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 Whitman and the book
store. One such gifts was sent by Whitman, or one of his agents, to Ralph Waldo
Emerson. Quite a lucky event! Also, some editions were sent to England and were
found by a few receptive readers, paving the way for a great reception of
British readers about ten years later. What was going on in Walt's life outside
of the presses and bookstores? On July 11, 1855 Walt's father passed away. Walt
was then shortly distracted from his anticipation of reviews of his book. Walt,
George, and Jeff were all away when the crisis came. They were, however, close
enough to be beckoned to their father's bedside. Mary didn't arrive in time;
Hannah didn't even hear about it until a week later, as she was in Vermont
moving from one boardinghouse to another. She heard of her father's having
passed away when her mother wrote a long letter full of details of her father's
sickness and death. This death, apparently, didn't have much of an effect on the
Whitman family. They continued on with life as usual. Mary returned to
Greenport, George and Jeff to their jobs. It is a mystery as to what Jesse and
Andrew were doing at this time. Walt's attention returned to his book. What did
Emerson think of Leaves of Grass? Emerson had received his copy of Leaves of
Grass and read it through. On July 21, he wrote to Whitman that he thought it
was "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet
contributed." Whitman is said to have carried this letter around with him
all summer long. This is a piece of armor that Whitman took shelter behind when
he got bashed by harsh critics. The fact that there was no name echoed many of
the things that Emerson expressed in his own works. Even Whitman's paragraphs
resembled Emerson's. Some believe that ideas found in the Preface of the 1855
edition of Leaves of Grass are Emerson's own, from an essay that he wrote on
"The Poet." What does the biographer think of the works? One of the
now famous poems from Leaves of Grass, "Song of Myself," is said by
Allen to have confused the reader. Allen puts full blame on Whitman for this. He
believes that the ambiguity that Whitman leaves about who is speaking in the
poem leaves one baffled. The poem does speak in an ambiguous tone, only
specifically defining the author at a line which reads "...Walt Whitman, an
American, one of the roughs...." Allen comes down hard on Whitman on this
issue. Allen states, "Friendly critics later tried to excuse the personal
egotism, arrogance, and crudity by making for Whitman the same claim that
Thoreau had made in Walden, that he boasted not of himself but for
humanity...." Allen goes on to explain that Whitman embraced this theory
and held it as true to escape criticism. How did the American public first view
Leaves of Grass? Many were disturbed by the sexual imagery in Whitman's poems.
He was very bold and, excuse the pun, de-clothed many taboo subjects. This
struck many as amoral, but this is the factor which drew many of his readers
into his poetry, particularly women readers. However, the poems are thought by
some to have been largely ignored in the until the beginning of the 20th
century. What of the reviews of Leaves of Grass? There was a review of the 1855
Leaves of Grass that was published in the New York Tribune on July 23, 1855,
written by Charles A. Dana. The review was rather nice. The author referred to
Whitman as an "odd genius." The review did point out
"faults" in the poems, specifically in the language, and seemingly
discontinued flow of discussion, but all comments were worded carefully in a
non-offensive manner. Whitman himself later confessed to some of these so-called
mistakes in his poems. Whether this was of his own will or to please reviewers
and readers we will never really know. There were a few other reviews of
Whitman's poetry that weren't so nice. These reviews bashed Whitman's ambiguity
and his bold confrontation of taboo subjects. Whitman published three critical
reviews of his own work in September. There is high probability that he was
pushed on by the publishers of the book to do so. We need not mention that
Whitman would have been eager to do this, as well, to promote his book. What
became of Whitman's relationship with Emerson? Dana, the gentleman who gave
Whitman such a careful and nicely worded review, printed Whitman's letter from
Emerson in The Tribune on October 10 without Walt's permission. Given Walt's
demeanor, Dana didn't really think anything of it. At first, Walt was fairly
upset about it, but he began sending copies of this article with his book. This,
perhaps, is the best thing that ever happened to Walt. This paved the way for
him and got his book into many people's hands who wouldn't have even looked at
it if it weren't for Emerson's approving letter. Emerson himself was a bit
dismayed at the "rudeness" of printing his letter without permission,
but he never mentioned anything about it to Walt. Emerson visited Walt for what
is thought to be the first time in December, and this was the beginning of an
aquaintance between the two men. Did Whitman go back to work? Walt's positive
business relationship with Fowler and Wells resulted in Walt's interest in
journalism flourishing once again. Walt contributed to Life Illustrated, a
weekly magazine distributed in New York between November 1, 1855 and August 30,
1856.