-Second Edition

Following the modest critical and commercial success of Leaves of Grass in 1855, one year later Whitman published a new version of his book with twenty more poems than were in the first edition. He also printed a line from a letter sent to him by Ralph Waldo Emerson on the spine: “I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” This is believed to be the first promotional blurb ever included on a book. Despite the endorsement from one of the United States’ most prominent writers, the 1856 Leaves of Grass sold very poorly.