Leaves of Grass by Whitman, Walt - 1860

Thayer and Eldridge, 1860. 3rd Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Thayer and Eldridge, Boston:, 1860. Third edition. This third edition, preceded by Whitman's self- published editions of 1855 and 1856, was enlarged to 456 pages, adding 122 new poems, including "Starting from Paumanok" and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," and two new sections, "Calamus" and "Children of Adam." Rebound in handsome ornately decorated leather. Has printer's and stereotyper's imprints on copyright page. Rear hinge professionally repaired. The poems are arranged in 7 "clusters": 'Chants Democratic and Native American', with an introductory poem 'Apostroph'; 'Leaves of Grass'; 'Enfans d'Adam'; 'Calamus'; 'Messenger Leaves'; 'Thoughts'; 'Says'; 'Debris'; and 26 individual poems including 'Walt Whitman', 'A Word Out of the Sea' (later titled 'Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking'). The volume commences with 'Proto-Leaf', which was later called 'Starting from Paumanok'. According to the Walt Whitman archive, "The significance of the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass tends to be paradoxical. Although the poems often express grief over romantic and professional failures, the book's new sense of structure, the sizable increase in poems, its wider readership and critical praise made it one of Whitman's most successful books. Although the poems seem more intimate and personal than previous Whitman poems, the third edition is also a deliberate intervention into public life, an attempt to realize American democratic ideals and save the Union." 8vo, iv, 456pp. $950.