Editing Leaves of Grass (section)

=== {{Anchor|Initial publication}}Initial publication, 1855 ===
The first edition of ''Leaves of Grass'' was self-published on July 4, 1855. This collection of twelve poems had its beginnings in an [[essay]] by [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] entitled "[[The Poet (essay)|The Poet]]" (1844), which called for the United States to develop its own new, unique poet who could write about the young country's virtues and vices.<ref name="Reynolds, 82">{{harvnb|Reynolds|1995|p=82}}</ref> This call, along with a challenge to abandon strict rhyme and [[Metre (poetry)|meter]], were partly embodied in the early 19th century works of [[John Neal]]: in his poems as well as his novels ''Randolph'' (1823) and ''[[Rachel Dyer]]'' (1828). Whitman, likely having read Neal, consciously set out to answer Emerson's call in the first edition of ''Leaves of Grass''.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|pp=41–42, 82}}<ref>{{cite journal | last = Rubin | first = Joseph Jay | year = 1941 | title = John Neal's Poetics as an influence on Whitman and Poe|journal=[[The New England Quarterly]]| volume = 14 | number = 2 | pages = 359–362| doi = 10.2307/360926 | jstor = 360926}}</ref> Whitman later commented on Emerson's influence: "I was simmering, simmering, simmering; Emerson brought me to a boil."<ref name="Reynolds, 82"/>

On May 15, 1855, Whitman registered the title ''Leaves of Grass'' with the clerk of the [[United States district court|United States District Court]], Southern District of New Jersey, and received its copyright.<ref name="Kaplan198">{{harvnb|Kaplan|1979|p=198}}</ref> The title is a [[pun]], as ''grass'' was a term given by publishers to works of minor value, and ''leaves'' is another name for the pages on which they were printed.<ref name="Loving179" /> The first edition was published in [[Brooklyn]] at the printing shop of two Scottish immigrants, James and Andrew Rome, whom Whitman had known since the 1840s.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=310}} The shop was located at [[Fulton Street (Brooklyn)|Fulton Street]] (now [[Cadman Plaza]] West) and Cranberry Street, now the site of apartment buildings that bear Whitman's name.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Gesture in Cranberry Street|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/58261816/?terms=%22Brooklyn%2BBridge%2Bplaza%22%2Bsubway%2BBrooklyn|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|work=[[Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]|access-date=October 27, 2015|page=18|date=June 1, 1931}}</ref><ref name="MTA-DwntwnBklynMap-2015">{{cite NYCS map|neighborhood|Downtown Brooklyn}}</ref> Whitman paid for and did much of the [[typesetting]] for the first edition himself.

A calculated feature of the first edition was that it included neither the author's nor the publisher's name (both the author and publisher being Whitman). Instead, the cover included an engraving by Samuel Hollyer depicting Whitman himself—in work clothes and a jaunty hat, arms at his side.<ref name="Callow227">{{harvnb|Callow|1992|p=227}}</ref> This figure was meant to represent the devil-may-care American working man of the time, one who might be taken as an almost idealized figure in any crowd. The engraver, later commenting on his depiction, described the character with "a rakish kind of slant, like the mast of a schooner".<ref>{{cite book |last=Allen |first=Gay Wilson |title=The Solitary Singer |year=1955 |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan |page=150 |oclc=709913}}</ref>

The 1855 edition contained no table of contents, and none of the poems had a title. Early advertisements appealed to "lovers of literary curiosities", quoting an excerpt from [[Charles Anderson Dana|Charles A. Dana]]'s review in the ''[[New-York Tribune|New York Tribune]]''.{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=305}} Sales of Whitman's book were few, but the poet was not discouraged. This was the edition that introduced his poems "[[Song of Myself]]", "[[I Sing the Body Electric]]", and "[[There Was a Child Went Forth]]".

Whitman sent one paper-bound copy of the 1855 ''Leaves of Grass'' to Emerson, who had inspired its creation. He responded with a letter of heartfelt thanks, writing, "I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America has yet contributed." He went on, "I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy."<ref name="Miller27">{{harvnb|Miller|1962|p=27}}</ref> The letter was printed in the ''New York Tribune''—without the writer's permission—and caused an uproar among prominent New England men of letters, including [[Henry David Thoreau]] and [[Amos Bronson Alcott]], who were some of the few [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalists]] who agreed with Emerson's letter and his statements regarding ''Leaves of Grass''.

{{Quote box
| quote = Dear Sir,

I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of ''Leaves of Grass''. I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy. It meets the demand I am always making of what seemed the sterile & stingy Nature, as if too much handiwork or too much lymph in the temperament were making our western wits fat & mean. I give you joy of your free & brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment, which so delights us, & which large perception only can inspire. I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It had the best merits, namely, of fortifying & encouraging.

I did not know until I, last night, saw the book advertised in a newspaper, that I could trust the name as real & available for a post-office. I wish to see my benefactor, & have felt much like striking my tasks, & visiting New York to pay you my respects.

R. W. Emerson

Letter to Walter Whitman
July 21, 1855
}}
The first edition was a slim volume, consisting of only 95 pages.<ref name="Loving179">{{harvnb|Loving|1999|p=179}}</ref> Whitman once said he intended the book to be small enough to be carried in a pocket: "That would tend to induce people to take me along with them and read me in the open air: I am nearly always successful with the reader in the open air", he explained.<ref name="Reynolds352">{{harvnb|Reynolds|1995|p=352}}</ref> About 800 copies were printed,{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=311}} though only 200 were bound in its trademark green cloth cover.<ref name="Kaplan198" /> The only American library known to have purchased a copy of the first edition was in [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{cite book|author= Nelson, Randy F.|title= The Almanac of American Letters|location= Los Altos, California|publisher= William Kaufmann, Inc.|date= 1981|page= [https://archive.org/details/almanacofamerica00nels/page/144 144]|isbn= 0-86576-008-X|url= https://archive.org/details/almanacofamerica00nels/page/144}}</ref> The twelve first edition poems, given titles in later editions, included:
* "[[Song of Myself]]"
* "A Song for Occupations"
* "To Think of Time"
* "[[The Sleepers (poem)|The Sleepers]]"
* "[[I Sing the Body Electric]]"
* "Faces"
* "Song of the Answerer"
* "Europe: The 72d and 73d Years of These States"
* "A Boston Ballad"
* "[[There Was a Child Went Forth]]"
* "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?"
* "Great Are the Myths"