Walt Whitman 
1872, Washington, D.C.
 
First edition.  Possibly 600 copies printed.(University of South Carolina).
 
The title poem was written by the 53 year old Whitman as a commencement address for Dartmouth College on June 26, 1872.  It received mixed reviews and a rather hilarious one on June 28 by the New York Post: “The Poem(?) of Walt Whitman was thirteen minutes in length, and just that much too long.  The house was full when he began, but during the next ten minutes there was a wonderful dispersal.  This was the first poem that Mr. Whitman has prepared for such an occasion, and we trust that he will not often be called upon to repeat it.”
 
Inscribed(March 1893, 1 year after Whitman's death) by Whitman’s friend and executor, Horace Traubel, to an unknown recipient(due to Traubel's doctor-esque writing) stating that this copy is from Whitman's personal collection.  While signed Whitman pieces are not uncommon, copies of books owned by the man himself are rare.  A cool slice of Americana.
 
Lightly rubbed, minor foxing on end papers with offsetting from bookplate at front, else an attractive, Near Fine copy.