1855 Leaves of Grass

1855 Leaves of GrassJuly 31, 2026The Yale Collection of American Literature is home to 6 copies of the first edition of Walt Whitman’s extraordinarily important 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass. A useful and detailed description of the printing and binding of the book can be found online in Ed Folsom’s “The Census of the 1855 Leaves of Grass: A Preliminary Report” published the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review (24.2 2006). Copies of the 1855 Leaves of Grass in the Beinecke Library have distinguished provenance and include examples of variant bindings and frontispiece illustrations. All copies of the 1855 Leaves of Grass are restricted by nature of their extreme fragility; permission of a curator is required to consult these volumes. The collection includes one copy of the 1855 Leaves of Grass in original paper wrappers: Call Number Za W596 +855(Blanck-BAL Binding State C).