Whitman 1855 Essays - Brooklyn Eagle, Mystics, Walt Whitman

Whitman 1855 What was Walt doing at this time? Late in 1854, Whitman was working in carpentry. He is assumed to have started his writings for what would later be known, and published as Leaves of Grass in late 1854 or early 1855. One of his brothers once commented that Walt would get an idea while working, write it down, then take the rest of the day off. How did Walt get his book published? Allen contends that Walt probably sought out a commercial publisher to take his book at first, though there is no mention or proof of this. However, Whitman took his book to the Rome brothers, James and Thomas, who had a printing shop on the corner of Fulton and Cranberry. These two men were friends of Walt. They let Walt supervise their work and even help in the setting of some of the type. Whitman is thought to have set about ten pages. However, the frontispiece and probably the binding had to be done somewhere else. Some think that the book went on sale on July 4, but it isn't probable that any book stores were open on that day. However, an advertisement appeared in The New York Tribune on July 6 for the book. How did Walt come up with the money for the books? We can't answer this for sure, but one fact may shed some light on the subject: The Whitman's bought a house on May 24, 1855, on Ryerson Street. Mrs. Whitman was given legal permission to sign the papers because her husband was ill. The house was purchased for $1,840. Therefore, it is a possibility that Walt got money from his mother. How did Walt advertise the book? The two bookstores that advertised the book in The New York Tribune were: Swayne, No. 210 Fulton St., Brooklyn, and Fowler and Wells, No. 308 Broadway, NY. However, four days later, Swayne withdrew from the advertisement. Fowler and Wells ran it for the entire month. What of the book? How did it come about? What about that picture? Those who looked at the book were confronted with a steel engraved frontispiece portrait of Whitman. He was wearing work jeans, shirt with unbuttoned collar, and a felt hat cocked to an outrageous angle. This picture was originally a daguerreotype taken in July of the previous year by Gabriel Harrison, a friend of Whitman's. Whitman placed the order for the engraving with Macrae in NY, but Macrae didn't have the knowledge or resources for a stipple print, so the order was given to Hollyer, a stipple expert. Years later, Hollyer sent a publisher, Herbert Small, a letter in which Hollyer described a chance meeting with Whitman soon after the engraving was finished. Hollyer met up with Whitman at a restaurant and talked to him about the portrait, asking him what he thought. Whitman said he liked it but would like to have some alterations made. The next morning, Whitman brought the plate in to Hollyer and told him what he wanted. Hollyer made the alterations quickly, with professional attention. A couple days later, Whitman walked into Hollyer's office with freshly printed volumes of Leaves of Grass and presented Hollyer with the first copy issued. How did the book itself come across to the American public? There was no author's name on the book, or on the title page, just his portrait. But, if one looked closely enough, Walter Whitman held the copyright. The book was printed in an odd style. There were no titles to the poems, and the print ran clear across the page, making the book awkward to anyone in 1855, as this was not the style in which books were printed. Whitman had about a thousand copies printed, but not all were bound. An estimated two or three hundred were bound in cloth, and some were bound in paper covers, being sold by Fowler and Wells several months after the original advertisement at the lower price of seventy five cents. It is estimated that only a couple dozen people bought the book. How did Whitman take the sales, or lack of sales? Whitman made a statement later in the year, in a moment of self advertisement, that the book "readily sold," but later, in his old age, he stated that not a single copy was bought and that he himself kept only one copy. More probable is that the extra copies, after having been on the shelves for some time, were given away as gifts by both