In 1922, Wharton Esherick showed a copy Rhymes of Early Jungle Folk, which he had illustrated with woodcut prints, to Harold Mason, owner of the Centaur Bookshop in Philadelphia. Impressed by what he saw, Mason asked Esherick to illustrate Walt Whitman's Song of the Broad-Axe, which Mason published in a limited edtion in 1924. Inspired by the woodcuts, Esherick created a hand-bound prototype book of Whitman's poem, using prints made directly from his blocks and hand-lettering it in Esherick's own calligraphic style. Illuminated letters were used to begin paragraphs, and spaces at the end of lines were filled with blue and yellow drawings that reflect the content of the verses. The result of this labor of love was a work of art, 17 x 12 inches, with pages of handmade paper, folded and uncut. This book is a reproduction of Esherick's prototype, authorized by the Wharton Esherick Museum in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Though this edition is smaller than the prototype book, the original was carefully scanned and printed to provide as true a reproduction as possible. It faithfully captures the artist's vision and skill and, for the first time, makes this wonderful work available to the general public. It will be appreciated by all admirers of Esherick, Whitman, and lovers of fine books.

Produced in a numbered limited edition of 350, this is a full-sized facsimile of Wharton Eshericks prototype of Walt Whitmans Song of the Broad-Axe. Each page is as produced by the artist, with hand lettering and illumination. Esherick illustrated the work with eighteen woodblock images that represent the artists vision and skill. Available for the first time to the public, this book is work of art, interpreting the power of Whitman's words in Esherick's unique and beautiful style. Each book is accompanied by a separate 8 x 11 restrike of his original woodcut "Welcome are all the earth's lands," suitable for framing. Also included is an illustrated essay by Paul Eisenhauer, Curator of the Wharton Esherick Museum in Paoli, Pennsylvania, which gives a brief biography of Esherick and the historical background the book. All is contained in a custom cloth case to ensure its longevity as a treasured keepsake.

Walt Whitman was born in 1819, and from an early age evinced an intense curiosity and wonder in the miracle of Existence, and its ultimate meaning. In his collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, Whitman brings a new voice to America Literature - a voice that flouted many poetic conventions and covered a wide range of subjects, from freedom to slavery, war to peace, and (most controversial of all for its time) love and sexuality. According to Professor James E Miller, the book ..". seemed designed to shock and startle, surprise and disturb." And for most readers, Whitman's masterpiece succeeds in doing just that.

Schmidgall, author of Walt Whitman: A Gay Life and several other studies, delivers an edition of Whitman that, at long last, lives up to the poet’s initial intentions. This new volume presents over 200 poems in their original form and chronology, thereby retrieving the candor and exuberance Whitman displayed in the creative and sexual prime of his life. Walt Whitman: Selected Poems 1855-1892 also includes the poet’s major prose discussions of his verse, his four elegies for Lincoln, his earliest poems, and many contemporary—and sometimes blistering—reviews of his fearless, explicit, and uncompromised work.

One of the great innovative figures in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves Of Grass is his one book.  First published in 1855 with only twelve poems, it was greeted by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the wonderful gift . . . the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed."  Over the course of Whitman's life, the book reappeared in many versions, expanded and transformed as the author's experiences and the nation's history changed and grew.  Whitman's ambition was to creates something uniquely American.  In that he succeeded.  His poems have been woven into the very fabric of the American character.  From his solemn masterpieces "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" to the joyous freedom of "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "Song of the Open Road," Whitman's work lives on, an inspiration to the poets of later generations.