CENSUS OF WALT WHITMAN’S FIRST EDITION OF LEAVES OF GRASS

We are conducting the first census of copies of the 1855 first edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.  During this sesquicentennial year of the book’s publication, we are attempting to determine just how many copies of the book exist and just what the variations are in the extant copies.  We would very much appreciate your help in this endeavor.  Please take a few minutes to check your copy or copies of the first edition and answer the following queries (you can simply mark most responses with an “x”), then e-mail this completed form back to us (ed-folsom@iowa.edu), or print it out and mail it to Ed Folsom, Department of English, 308 EPB, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1492.  We will in turn provide you with a copy of the census when it is completed, and we will of course acknowledge your help in all publications of the census data.

Please verify that you have an original (not facsimile) copy of the 1855 Leaves of Grass.  If your library owns more than one copy of the 1855 edition, please fill out a separate form for each copy.  Please indicate here the number of verified copies of the first edition of Leaves of Grass owned by you or your library.

Name of Library or Owner: ______________________________________________

Name and title of person completing this survey: _____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Date:___________________________

____ Number of copies of the original first edition (1855) of Leaves of Grass in this library.

Binding: please indicate which description fits your copy, and please note any variations from the description that comes closest to your copy.

First State: Dark olive-green cloth; front and back goldstamped triple-rule frame and goldstamped “Leaves of Grass” in center; spine has goldstamped “Leaves of Grass” and goldstamped leaf-and-vine decorations; marbled endpapers; all edges gilded.

____ front and back goldstamped with ____ front flyleaves and ____ back flyleaves

Second State: Dark olive-green cloth; front only goldstamped “Leaves of Grass” in center and spine has goldstamped “Leaves of Grass”; all other designs, including the frame and “Leaves of Grass” on the back cover, are blindstamped; white or pale yellow endpapers; trimmed edges without gilding.

____ front only goldstamped with ____ front flyleaves and ___ back flyleaves

Third State: Light yellowish green or pink paper wrappers, with “Leaves of Grass” in black on cover.

____ Yellowish green wrappers
____ Pink wrappers

Other: Some copies have been noted in what are called “boards,” hard cardboard-like covers instead of paper, with “Leaves of Grass” printed in black on the cover.  If your copy fits this description, please check here: ______

Frontispiece Engraving:  Please indicate here whether the frontispiece engraving facing the title page is printed directly on the page, or whether it is printed on thin paper and pasted in (you may need to check carefully to determine whether the engraving is pasted in or printed directly on the paper). 

First State: Printed directly on paper.  If your copy matches this description, please indicate whether or not the engraving appears within an embossed frame, that may in fact be the impress of the printing block.

____ Printed directly on paper; embossed frame
____ Printed directly on paper; no embossed frame

Second State: Printed on thin paper and pasted onto the page.  If your copy matches this description, please indicate whether or not the engraving is pasted within an embossed frame, which may indeed be the impress of the printing block.

____ Printed on thin paper, pasted on; embossed frame
____ Printed on thin paper, pasted on; no embossed frame

Title Page:  Please indicate if there is a pasted label above “Brooklyn, New York:” that reads “London: Wm. Horsell, 492, Oxford-street.”

____ London label
____ No label

Copyright Page: Please indicate whether the copyright page is blank, whether it bears a handwritten inscription, or whether it bears a printed inscription (“Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855, . . .”).

____ Copyright page is blank
____ Copyright page has handwritten copyright notice
____ Copyright page has printed copyright notice

Page iv:  Please indicate whether, in column 2 line 4, the text reads “cities adn” or “cities and”.

____ “cities adn”
____ “cities and”

Page 15:  Please indicate, at the end of line 10, whether the text reads “the ward and city I” or “the ward and city”.

____ “the ward and city I”
____ “the ward and city”

Page 16: Please indicate whether, after the running head “Leaves of Grass”, there is a comma or a period.

____ “Leaves of Grass,”
____ “Leaves of Grass.”

Page 23: Please indicate whether in line 15 (about halfway down the page, beginning “In walls of”) the fourth word is “abode” or “adobe.”

____ “abode”
____ “adobe”

In the same line on page 23, some copies have “canvass” instead of “canvas”:

_____ “in canvass tents”
_____ “in canvas tents”

Page 24: Please indicate whether, after the running head “Leaves of Grass”, there is a comma or a period.

____ “Leaves of Grass,”
____ “Leaves of Grass.”

Page 32:  Please indicate whether or not there is a semicolon at the end of line 11.

____ “. . . my love-grip;”
____ “. . . my love-grip”

Page 45: Halfway down the page, in the line beginning “Every room of the house”, some copies have a typo where the word “an” reads “am”; please indicate which version of the line is in your copy:

____ “Every room of the house do I fill with am armed force”
____ “Every room of the house do I fill with an armed force”

Page 49:  Please indicate, in line 2, whether the line reads “And the night is for you and me and all,” or “And the day and night are for you and me and all,”.

____ “And the night is for you and me and all,”
____ “And the day and night are for you and me and all,”

Page 52:  Please indicate whether, seven lines from the bottom of the page, there is a period at end of the line “You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life”:

____ “of your life”
____ “of your life.”

Page 56: Please indicate whether the third line from the end of the poem reads “Failing to fetch me me at first keep encouraged,” or “Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,”.

____ “Failing to fetch me me at first keep encouraged,”
____ “Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,”

Page 56: Please indicate whether or not there is a period after the final word of the poem.

____ “I stop some where waiting for you.”
____ “I stop some where waiting for you”

Extra Materials: Please note whether or not your copy contains an inserted and bound-in gathering of reviews reprinted from newspapers.

____ No insert
____ Inserted gathering at front of book before the frontispiece
____ Inserted gathering at back of book

Emerson Letter:  Please indicate whether your copy contains a pasted-in printed copy of Emerson’s letter to Whitman, dated 21 July, 1855, and, if so, where.

____ No copy of Emerson letter
____ Copy of Emerson letter, marked “Copy for the convenience of private reading only,” pasted where: