Leaves of Grass. Camden, NJ: [for Walt Whitman], 1876

The 1876 Author’s edition, sometimes called the Centennial edition, features two portraits of the poet, young and old, and the author’s signature on the title of some copies. The increasingly cash-strapped Whitman published these himself, binding and printing them in different forms to meet demand.

$9,500

Autograph letter signed to F. P. Church.. Washington, 1871

In this fine, boldly penned letter, Walt Whitman sends the manuscript of his poem “The Mystic Trumpeter” for possible publication in the January 1872 number of The Galaxy. Whitman would include the poem in the final edition of Leaves of Grass (1891).

$8,500

Autograph manuscript signed “Walt Whitman on the Poets.”. No place, [1885]

In this fascinating manuscript Whitman provides a newspaper with an article defending himself against attacks that he did not respect the great American poets of the day.

$7,500

Autograph note signed to John H. Johnston. Camden, March 7, 1887

Whitman writes to his good friend and benefactor John H. Johnston, the New York jeweler, evidently congratulating him on the birth of his child: “Bless the dear baby, & all babies – Love to you & wife, Walt Whitman.”

$6,500

Leaves of Grass: the original printed paper wrappers. [Brooklyn], [1855]

Although the green cloth bindings for the 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass are familiar, the rare paper wrappers are little known. This set survived only because Whitman preserved them until his death in 1892.

$6,500

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. London: A. Millar , 1749

FIRST EDITION of the greatest English novel of the eighteenth century and one of the most influential works of fiction ever published.

$6,500

Original drawing of Walt Whitman. no date, no place, 19th century

This original pen and ink drawing of Walt Whitman is mounted at the front of an 1888 edition of Leaves of Grass. The likeness of a jaunty, casual, Whitman wearing his trademark slouch hat takes its cue from the famous 1855 Hollyer engraving, but here we see an older Whitman with a full beard.

$4,800

The Adventures of Oliver Twist. London: Bentley, 1838

FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM, FIRST ISSUE. Oliver Twist was Dickens’s first book to be published in the three-decker format.

$3,500

Hyperion: A Romance. New York: Samuel Colman, 1839

Hyperion is one of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s first published works. It was published in 1839, and is a prose romance that follows a young American named Paul Flemming as he travels through Germany. The journey of the character is partially inspired by the death of a friend, and the romance in the tale is based on Longfellow’s own failed marriage proposals to his beloved.

$3,500

The Naked and the Dead. New York and Toronto: Rinehart, 1948

First edition of Norman Mailer’s landmark first novel. This is the first printing, with the Rinehart colophon on copyright page, and in the first issue dust jacket without reviews on rear flap.

$3,500