One book, many versions
Leaves of Grass is the book most closely linked with Walt Whitman, and it is unusual because he treated it as a single work that he kept changing. Rather than writing many separate books, he repeatedly reissued and reshaped this one, adding poems, removing others, reordering sections and altering wording. Scholars count the major editions differently, but the main ones are generally given as 1855, 1856, 1860, 1867, 1871-72, 1881-82 and 1891-92, along with some variant printings in between.
For this reason, a question like “which Leaves of Grass should I read?” has no single answer.
The first edition, 1855
The first edition appeared in Brooklyn in 1855, and Whitman paid to have it produced. It was a slim volume that contained a prose preface and twelve poems, none with the titles familiar today. The title page did not name an author. Instead, a portrait of Whitman appeared as the frontispiece, and his name occurred within the text.
The long opening poem, later titled “Song of Myself,” was already the centerpiece. The writing departed from the rhymed, regular verse many readers expected, using long lines, lists and an openly conversational voice. Some early readers were puzzled, and a few were enthusiastic; Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a warm private letter that Whitman later publicized, which had mixed consequences.
Growth in the 1850s and 1860s
A second edition followed in 1856 with additional poems, including the one later known as “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” discussed in the article on ferry crossings in Whitman’s writing. The 1860 edition, issued in Boston, expanded the book considerably and grouped poems into clusters with their own names. The Civil War then changed his subject matter. He published Drum-Taps in 1865 and later folded the war poems into the main book, which is why Leaves of Grass from 1867 onward includes poems on the war and on Abraham Lincoln.
The Camden editions
The editions of 1881-82, and the later printings of the 1880s and 1890s, were prepared while Whitman lived in Camden. This makes the city part of the book’s publication history, even though the poems range far beyond New Jersey.
A well-known episode occurred in 1881, when a Boston publisher issued a new edition and then withdrew it after the city’s district attorney raised objections about some of the content. Whitman then arranged for publication in Philadelphia, and the book continued to circulate. Details of the controversy are covered in biographies, and readers who want precise facts should consult them, but the episode is a useful reminder that the book was considered shocking by some in its day.
The final edition
The last edition he oversaw is commonly called the “deathbed edition,” dated 1891-92. Whitman considered it the definitive arrangement, and he asked that later printings follow it. Even so, modern scholars and editors sometimes prefer to present earlier versions, because the changes were not always improvements in the eyes of every reader. Some critics value the raw energy of the 1855 text, while others prefer the fuller structure of the final book.
What changed over time
Across the editions, several kinds of change recur:
- poems were added, often in the form of new groups
- titles were created for poems that originally had none
- some passages were cut or reworded
- the order of sections changed, so that the book became a kind of planned arrangement
- annexes of later poems appeared, gathering work written after earlier editions
Whitman called his late additions “annexes,” and the idea that the book was a living thing, always incomplete, is one of the ways he explained his project.
Which edition to read
Practical choices depend on what you want:
- For a first reading: a modern selected edition with annotations is usually easier than a full facsimile.
- To see the original impact: the 1855 text is widely reprinted and is relatively short.
- To study his development: a critical edition that notes variants allows direct comparison.
Many libraries and university presses publish these, and several are freely available in digital form. Page numbering and poem titles differ between versions, so note which edition any quotation comes from, a habit described in the article on research notes. The article on reading Whitman gives a suggested order for newcomers.
Why the revisions matter
The long revision process shows a writer who thought of his work as unfinished until his death. It also connects to the daily record kept by his friend Horace Traubel, in which Whitman often discusses decisions about the book. For the larger story of the poet’s final years in the city, see the overview of his life in Camden.