LEAVES OF GRASS

The great American poet, essayist and journalist - Walt Whitman  - was born 196 years ago today.
And one of his books is on the shelves in the Bullis Room:

Leaves of Grass

By Walt Whitman

Published: Boston, James R. Osgood and Co.,  1881-82

It appears that this Bullis copy is the next-to-last edition, based on information we found at  The Walt Whitman Archive (http://www.whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/).  This site lists the six American editions of Leaves of Grass that were published in Whitman's lifetime. These editions covered a period of time from 1855 to 1891-92. You can find details about each one of these editions, at the link above.

If you're interested in finding out more about Walt Whitman, the man, you can find a good introduction to that on today's edition of The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keilor (http://writersalmanac.org/). This site also includes an interesting paragraph, which we quote:

Whitman spent the last 20 years of his life revising and expanding Leaves of Grass, 

issuing the eighth and final edition in 1891, saying it was

 "at last complete — after 33 y'rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, 

fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old."

(From: The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keiler, May 31, 2015)

Since the poet spent so much of his life "hackling" at this work in all kinds of weather, moods, places, ages, it seems only fair that we should make an effort to appreciate the results. So we invite you to stop by the Bullis Room and take a look at this 134 year old book with us. (If you'll put on our white gloves, we'll even let you hold it! Honest!)