Content:
This manuscript shows a listing of the poems for the 1855 edition of
Leaves of Grass
, with working titles, as well as various mathematical calculations relating to the length and arrangment of the volume. It was likely composed in 1854 or early in 1855. Ed Folsom has written at length about this manuscript and its significance. See "Walt Whitman's Working Notes for the First Edition of
Leaves of Grass
,"
Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
16 (Fall 1998), 90–95. A series of draft lines on the back of this manuscript (tex.00057) relate to several of the poems that appeared in the first edition of
Leaves of Grass
.
