Whitman, Walt

Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York: [for the author by Andrew Rome], 1855

Small folio (280 x 197 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer after a photograph, printed on thick paper and retaining original tissue-guard; some spotting to frontispiece, occasional very light and typical browning to text, two light creases to title-page, minor loss to lower inside corner of title where adher💙ed to frontispiece. Publisher's dark green coarse-ribbed cloth, the covers with b❀lind-stamped floral decorations and central title gilt-lettered in ornamental "rustic" font, all within a gilt triple-fillet frame, smooth spine gilt with title and floral ornaments, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (Myerson's binding A); faintest bumping to the corners, the text block imperceptibly reset in the binding by James Brockman after the volume was dropped by previous owner William E. Self. Green morocco pull-off case, chemise; case a bit scuffed.

A superb copy of the first edition of Leaves of Grass; first issue of the text, before the insertion of eight pages of press notices (largely th🍬e work of Whitman's own pen); first issue of the binding, before the deletion of much of the gilt from the covers, spine, and page edges, evidently in an effort to lower production costs; second state of the copyright page (as in all but two recorded copies) and of p. iv, col. 2, l. 4 ("cities adn" corrected to "cities and").

According to the accounts of the binder Charles Jenkins, of the 795 copies comprising the first edition, only 337 were bound in this most ornate style (a further 262 copies were bound in the less decorative cloth with plain endpapers, and the balance of the edition was issued in wrappers or boards). The present binding is undoubtedly among the small numbe🐭r of truly fine examples extant: unusually bright cloth, with crisp, deep impressions of the blind decorations and brilliant gilding, especially to the spine.

"Walt Whitman is the only major American poet of the nineteenth century to have an intimate association with the art of bookmaking. … Whitman's first edition of Leaves of Grass was💖 a self-publication. No publisher was interested in producing what seemed an odd and inelegant group of twelve untitled poems. So Whitman did it himself: he designed the cover, chose the binding, and set some of the type himself. He talked a friend, Andrew Rome, who was a job printer with a tiny shop on Fulton and Cranberry Streets in Brooklyn, into printing the book" (Folsom, pp. 3, 8).

James Rome, traditionally credited as co-printer of the book, had been dead for some six months before typesetting on Leaves of Grass began, although the youngest Rome brother, Thomas, did evidently work in the shop as a printer's devil during this period. Thirty years after the event, Whitman himself solely credited Andrew Rome with the printing in a letter written to some unidentified correspondents: "The first Leaves of Grass was printed in 1855 in Brooklyn New꧟ York—small quarto 9 by 12 inches, 95 pages—in the type called "English"—was not stereotyped—800 copies were struck off on a hand press by Andrew Rome, in whose job office the work was all done—the author himself setting some of the type" (//whitmanarchive.org/item/loc.04931).

"The publication of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass in July 1855 was a landmark event in literary history. Ralph Waldo Emerson judged the book 'The most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America haﷺs yet contributed,' saying that it had 'the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging.' … One need not discount his later poetry in order to recognize the specialness of the first edition. This was the original Whitman; this was Whitman at his freshest and, arguably, his most experimental. Nothing like the♛ volume had ever appeared before. Everything about it—the unusual [binding] and title page, the exuberant preface, the twelve free-flowing, untitled poems embracing every ream of experience—was new" (Reynolds, p. 85). 

REFERENCE:

Myerson A2.1.a₁; BAL 21395; Printing and the Mind of Man 340; Grolier, American 67; Feinberg/Detroit 269; William White, "The First (1855) 'Leaves of Grass': How Many Copies?," in PBSA (1957) 57:352–54; cf. Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books, Books Making Whitman (The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, University of Iowa, 2005); "Afterword," in Leaves of Grass: 150th Anniversary Edition, ed. David S. Reynol🐬ds 𒁏(Oxford University Press, 2005)

PROVENANCE:

Fred W. Allsopp (Parke-Bernet, 4 February 1946, lot 263) — Clifford Odets, American playwright, screenwriter, and actor (autograph letter signed by his bookseller-agent, Alfred F. Goldsmith, describing the copy and its acquisition at the Allsopp sale laid in, 2 pages on a leaf of Goldsmith's letterhead, with original envelope, New York, 5 February 1946: "Last night was one of the worst I ever saw, bitter wind, sleet and snow and not a taxi or bus to be had. I did not think I could make the sale, but I finally managed to get there and found the room packed with other hardy ones. The Leaves started at $500 and everyone in the room seemed to be bidding in $25.00 jumps up to $1000. Then the advances were $50 and I got it at $1350. As I went out of the room, the last underbidder stopped me and told me his (Charles Retz) bid from his customer was $1200 and he had exceeded it by $100 but feared to go higher. I am glad I got it, for I think it is the finest copy I ever saw and in 28 years I have had more copies than any other dealer, about 17—and I do not think there is a better copy anywhere. It is a perfect copy unrepaired and perfect in every way. It is in a case that would cost $40 to $50. I sent it insured for $1500—by express. I am charging you $80,00 which is the lowest rate I ever made, as it took two days of time, minor expenses and $3.01 for insurance and express, but I want you to be satisfied, so if you think my charge too high, I will take less. I think that you will like the book and will find that you have a fine copy of a great work and a good investment as well.") — William E. Self, Hollywood actor and, later, producer, perhaps best known for his uncredited roles in Decoy (1946, station attendant), Adventure in Baltimore (1949, townsman), The Great Gatsby (1949, collegian), and Plymouth Adventure (1952, sailor) (Christie's New York, 4 December 2009, lot 196)