Signed book: Leaves of Grass. First edition of this version, the first to carry the 'Passage to India' annex. Washington, D.C.: Self-published, 1872. Hardcover bound in the original dark green cloth, brightly gilt-titled on the spine ("Leaves of Grass, Complete"), 5 x 8.25, 384 pages, plus the separately paginated 120 page 'Passage to India' section. Signed on the first free end page in ink, "from Walt Whitman, Camden, N. Jersey, U.S. America." Autographic condition: very good to fine, with somewhat irregular toning to the signed page. Book condition: G+/None, with cracked hinges, bumped and worn corners, fraying to spine ends, and some adhesive remnants and surface loss to endpapers (possibly from bookplate removal); an engraving of Whitman has been tipped in.
Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is a groundbreaking collection that revolutionized American poetry with its free verse style and celebration of the self, nature, democracy, and the human body. First published in 1855, Whitman continually revised and expanded the work throughout his life, each edition reflecting his evolving vision of America and the individual spirit. The book grew from a slim volume of twelve untitled poems into a vast life’s work. The first Washington, D.C. edition appeared in 1872, issued after Whitman had served as a nurse during the Civil War, and it bore the deepened tone of reflection and national healing that marked his later poetry.
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