Leaves of Grass

536, [4] pp. 8vo. Green leather spine, green cloth boards, gilt titles and decorations, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, green ribbon marker bound in. This edition based on the ninth, or 'Deathbed' Edition of 1892. Illustrated with photographs of Whitman's America. In 1855, Walt Whitman published — at his own expense — the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a visionary volume of twelve poems. Showing the influence of a uniquely American form of mysticism known as Transcendentalism, which eschewed the general society and culture of the time, the writing is distinguished by an explosively innovative free verse style and previously unmentionable subject matter. Exalting nature, celebrating the human body, and praising the senses and sexual love, the monumental work was condemned as "immoral." Whitman continued evolving Leaves of Grass despite the controversy, growing his influential work decades after its first appearance by adding new poems with each new printing.