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Walt Whitman Manuscripts

Over 1,000 items, including manuscripts, printed works, and portraits of Walt Whitman (1819-1892), the leading American poet of the 19th century.

Collection Contents

Digital ID: 484427 Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Leaves of grass. Proto-Leaf [title page] in Whitman's "Leaves of Grass Blue Book" (1855). Digital ID: 484427

Collection Contents


The Dead Emperor. ([1888])
Oscar Lion Collection.
Whitman, Walt. Three holograph manuscripts (prose memoranda) with titles "List of things recognized by my lectures" [ca. late 1850s], "The most perfect wonders of the earth" [ca. 1855 or earlier], an.... ([185-])
Whitman, Walt. "A Child's Reminiscence." Holograph poem [1859] 15 p.
Whitman, Walt. "A Death Sonnet for Custer." ([1876])
Whitman, Walt. "As a strong bird on pinions free." undated. 13 p.
Whitman, Walt. "Broadway, 1861," and "I too am drawn." Holograph poems, unsigned and undated. 1 leaf.
Whitman, Walt. "Emerson. Essays. 1st series." (1847)
Whitman, Walt. "Go, said his soul to a poet." (before 1876)
Whitman, Walt. "Interpolation Sounds." Holograph poem, signed, undated. ([1888])
Whitman, Walt. "Laurels and Palms" altered to "To Those Who've Failed." Holograph poem, undated. ([1888])
Whitman, Walt. "Song of the Universal." Holograph, unsigned and undated. 13 p.
Whitman, Walt. "The Pallid Wreath." Holograph poem, dated January 4, 1891. Written on the same sheet as his ALS to J. B. Gilder, Camden, Jan. 4, 1891. (1891)
Whitman, Walt. "The Sobbing of the Bells." Holograph draft (fragment) of poem, unsigned and dated midnight, Sept. 19-20, 1881. 2 p.
Whitman, Walt. "The Sobbing of the Bells." Holograph poem, dated Sept. 19-20, 1881. 1 p.
Whitman, Walt. "Warble for Lilac Time." Holograph poem, undated. 4 p.
Whitman, Walt. "What is this terrible suggestion..." Holograph fragment, unsigned and undated. 1 p.
Whitman, Walt. "Yonnondio." Holograph draft of poem, signed and undated. 1 p.
Whitman, Walt. "You lingering sparse leaves of me." Holograph poem and additional draft of last three lines, both signed, undated. 2 p.
Whitman, Walt. Additional note [to Specimen Days], 1887. Holograph, unsigned. (1887)
Whitman, Walt. Holograph fragment beginning: "The men north or south that have come on to the current days from service in this Secession war." Unsigned and undated. ([ca. 1890?])
Whitman, Walt. Holograph memoranda and notes, unsigned and undated, written on 27 scraps of paper.
Whitman, Walt. Holograph notes for lectures and poems written on 12 scraps of paper. ([ca. 184--1880])
Whitman, Walt. My Visits and Distributions; The bearer, Mr. Walt Whitman ....
Whitman, Walt. Two holograph fragments, unsigned and undated: "Two little human buds," four lines; "A youth beloved by all," 2 lines.
Whitman, Walt. Walt Whitman's Birthday. Holograph [May 1884] 3 p.
Whitman, Walt. ["Emerson: an Appreciation"] (ca. 1854)
Whitman, Walt. ["The Poet", by Ralph Waldo Emerson] Holograph reading note, unsigned and undated. 1 p.
Whitman, Walt. [Good-bye my fancy. American National Literature] (ca. 1890)
Whitman, Walt. [I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing]. (ca. late 1850s)
Whitman, Walt. [Title page] Holograph draft for a title page (beginning, "or Halcyon days") with note at head: "for title page to supplement of L of G not Nove. Boughs." Unsigned and undated. 1 l.
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