When I read the book, the biography famous, And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man’s life? And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life? (As if any man really knew aught of my life, Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life, Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections I seek for my own use to trace out here.) -Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman | 1819-1892
Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819. The second son of Walter Whitman and Louisa Van Velsor, the family grew to nine children, residing in Brooklyn, New York and Long Island throughout the 1820s and 1830s. A voracious reader, his formal schooling ceased at age 11 to begin working. By 12 he worked in a print shop and learned the trade prior to a short time teaching in a one-room schoolhouses. Dissatisfied with teaching by his early 20s, he began his writing career and over the course of his life, worked as a journalist, printer, editor, publisher, author, and poet. A prolific writer, his early creative writing was published as freelance fiction and poetry to established periodicals, sometimes under pen names or assumed personas.
In December 1862 he arrived in Washington D.C. to care for his brother George injured in the Civil War. Conditions of the military hospitals moved Whitman to stay in D.C. indefinitely and volunteer as a nurse. Through a network of friends including Emerson, he held a number of government posts over the next few years. Fired from a federal job in 1865, he was ostensibly dismissed for his authorship of ‘disreputable works’ before securing another post in the Attorney General’s office. A pamphlet in his defense as a patriot was distributed by friend William Douglas O’Connor titled The Good Gray Poet in 1866, creating the poet’s nickname and adding to his fame. His poem O Captain! My Captain! written on the death of Abraham Lincoln was well received and his most popular work during his lifetime.
Whitman began to decline in health following a paralytic stroke in 1873 and moved to Camden, New Jersey to be cared for along with his ailing mother by family. In 1884 he purchased a home of his own in Camden, where he hosted friends and guests including Oscar Wilde. He continued to write and create new editions of his works through 1892. He died on March 26, 1892 at 72, commemorated through a public funeral. 2022 marked the 130th anniversary of his death.
A Legacy of Contradictions
Whitman's legacy is host to contradictions. Once known as "America's poet", Whitman's works weigh heavily on American nationalism and along with it, unequivocal racism. From the American Experience, "Whitman's poetry often expresses the collective unconscious of 19th-century America, for better and for worse." Throughout his journalism, creative works, and surviving correspondence, Whitman's anti-black and Native American sentiment is present. Contradicting this discrimination was his seeking to be a 'poet of the people', an author accessible to readers with only a basic education, a "vocalization of the common man". Explicit sensuality in Leaves of Grass and his body of work met contemporary censure as obscene and 'morally corrupt'. His celebration of "love of comrades" and private life has adopted Whitman as a queer icon. The spirit of commonality, love, freedom of expression, and individualism typified by Whitman would go on to inspire generations to follow, notably the Beat generation, Langston Hughes, and many more. Disambiguated, Whitman's works and words have been read, adapted, and collected for centuries—through Song of Myself, Whitman seems to write his own summary:
"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
Collecting Whitman
Works by Whitman have been a favorite area for collectors since shortly following his death and as his notoriety and influence grew in the 20th century canon. His most infamous—and most widely collected—title is the varying collected poems Leaves of Grass. With an interest in Whitman, Carl Weeks collection grew to 18 copies of Leaves of Grass, a number of other titles from and about the author, and an original letter in his hand.
Leaves of Grass
During his lifetime, Whitman worked on 9 US editions of Leaves of Grass from 1855 to his death in 1892. Editions have garnered nicknames for reference by readers and scholars, the final 1891-1892 "deathbed edition" went to print following Whitman's death and included some posthumous poems. Across these editions are additional poems, changes to format and structure, typography, and punctuation. The first edition consisted of 12 poems, growing to 389 in later printings. Groupings of poems throughout became associated as clusters and cuttings, perpetuating the idea of an organic, evolving, growing work. Working originally with a print shop who worked mainly on legal forms of a larger scale, an unconventional oversized format became standard for the editions of Leaves of Grass.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Published by the author, Brooklyn. 1855. First edition, first issue, first binding.
The first edition of Leaves of Grass presented 12 poems in a slim volume of 95 pages. The author's name is absent from the title page, but was copyrighted by ' Walter Whitman' as well as included his portrait and the Song of Myself names the poet. Financed by Whitman, this edition was printed in a Brooklyn New York shop of the Rome Brothers print shop; Whitman is rumored to have typeset a number of the final pages. Of the 795 original copies, 599 were bound in cloth with gilt and the remainder in simple bindings; 200 copies are known today. It was distributed by Fowler & Wells Publishers.
The first edition collected by Carl Weeks is signed 'CWeeks 1945' across a sticker in the front cover; the details of where and from whom it was purchased is not yet known. Pasted in the front covers of this copy are contemporary reviews from the Brooklyn Daily Times, American Phrenological Journal, and United States Review. Early praise from critics included a letter published in the New York Daily Tribute by Ralph Waldo Emerson; a copy of this glowing recommendation is pasted into the SHLC copy. This book remains in it's original binding, the classic binding A style and likely among the first 200 bound in this variation— covers of dark green cloth covered boards with a gilded frame, blindstamped foliage, and the gold gilded title sprouting leaves, roots, and vines and vibrant marbled endpapers inside. The 1855 first editions can be further explored through examining typographical errors and edits which indicate printing groups and last minute changes made by Whitman during printing. Yet unexplored in this edition, it is ready for a researcher to compare the common uncorrected errors that further identify these first editions.
The Salisbury House Library Collection first edition is available for viewing in the Special Collections Reading Room (M-F 1:30-5pm)—visit and see this first edition up close! Page through a digital copy of a sister edition from The Walt Whitman Archive.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Author’s edition, Camden. 1876. Centennial edition.
The 1876 author’s edition, also known as the Centennial Edition as it corresponded with the U.S. Centennial, introduced a new version of the 1871-72 issues. It was the first printing of some additional poems, including “As in a Swoon,” “The Beauty of the Ship,” “When the Full-Grown Poet Came,” and “After an Interval.” Sold originally in a set with an accompanying volume Two Rivulets, this edition was dubbed an author’s edition with a portrait and signature from Whitman in each; 800 copies of Leaves of Grass and 600 of Rivulets were produced. This edition is one often omitted from lists of Whitman's lifetime editions as it was a reproduction of a previous version with little variation.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Published by David McKay, Philadelphia. 1900. Annotated edition.
The McKay edition includes a reproduction of a photograph of Whitman gifted his friend McKay and a facsimile autobiography and other writing in Whitman's hand. Heavily annotated, this copy of Leaves of Grass bares traces from a reader. Pencil marks throughout the edition remain a mystery—were these made by Carl Weeks? What can we learn about a reader from how they interact with text? Notes in the front cover confirm that this edition was rebound in 1926—provenance of where and when Weeks purchased this book, his commission of the binding, and other correspondence may shed light on these mysteries.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Heritage Press, New York. 1950. Illustrated edition with woodcuts from Rockwell Kent.
Originally prepared as a private printing for members of the Heritage Club, reprints were made available to the public. These editions were impacted by wartime paper regulations and to conserve paper, differ through smaller margins. The original paper wrapper includes a recommendation on the back cover by Elsie Robinson.
"The Heritage Press (New York City) has taken the forbidden book Leaves of Grass and matched the vigor of its virile verse with illustrations by a man as forthright as Whitman himself—Rockwell Kent. […] No greater medicine was ever made for sick spirits than this combination—Walt Whitman's striding words—Rockwell Kent's singing line. Buy that book and read it. Read it a little each night. Fifteen minutes will do—but guard those fifteen minutes! With a sawed-off shot gun if necessary! Don't let telephone chatter or radio blatter or neighborhood calls or bridge invitations interfere. Do just one thing for your real self, your sick self, this year—READ THAT BOOK."
See more from the Salisbury House Library Collection in the Magic Box soon!
The Salisbury House Library Collection is being processed, but open for research now! Contact us at archives@grinnell.edu. Want to see more Walt Whitman? Special Collections is open to researchers 1:30-5:00pm Monday-Friday or by appointment.
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Grinnell College Special Collections