LEAVES OF GRASS

Pirated issue of the Thayer and Eldridge edition. Illustrated with and engraved frontispiece portrait of Walt Whitman at an early age. 8vo, publisher's original maroon cloth lettered in gilt on spine, title and pictorial decorations in blind on both covers. iv, 456 pp. An essentially fine copy, very well preserved, the binding clean and strong, the hinges in excellent order, the text-block essentially as pristine and unread, previous owner's name stamped inside.

Edizione: a very handsome copy of the worthington reissue of the boston edition of 1860-61. the first boston printing was the first general trade published issuance of leaves of grass. the edition included 122 new poems and two new sections. this is an early reissue of one of the most important editions of this great american literary work which remains attainable. whitman began this edition with "proto-leaf"["starting from paumanok"] a lovely apologia for his work. and this edition has the two very important clusters--"enfans d'adam" and "calamus"---focusing on love.<br> whitman?s leaves of grass is, arguably, the greatest work in all of american literature. leaves of grass portrayed america at the crossroads between an old world, soon to be caste off, and the new world of our future present. with the publication of leaves of grass in 1855, whitman, the poet of democracy, ushered in a new era in american letters, describing specifically american experiences in a distinctly american idiom. from its first publication in 1855, he had complete confidence in the greatness of both the book and its author. <br> ?always the champion of the common man, whitman is both the poet and the 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, this of 1855 intellectual. .the poems are saturated ?with a vehemence of pride and audacity of freedom necessary to loosen the mind of still-to-be-formed america from the folds, the superstitions, and all the long, tenacious, and stifling anti-democratic authorities of asiatic and european past?. to the young nation, only just becoming aware of an individual literary identity distinct from its european origins, whitman?s message and his outspoken confidence came at a decisive moment.<br> leaves of grass was whitman?s favorite child. from the time of its original publication,.until the year of his death, he continued revising and enlarging it. if (his) reputation has fluctuated over the years and his position among, if indeed not at the head of, the list of great american poets was not assured until some time after his death, there was never any doubt of the matter in his own mind. ?i know i am deathless?, he wrote. ?whether i come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years, i can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness i can wait.? time has vindicated his conviction.? pmm