LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
COPYRIGHT
OFFICE
UNITED STATES OF AMERIC
Library of Congress,
Washington,
July 21st, 1876
Dear Sir,
This Library has six Editions of "Leaves of Grass," viz.
| Brooklyn |
1855— |
1st. Ed1
|
| do |
1856 |
2d. Ed. ?2
|
| Boston |
1860–61. |
3d. Ed. ?3
|
| New York |
1867, |
4th. Ed. ?4
|
| Washington |
1871, |
5th. Ed. ?5
|
| Camden |
1876 |
6th. Ed. ?6
|
Wishing to know from an authentic source what other american Editions have been
printed if any, will you kindly inform me of the place and date of any such
publications?
Very respectfully,
AR Spofford
Librarian of Congress.
Mr. Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
Ainsworth Rand Spofford
(1825–1908) was Librarian of Congress from 1864 to 1897. In 1870, Spofford
oversaw the transferral of American copyright records to the Library of
Congress, also stipulating that two copies of every publication registered for
copyright would be housed at the Library of Congress. Whitman suspected that
Spofford did not care for the poet or his work; he told Horace Traubel that the
librarian "has no use for me" and "suspects my work, sees no excuse for it"
(Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Saturday, May 5, 1888).
Notes
- 1. Whitman's first edition of
Leaves of Grass (1855) was printed by the Rome
brothers in a small shop at the intersection of Fulton and Cranberry in
Brooklyn. For the cover, Whitman chose a dark green ribbed morocco cloth, and
the volume included an engraving of a daguerreotype of Whitman, a full-body
portrait, in working clothes and a hat. The book included a preface and twelve
poems. For more information on the first edition of Leaves of
Grass, see Ed Folsom,
Whitman Making Books/Books Making
Whitman (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 2. The second edition of Leaves of Grass was anonymously published by the New York
firm Fowler and Wells in 1856. For more information, see Madeline B. Stern,
"Fowler, Lorenzo Niles (1811–1896) and Orson Squire
(1809–1887)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J. R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. On February 10, 1860, Whitman received a letter from the Boston
publishing firm of Thayer and Eldridge, offering to publish his poetry. The firm
would publish Whitman's third edition of Leaves of Grass
later that year. In March 1860, Whitman traveled to Boston to meet with the
publishers and to oversee the printing of the edition. For more on Whitman's
relationship with Thayer and Eldridge, see "Thayer, William Wilde (1829–1896) and Charles W. Eldridge
(1837–1903)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. The fourth edition of Leaves of Grass (1867) was issued by the New
York printer William E. Chapin. Often called the "workshop" edition, the volume
consisted of four separately paginated books stitched together (an edited
version of the 1860 Leaves of Grass, reissues of Drum-Taps and Sequel to Drum-Taps,
and a coda called Songs Before Parting) between two
covers. For more on the fourth edition, see Luke Mancuso, "Leaves of Grass, 1867 edition," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. The fifth edition of Leaves of Grass was published by J. S. Redfield in
1871. For more information on this edition, see Luke Mancuso, "Leaves of Grass, 1871–72 Edition," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. During America's centennial
celebration in 1876, Whitman reissued the fifth edition of Leaves of Grass in the repackaged form of a "Centennial Edition" and
"Author's Edition," with most copies personally signed by the poet. For more
information, see Frances E. Keuling-Stout, "Leaves of Grass, 1876, Author's
Edition," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]