LEAVES OF GRASS
Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860-61. Third Edition. Item #3154
Presumed fourth and fifth (second and third unauthorized) printings, sans imprint or stereotyper's information on copyright page [n.d., but ca.1880s]. Octavo (19.25cm); deep purplish-red morocco grain cloth boards with beveled edges; titling and decorations stamped in gilt and in blind to spine and front covers; white endpapers; frontispiece portrait of Whitman is in Form 3 (priority undetermined), signed in plate "S A Schoff" on plain white background; iv,5-456,[457-458]pp; illus. Pinpoint wear to spine ends, subtle toning to title page (from attendant tissue guard), else a fresh, Fine copy, with the spine gilt quite vibrant, and without fading to the cloth.
"In a sense, it is America's second Declaration of Independence: that of 1776 was political, this of 1855 intellectual" (PMM 340). An exceptionally well-preserved copy of Whitman's most enduring work, this being one of piracies published by Richard "Slippery Dick" Worthington. Myerson A2.3.d-e.
Price: $1,750.00