Mind of Man’,

“Always the champion of the common man, Whitman is both the poet and prophet of democracy. The whole of Leaves of Grass is imbued with the spirit of brotherhood and a pride in the democracy of the young American nation. In a sense, it is America’s second Declaration of Independence: that of 1776 was political, that of 1855 intellectual.”

The ‘Walt Whitman Archive’ states of this edition:

“The significance of the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass tends to be paradoxical. its wider readership and critical praise made it one of Whitman’s most successful books. Although the poems seem more intimate and personal than previous Whitman poems, the third edition is also a deliberate intervention into public life, an attempt to realize American democratic ideals and save the Union.”

This particular example includes a photograph of Whitman taken by Gurney. An impressive collectible.

Item number: #27005

Price: $950

WHITMAN, Walt

Leaves of grass, Boston, Thayer and Eldridge, year 85 of the States (1860-61)

Boston : Thayer and Eldridge, year 85 of the States (1860-61) [i.e. 1860]. Third printing.

Details:

• Collation: Complete with all pages
  • iv, 5-456, 8
  • Including portrait frontispiece
• References: BAL 21397; PMM 340
  • BAL lists this edition as third in the ‘probably sequence’
• Ephemera: Portrait daguerreotype of Whitman, produced by Gurney
  • Jeremiah Gurney (1812–1895) was an American daguerreotype photographer operating in New York, whose whose gallery was advertised as “the largest and most perfect Daguerreotype establishment in the United States.” His photos were highly known for their quality, and his fame was cemented by taking the only known photograph of Abraham Lincoln in death.
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover; tight and secure
  • Cloth
• Size: ~7.75in X 5.25in (19.5cm x 13cm)

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27005