Leaves of Grass with Sands at Seventy & A Backward Glance o’er Travel’d Roads
"To-day, finishing my 70th year, the fancy comes for celebrating it by a special, complete, final utterance, in one handy volume, of L. of G., with their Annex, and Backward Glance--and for stamping and sprinkling all with portraits and facial photos, such as they actually were, taken from life, different stages. Doubtless, anyhow, the volume is more A PERSON than a book. And for testimony to all, (and good measure,) I here with pen and ink append my name: Walt Whitman"
SCARCE 70TH BIRTHDAY EDITION, ONE OF ONLY 300 COPIES SIGNED BY WHITMAN.
THE VERY RARE FIRST ISSUE WITH ORIGINAL LEATHER WRAP-AROUND BAND.
The collector of Walt Whitman is hard pressed to choose which edition of Leaves of Grass best represents the poet’s vision of his works. After all, Whitman famously attended each of the printings of his poems like a parent in the delivery room during the birth of each child. Is one child more valuable than the next? As with each delivery, each printing of Leaves of Grass contained its own set of complications and circumstances, be it lack of funds, paper shortages, war, or other issues. From early on, however, Whitman had a vision for Leaves of Grass, a vision that he needed to compromise time and again to accommodate the reality of his publishing circumstances.
It was not until his 70th birthday edition in 1889 that the stars aligned and Whitman was finally able to print Leaves of Grass as he had always wanted – an edition that embodied his vision of the book. Whitman saw himself as a pastor creating a New Bible and in this special birthday edition he took this vision quite literally, as he presented Leaves of Grass as one would present a Bible, using “Oxford Bible Paper,” and a Biblical black leather cover with a wraparound tongue flap and pocket in the back.
Only 300 copies were printed, but fairly soon into the printing, Whitman was persuaded by his close friend Dr. Richard Bucke to stop binding copies with the wraparound flap, so far fewer than the original 300 contain this unique aspect of his vision.
Unlike Whitman’s earlier editions full of sometimes playful book art and fonts, the 1889 edition insists it is to be taken very seriously, perhaps as seriously as one might take the Bible. The text, of course, includes the same radicalism as the earlier editions, but this time his radicalism is not to be interpreted as whimsy, but as high seriousness, even scripture. Yet, despite the solemnity of the presentation of this edition, Whitman reminds us that this Biblical vision is his very precious child as he introduces the edition with the words: “the volume is more A PERSON than a book. And for testimony to all, (and good measure,) I here with pen and ink append my name" and then signed each copy in ink, "Walt Whitman".
Philadelphia: Printed by Ferguson Bros. and Co. for the Author. Small octavo (approx. 124x180 mm), original publisher's morocco with wraparound band and rear pocket; custom box. Complete with portrait frontispiece. Some scuffing to leather, small separation at joint at base of spine. Due to its somewhat fragile design, this edition is usually found in dreadful condition. This copy is by far the nicest we've ever seen.
A BEAUTIFUL SIGNED COPY OF ONE OF THE RAREST AND MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES OF LEAVES OF GRASS.
Price: $11,500 .