An intriguing copy of the rare second edition of Walt Whitman’s influential and quintessentially American masterpiece.
Like the 1855 first edition, it was issued anonymously, though the copyright is in Whitman’s name. The ad leaf at the end states the book was published by the author, but it doesn’t list a publisher. “Ordered at any bookstore or newspaper depot, especially Fowler & Wells, 308 Broadway, New York,” Fowler & Wells, the publishers, hid their identity due to their specialization in spiritualism and esoterica.
Whitman, aware of public relations, concealed their true selves.
2nd Ed. 1856, 384 pp., advertisement leaf.
Engraved frontispiece portrait. 6” x 3 1/2”, original green blindstamped cloth lettered in gilt on front cover and spine, yellow endpapers. Respined.
The book’s front free endpaper has a pencil notation indicating it was presented to Mrs. A.J. Davis, likely Andrew Jackson Davis’s spiritualist wife. An interesting association copy.
