Leaves of Grass: New York Public Library Collector's Edition (New York Public Library Collector's Editions) [Hardcover]

Walt Whitman (Author)

Book Description

Series: New York Public Library Collector's Editions | Publication Date: November 10, 1997

Abraham Lincoln read it with approval, but Emily Dickinson described its bold language and themes as "disgraceful." Ralph Waldo Emerson found it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet produced." Published at the author's expense on July 4, 1855, Leaves of Grass inaugurated a new voice and style into American letters and gave expression to an optimistic, bombastic vision that took the nation as its subject. Unlike many other editions of Leaves of Grass, which reproduce various short, early versions, this Modern Library Paperback Classics "Death-bed" edition presents everything Whitman wrote in its final form, and includes newly commissioned notes.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Whitman's best poems have that permanent quality of being freshly painted, of not being dulled by the varnish of the years."
--Malcolm Cowley


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Abraham Lincoln read it with approval, but Emily Dickinson described its bold language and themes as "disgraceful." Ralph Waldo Emerson found it "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet produced." Published at the author's expense on July 4, 1855, Leaves of Grass inaugurated a new voice and style into American letters and gave expression to an optimistic, bombastic vision that took the nation as its subject. Unlike many other editions of Leaves of Grass, which reproduce various short, early versions, this Modern Library Paperback Classics "Death-bed" edition presents everything Whitman wrote in its final form, and includes newly commissioned notes.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st pr of this edition (November 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385487274
• ISBN-13: 978-0385487276
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,411,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, near Huntington, Long Island, New York. On July 4, 1855, the first edition of Leaves of Grass, the volume of poems that for the next four decades would become his lifes work, was placed on sale. Although some critics treated the volume as a joke and others were outraged by its unprecedented mixture of mysticism and earthiness, the book attracted the attention of some of the finest literary intelligences. His poetry slowly achieved a wide readership in America and in England, where he was praised by Swinburne and Tennyson. (D. H. Lawrence later referred to Whitman as the"greatest modern poet, and"the greatest of Americans. Whitman suffered a stroke in 1873 and was forced to retire to Camden, New Jersey, where he would spend the last twenty years of his life. There he continued to write poetry, and in 1881 the seventh edition of Leaves of Grass was published to generally favorable reviews. However, the book was soon banned in Boston on the grounds that it was obscene literature. In January 1892 the final edition of Leaves of Grass appeared on sale, and Whitman's life work was complete. He died two months later on the evening of March 26, 1892, and was buried four days afterward at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All the stars in Heaven are not enough to rate these poems., June 14, 2005

By 

I. Sondel "I. Sondel - lover of the arts" (Tallahassee, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leaves of Grass: New York Public Library Collector's Edition (New York Public Library Collector's Editions) (Hardcover)

July 4 is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." This volume, if not the single greatest achievement in American letters, is certainly one of them. When I first read "Leaves of Grass" I felt jolted, as if great, loving hands had grabbed me and shaken me into consciousness. I felt live. I'd never read anything remotely like it. Until that moment, I had no idea that simple, everydays words, could be used to such ebullient effect. Since its publictaion it has come to be thought of as an almost holy text. Indeed, there is something almost Christ-like in the love of nature and humanity that Whitman conveys. Even through the bloody civil war and the assassination of our beloved President Lincoln, Whitman was able to find life affirming beauty and hope. That this was composed by an openly gay man edifies all gay people.