Chapter 1

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The Whitman Bibliography

_This edition of the WHITMAN BIBLIOGRAPHY is limited to five hundred numbered copies, of which this is No. 288_

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WALT WHITMAN

BY FRANK SHAY

NEW YORK FRIEDMANS' 1920

To the memory of HORACE TRAUBEL 1856-1919 Poet, Philosopher, Comrade

FOREWORD

"_Camerado, this is no book; Who touches this touches a man._"

Walt Whitman's relation to his work was more personal than that of most poets. He was, in a larger sense, a man of one book, and this book, issued and reissued at various periods of the poet's life, was, at each issuance, the latest expression of his development. The infinite care he gave to his work; the continual study of each poem resulted in changes in each edition. The book literally grew with the man and in the present authorized edition of today we have his final and complete utterance.

Whitman's early fugitive work presents to the student a curious anomaly. It gives no intimation of the great nature that later produced Leaves of Grass and Democratic Vistas. In quality it was beneath the standards of the nickle-dreadfuls of yesterday. Bearing such titles as "One Wicked Impulse"; "Revenge and Requital, Tale of a Murderer Escaped"; "The Angel of Tears"; (many of them are in the Prose Works) they appealed to a class to whom thought was anathema and reading solely a pastime. They are didactic to the extreme, presenting the horrible results of sin and the corresponding rewards of virtue. Their value as literature, however, does not come within the province of the bibliographer.

The care Whitman bestowed upon his writings was carried to the mechanical production of his books. Each edition was manufactured under his supervision and when completed represented the latest and highest achievements in commercial bookmaking. Further, he took such an intense personal interest in the sale of his books that he invariably knew at all times the number of copies sold and the number on hand.

The first edition comprised three distinct variations. The first of these, in paper wrappers, are undoubtedly the result of Whitman's impatience at the delays of the binder. Considering that he had a press at his disposal, it is not assuming too much to suggest that while awaiting deliveries from the binder he printed the jackets himself for immediate use. This is the only way to account for the existence of the paper copies. Further proof that this contention is correct is that each copy bears an inscription in Whitman's holograph.

Though Whitman insisted that "the entire edition sold readily" there is little doubt he meant circulated. In fact, they were circulated so rapidly a new edition was required within ten months. This second edition was a dumpy sexto-decimo of nearly four hundred pages. Twenty new poems were added, one of the earlier poems was dropped and all were retouched. This edition did sell rapidly and only fear of public criticism prevented the publishers from reissuing the book. The failure to find a firm to stand sponsor for his book discouraged Whitman to the extent of planning to go West and pioneer. His plans for this venture were completed when Thayer and Eldridge opened negotiations for the book's republication with any new material available. This offer took the poet to Boston to oversee the work and in May, 1860, a substantial volume, with many new poems came from the press. The book went through two editions, a total of between thirty-five hundred and four thousand copies when the publishers failed. The plates were sold at auction and went to a notorious pirate, who, within the next ten years, published and sold over ten thousand copies. Whitman had no control over these crimped editions and forever after they were a torment to him.

It was not until after the Civil War that a new authentic edition was published--again without a publisher. In later issues of this edition Whitman bound in the sheets of "Drum-Taps" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," and in still later issues, "Songs Before Parting." The total number of copies issued is not known but must have been quite small owing to the effect of the lower priced pirated edition.

The fifth edition was published in Washington and attracted little or no attention save in England where the demand for complete and unabridged copies was fostered by Rossetti's emasculated edition. The English demand was so great that Whitman was compelled to reprint one or two new editions. He got around the expense of new plates by inserting "intercallations"--poems printed on separate slips of paper and tipped in.

In 1881, the next Boston edition was issued. With a recognized publisher of Osgood's standing there should have been no question of the final success of "Leaves of Grass." Osgood published all the work of the New Englanders; Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson and Whittier. Whitman was in good company save that the Society for the Suppression of Vice considered "Leaves of Grass" to be bad company and through District Attorney Stevens secured its suppression. Osgood promptly withdrew the book and gladly turned over to the author all unsold and unbound copies and the plates. The plates went to Rees, Welsh and Company, of Philadelphia, who brought out an edition and then dropped from sight. David McKay published an edition from the same plates. During this time certain "special" and "author's" editions were published by Whitman as his own publisher.

After Whitman's death Small, Maynard & Company, of Boston, became the authorized publishers. They were followed in turn by D. Appleton and Company, and Mitchell Kennerley. At this writing Messrs. Doubleday, Page & Co. are the authorized publishers of "Leaves of Grass," and the "Prose Works."

Any bibliography of Whitman's Works can be called but an attempt. His temperamental handling of the plates of the various editions of "Leaves of Grass" resulted in many curious imprints. There may be omissions, I grant, but not serious ones. The work I undertook was a clearing up of the fog which hung about the various Boston editions and setting cataloguers right on the first edition.

I must, at this point, thank Anne Montgomerie Traubel, of Camden, Mr. Walter Bartley Quinlan and Mr. Alfred F. Goldsmith, of New York, and Mr. Henry S. Saunders, of Toronto, Canada, for valuable suggestions and comparison of notes, and Mr. M. M. Breslow for permission to use his very excellent collection of Whitmaniana as a basis for this bibliography.

FRANK SHAY.

New York City

July, 1920.

NOTE

The arrangement is chronological, the only practicable method.

In listing titles and imprints I have sought to follow the typography and punctuation of the originals. Where this was not practicable I have inserted punctuation marks to give the matter coherence. Where I have interpolated remarks or descriptions within the titles I have enclosed them in brackets to distinguish them from Whitman's parenthesis.

1842

The New World. Extra Series. Number 34. New York, November, 1842. Original Temperance Novel. Franklin Evans; or The Inebriate. A Tale of the Times. By Walter Whitman.

Royal octavo, pp. 31, uncut.

Published as an extra to "_The New World_."

The last page (32) contains advertisement: "New Works in Press."

Written during Whitman's Bohemian days it was advertised as a thrilling romance by one of the best novelists in this country and had a sale of between 20,000 and 25,000 copies, which netted the author about $200. References to the work in later years irritated Whitman and he refused to discuss it. The work is extremely scarce considering the great number that were published.

1855

Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York. 1855.

First edition. Twelve poems.

Imperial octavo, pink paper wrappers.

"Leaves of Grass" printed in block letters across front wrapper, end wrapper blank. Steel engraved portrait, title, uncaptioned preface, xii, Leaves of Grass, pp. 95, end blank.

The author's name appears only in the copyright notice, and in the first poem: "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos."

The poems, twelve in number, are without titles. In the present authorized edition they appear under the following titles:

Song of Myself. A Song for Occupations. To Think of Time. The Sleepers. I Sing the Body Electric. Faces. Song of the Answer (part one). Europe. A Boston Ballad. There Was a Child Went Forth. Who Learns My Lesson Complete. Great Are the Myths.

The preface was later worked into three poems:

By Blue Ontario's Shore. Song of Prudence. To a Foil'd European Revolutionaire.

There are three variations of the first edition. The one noted above in pink wrappers is unquestionably the first issue. The second issue is bound in green cloth, gilt edges, and with the title stamped in rustic letters in gilt on the front cover. The last issue of this edition has all the points of the second issue with eight pages of press notices bound in at the front.

Less than nine hundred copies were printed in July, 1855, in the printshop of Andrew H. Rome, 98 Cranberry Street, Brooklyn, the author assisting in the type composition and presswork. The volume was placed on sale at Fowler & Wells, Broadway, New York, and at Swaynes, in Fulton Street, Brooklyn, at two dollars, but was later reduced to one dollar. Very few copies were sold; Whitman giving almost the entire edition to critics and friends.

Catalogued from the Maier copy.

A reprint of this edition was issued in January, 1920, by Mr. Thomas B. Mosher, Portland, Maine.

1856

Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York. 1856.

Second edition. Thirty-two poems.

Thick 16mo, green drab cloth, sprinkled edges. Title stamped in gilt on face of binding; on back title and quotation from Emerson's letter "I Greet You at the Beginning of a Great Career, R. W. Emerson," portrait, same as in the first edition, title, contents, iv, Leaves of Grass, pp. (5)-342, Leaves Droppings (reprint of Emerson's letter; Whitman's letter to Emerson and press notices), pp. 345-384, advertisement. Owing to the storm of criticism which arose against the book, Fowler & Wells, the New York publishers, refused to put their name on the title page, and though they attended to all the details of presswork and distribution, the volume was issued from Brooklyn, without imprint. It is said that there are copies in existence bearing Fowler & Wells imprint, but this is doubtful as such copies are unknown to Whitman collectors. In this edition the prose preface of the first edition is worked into four poems: By Blue Ontario's Shore; Song of the Answerer, part two; To a Foil'd European Revolutionaire, and Song of Prudence; the balance being reprinted in Specimen Days and Collect, 1881.

Owing to the refusal of Fowler & Wells to stand sponsor to the volume, only 1,000 copies were printed and the book was out of print 1858-1860.

1860

Leaves of Grass Imprints. American and European Criticisms of "Leaves of Grass." Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.

18mo, printed wrappers, pp. 64.

A reprint of current criticisms of the first and second editions. Pp. 7, 30, 38, contain articles written and contributed anonymously by Whitman to various New York papers. They were later reprinted in the Fellowship papers and in In Re Walt Whitman, 1893.

It is exceedingly rare.

1860

Leaves of Grass. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, Year '85 of The States. (1860-61.)

Third edition. 154 poems.

Duodecimo, brown cloth, heavily blind embossed. Portrait, at the age of forty, engraved by Schoff, after the painting by Charles Hine, in 1859, on an irregular tinted background, title, contents, pp. iv-456.

Issued May, 1860. The author went to Boston to superintend the printing and binding. The publishers failed during the period of financial depression at the beginning of the Civil War and the plates were sold at auction to R. Worthington, who surreptitiously used them with the original imprint. There are, for this reason, four or more editions bearing the original Thayer and Eldridge imprint. The first issue is distinguished by the engraved portrait which is on an irregular tinted background and by the gilt embossed butterfly on the backbone of the binding. On the verso of the title is the inscription "Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry. Printed by George C. Rand & Avery." The second issue has the portrait on white paper and lacks the gilt butterfly. The third issue, or the first pirated issue, lacks the printer's inscription and is bound in cheap cloth. Early issues, all spurious, contain catalogues of Worthington's publications bound in at the end. The plates were purchased by Whitman's literary executors after his death.

In this edition the author abandons calling the months by their common names and adopts the Quaker style: that of calling September the Ninthmonth, etc.

Copies of the first issue with the tinted portrait are extremely scarce. The various editions have heretofore remained undistinguished.

1865

Walt Whitman's Drum-Taps. New York, 1865.

Duodecimo, brown cloth, title (Drum-Taps) stamped on gold ground on front cover, title, contents, iv, pp. 5-72.

But few copies had been issued when the death of President Lincoln occurred and the author withheld the balance until a few weeks later when he added "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd and other Pieces," with pagination distinct from that of Drum-Taps, as a sequel. This and the "Sequel" formed the first and second annexes to the fourth edition, 1867, of Leaves of Grass, and were later incorporated in the Washington, 1871 edition under the title of Drum-Taps. Copies without the "sequel" are exceedingly scarce.

1865

Sequel to Drum-Taps (since the preceding came from the press). When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. And Other Pieces. Washington, D. C., 1865-6.

Duodecimo, pp. 24.

It is doubtful if any copies reached the market other than those issued as a part of Drum-Taps. The remaining copies were bound up with second issue of the 1867 edition.

1867

Leaves of Grass. New York, 1867.

Fourth edition.

Duodecimo, walnut half-morocco, title, contents, iv, pp. (7)-338. There is also a cloth bound issue that differs in no manner from the above. Both have "Ed'n 1867" stamped in gilt on back.

Later issues of this edition have added, under separate pagination, Drum-Taps, pp. iv-72; Sequel to Drum-Taps, pp. 24; Songs Before Parting, pp. 36. A blank leaf separates each section.

In this edition the author changes the writing of the past participle to 'd. The verses and sections are numbered.

1868

Poems by Walt Whitman. Selected and Edited by William Michael Rossetti [quotation from Michelangelo]. London: John Camden Hotten, Piccadilly, 1868.

"Rossetti" Edition.

Duodecimo, blue cloth, uncut; half-title, portrait with facsimile signature, title, page of quotations from Swedenborg, Carlyle, and Robespierre, note on portrait, dedication (by W. M. R.) to William Bell Scott, contents, prefatory notices, preface to Leaves of Grass, pp. 64; half-title, pp. 401, postscript. Eight pages of advertisements in front, and sixteen pages in back.

The first English, or "Rossetti's Edition." W. D. O'Connor writing to an European friend called it "A fairly representative, but nevertheless, castrated edition."

A second edition from new type was issued in 1886 by Chatto & Windus, London. Third edition, 1910.

1871

Leaves of Grass. Washington, D. C., 1871. [Pointing Hand] See Advertisement at end of this Volume.

Fifth edition.

Duodecimo, light green paper wrappers, uncut; title, contents, pp. vi-384.

1871

Memoranda. Democratic Vistas. Washington, D. C., 1871. [Pointing Hand] See Advertisement at end of this Volume.

Duodecimo, light green paper wrappers, uncut; title, contents, pp. 84.

1871

Leaves of Grass. Passage to India. (Five line poem beginning, "Gliding o'er all.") Washington, D. C., 1871. [Pointing Hand] See Advertisement at end of this Volume.

Duodecimo, light green paper wrappers, uncut; title, contents, pp. iv-120.

1871

After All, Not to Create Only. Recited by Walt Whitman on Invitation of Managers American Institute, on Opening their 40th Annual Exhibition, New York, noon, September 7, 1871 (device). Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1871.

Duodecimo, beveled cloth boards, half-title, title, note, vii; pp. 24, notes.

There is also a limp cloth issue which is quite common, that was issued to be sold at the exhibition.

The poem was later published in the Transactions of the American Institute, 1871-72. Albany, 1872.

1872

Leaves of Grass. Washington, D. C., 1872.

Second issue of the fifth edition.

Duodecimo, green cloth, uncut; title, contents, vi, pp. 384. Passage to India, pp. 120. Printed from the plates of the Washington, 1871 editions of Leaves of Grass and Passage to India.

Later issues have After All, Not to Create Only, pp. 14 bound in.

1872

Leaves of Grass. As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free. And Other Poems. Washington, D. C., 1872.

Duodecimo, green cloth, uncut; title, contents, preface, x; One Song, America, Before I Go, one page; Souvenirs of Democracy, facsimile signature, one page; pp. 14; Virginia--The West; By Broad Potomac's Shore, one page, unnumbered; eight pages advertisements.

1875

Memoranda During the War. By Walt Whitman. Author's Publication. Camden, New Jersey, 1875-76.

Octavo, maroon cloth, title stamped in gold on cover; page, "Remembrance Copy;" portrait, title, pp. 68, advertisement.

1876

Leaves of Grass. [Nine-line poem beginning "Come, said my soul," signed Walt Whitman in the Author's autograph.] Author's Edition, with Portraits from Life. Camden, New Jersey, 1876.

Sixth edition.

Octavo, half-calf, leather label, title, contents, vi; pp. 384, advertisement. Portrait same as in the first edition facing page 29; woodcut portrait by W. J. Linton facing page 285.

1876

Leaves of Grass. [Nine-line poem in author's holograph, signed Walt Whitman.] Author's Edition. With Portraits and Intercallations. Camden, New Jersey, 1876.

Octavo, half calf, leather label, uncut. The same in every detail except for a new title. At the end of the table of contents a slip is tipped in:

Intercallations Page

As in a Swoon 207 The Beauty of the Ship 247 When the Full-Grown Poet Came 359 After an Interval 369

On each page indicated will be found a poem, tipped in.

There is a variation in the intercallations: a few contain "A Death Sonnet for Custer."

1876

Two Rivulets including Democratic Vistas, Centennial Songs, and Passage to India. Author's Edition. Camden, New Jersey, 1876.

Octavo, half-calf, leather label; portrait, "Photo'd from life, Sept., '72, Brooklyn, N. Y., by G. F. Pearsall, Fulton St." signed "Walt Whitman, born May 31, 1819"; title, pp. 32, blank leaf; Democratic Vistas, pp. 84; blank page; Centennial Songs, 1876, pp. 1-18; blank page; As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free, preface, pp. x, pp. 14, blank page; Passage to India, pp. 120; blank page, advertisement.

The above and Leaves of Grass, 1876, were uniform in binding and comprised Whitman's complete works to date.

1881

Leaves of Grass [device]. Boston: James R. Osgood & Company, 1881-82.

Seventh edition.

Duodecimo, yellow cloth, facsimile signature stamped in gilt on front cover; title, contents, pp. 382. This edition was suppressed by District Attorney Stevens on complaint of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. The unbound copies were claimed by the author who inserted a new title-page. The plates were turned over to Rees, Welsh and Company. Later they were given to David McKay, who issued several editions bearing the dates of 1884, 1885, 1886. There is also an edition from these plates with McKay's imprint and Putnam's name on the binding.

1881

Octavo, olive cloth, uncut; title, contents, pp. 382. The collation being the same as that of the Boston, 1881 edition it is possible that Bogue purchased the sheets from Osgood or Whitman and bound the book to his own tastes.

There was another issue, same collation, in 1884.

1881

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman: Preface to the Original Edition, 1855 [device]. London: Trübner & Co., 1881.

Octavo, blue wrappers, uncut, title, pp. 31, advertisements.

Only 500 copies were printed.

An edition on large paper, bound in light blue wrappers and limited to twenty-five copies was issued at the same time.

1882

Specimen Days and Collect. By Walt Whitman, author of "Leaves of Grass." Philadelphia: Rees, Welsh & Co., No. 23 South Ninth Street, 1882-83.

Duodecimo, paper wrappers, uncut; portrait, title, contents, pp. 374; advertisement. Very few copies were issued in wrappers, the larger number being bound in yellow cloth and with the imprint of David McKay. The edition with the imprint of Wilson and McCormick, Glasgow, 1883, was printed from the same plates.

1886

Leaves of Grass. The Poems of Walt Whitman (selected), with Introduction by Ernest Rhys.

18 mo, blue cloth, paper label, uncut; portrait, title, contents, introduction, xxxix, pp. 318; advertisements.

The Canterbury Poet Series.

1887

Specimen Days in America. By Walt Whitman. Newly revised by the author, with fresh preface and additional note. London: Walter Scott, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, 1887.

16 mo, blue cloth, paper label, uncut; half-title, title, contents, preface, pp. 312; advertisements.

The Camelot Series.

Later Published by Routledge in the New Universal Library.

1888

November Boughs. By Walt Whitman. Philadelphia: David McKay, 23 South Ninth Street, 1888.

Octavo maroon cloth, uncut; title stamped in gilt on front cover; portrait, the 70th year, title, contents, (5)-140; advertisement.

1888

Complete (portrait) Poems and Prose of Walt Whitman, 1855-1888. Authenticated and Personal Book (handled by W. W.). Portraits from Life. Autograph.

Eighth edition, Leaves of Grass; third edition of Prose Works.

Octavo, half cloth, uncut. Leaves of Grass, pp. 382; Specimen Days, pp. 374; November Boughs, pp. 140. Portraits face pp. 29 and 206.

600 copies.

1888

Democratic Vistas, and other Papers. By Walt Whitman. Published by arrangement with the author. London: Walter Scott, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row, 1888.

12 mo, cloth, paper label, uncut; title, contents, preface, pp. 175; advertisements.

1889

Leaves of Grass with Sands at Seventy and A Backward Glance o'er Travel'd Roads.