1856
Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, New York. 1856.
Second edition. Thirty-two poems.
Thick 16mo, green drab cloth, sprinkled edges. Title stamped in gilt on face of binding; on back title and quotation from Emerson's letter "I Greet You at the Beginning of a Great Career, R. W. Emerson," portrait, same as in the first edition, title, contents, iv, Leaves of Grass, pp. (5)-342, Leaves Droppings (reprint of Emerson's letter; Whitman's letter to Emerson and press notices), pp. 345-384, advertisement. Owing to the storm of criticism which arose against the book, Fowler & Wells, the New York publishers, refused to put their name on the title page, and though they attended to all the details of presswork and distribution, the volume was issued from Brooklyn, without imprint. It is said that there are copies in existence bearing Fowler & Wells imprint, but this is doubtful as such copies are unknown to Whitman collectors. In this edition the prose preface of the first edition is worked into four poems: By Blue Ontario's Shore; Song of the Answerer, part two; To a Foil'd European Revolutionaire, and Song of Prudence; the balance being reprinted in Specimen Days and Collect, 1881.
Owing to the refusal of Fowler & Wells to stand sponsor to the volume, only 1,000 copies were printed and the book was out of print 1858-1860.