B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 39 "A PEAK OF VISIONARY AND CREATIVE INTOXICATION": RARE AND ENLARGED SECOND EDITION OF LEAVES OF GRASS—WITH PUBLISHER'S PRESENTATION LAID IN 39. WHITMAN, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York: [Fowler & Wells, for the author], 1856. 12mo, original dark green cloth. $17,500 Rare and enlarged second edition, one of only 1000 copies printed, with frontispiece portrait of Whitman and advertisement leaf following text. With 20 additional poems not appearing in the 1855 first edition—including "A Woman Waits for Me" and "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?"—"the book is quite a rarity and is seldom found in good condition" (Wells and Goldsmith). With manuscript presentation note from the publishers laid in, "Edward D. Littledale, Presented by Fowlers & Wells." "Whitman is both the poet and the prophet of democracy… In a sense, [Leaves of Grass] is America's second Declaration of Independence" (PMM 340). This second edition, with 20 more poems than the first edition in 1855, reveals Whitman's concern to reach as large an audience as possible; he introduced changes in the book's internal and external format intended to evoke the then-popular volumes of poetry by Whittier and Longfellow" (Bloom, Whitman, 112-14). The most controversial change would prove to be his inclusion of praise from Ralph Waldo Emerson on the book's spine. Acknowledging receipt of his complimentary copy of the first edition of Leaves of Grass, Emerson had hailed Whitman's achievement: "I greet you at the beginning of a great career." When Whitman brought out this second edition the next year, Emerson's unguarded testimonial appeared on the spine (as designed by Whitman himself) in gilt letters. Emerson was agitated about the use of his private words as advertising copy: "Friends who visited Emerson when the blazoned second edition arrived in the mail claimed that until that moment they had never seen him truly angry" (Kaplan, 211). Among the poems appearing for the first time in this edition are "Poem of Salutation" ("O take my hand, Walt Whitman!"), "Poem of Procreation" ("A woman waits for me—she contains all, nothing is lacking") and "Lesson Poem." Also included in this edition are the whole text of Emerson's letter to Whitman, Whitman's reply and reviews of the first edition. With manuscript presentation note from the publishers laid in, "Edward D. Littledale / Presented by / Fowlers & Wells," The laid-in presentation inscription signed "Fowlers & Wells" indicates that this slip was penned at the time of publication, quite possibly by Orson, as of the three partners he had the most affinity with the poet. Some foxing to text, as often; mild toning to spine, gilt still quite legible. An unrestored copy in near-fine condition.
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