“FOR THE SWEETEST, WISEST SOUL OF ALL MY DAYS AND LANDS…”: FIRST EDITION OF WHITMAN’S DRUM-TAPS, IMPORTANT PREFERRED ISSUE WITH SEQUEL FOR LINCOLN, CONTAINING THE FIRST PRINTING OF “WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOM’D”

WHITMAN, Walt. Drum-Taps. BOUND WITH: Sequel to Drum-Taps. When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloom'd. New York and Washington: No publisher, 1865-6. 12mo, original brown cloth, gilt- and blind-stamped medallions, speckled edges; pp. (iv), 5-72, (3), 4-24. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $8800.

First edition, the important and preferred second issue, one of only 1000 copies, with the first appearance of the sequel celebrating Lincoln containing “Lilacs” and “O Captain! My Captain!”

Drum-Taps "stands among the nation's finest poems" (ANB). Upon the death of Lincoln, Whitman delayed the printing of Drum-Taps and added "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," a "profoundly moving dirge for the martyred Lincoln" (CHAL), with separate pagination, table of contents, and title page. Myerson A3.1a2. Wells and Goldsmith, 11. BAL 21398. Owner signature of J.H.G. Rhoades of the 22nd Regiment.

Expert repair to rear endpaper, interior generally quite nice, only slight rubbing to cloth. A near-fine copy.