Published Works

Books by Whitman

U.S. Editions of Leaves of Grass

The links below are to the six American editions of Leaves of Grass published in Whitman's lifetime. (We have also included the so-called deathbed edition of 1891-92. Technically speaking, this is not a distinct edition but is a reprinting of the 1881-82 edition with "annexes.") As time allows, we plan to present additional printings of Leaves of Grass.

Eventually we will add introductions and textual histories for the various American editions of Leaves of Grass, but until that work is done Ed Folsom's Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman can serve as an introduction to Whitman as both a writer and a producer of books as material objects. Several excellent introductory articles from Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, edited by J. R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings, are also available. Users should keep in mind, however, that there have been numerous discoveries since these articles were written, and Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman discusses these new insights.

Permission to reuse any of the page images should be sought from the owner of the physical volume.

Leaves of Grass (1855)

  • background
  • complete edition
  • page images
  • Copy from the University of Iowa Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives.
  • Variorum of Leaves of Grass (1855), documenting the manuscript origins of the first edition of Leaves of Grass and highlighting the differences among copies.

Leaves of Grass (1856)

Leaves of Grass (1860-61)

Leaves of Grass (1867)

Leaves of Grass (1871-72)

Leaves of Grass (1881-82)

Leaves of Grass (1891-92)


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Distributed under a Creative Commons License. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price, editors.