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Walt Whitman to Unidentified Correspondents, 31 March 1885

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Dear Sirs

In answer to yours of March 271

—Walt Whitman

The first Leaves of Grass was printed in 1855 in Brooklyn New York—small quarto 9 by 12 inches, 95 pages—in the type called "English"—was not stereotyped—800 copies were struck off on a hand press by Andrew Rome,2 in whose job office the work was all done—the author himself setting some of the type.

2d ed'n,​ 16 mo was in 1856; 3d. 12 mo. 1860: 4th ditto. 1867: 5th 1871; 6th 1876 two Vols.​ "Leaves of Grass" and "Two Rivulets"; 7th 1881.

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Notes

  • 1. No letter to Whitman from March 27, 1885, appears to be extant. [back]
  • 2. Andrew Rome, perhaps with the assistance of his brother Tom, printed Whitman's first edition of Leaves of Grass (1855) in a small shop at the intersection of Fulton and Cranberry in Brooklyn. It was likely the first book the firm ever printed. [back]
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