Selected Special Collections
Walt Whitman Collection
Early editions of Walt Whitman's writings
The outstanding Whitman collection formed by Carolyn Wells Houghton (D.
1942), American mystery writer and anthologist, was received by bequest in
1942. Miss Wells secured copies of every publication cited in A Concise
Bibliography of the Works of Walt Whitman, With a Supplement of Fifty Books
About Whitman (New York and Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1922. 106
p. Z8971.5.W45; reprint, New York: B. Franklin [1968]), which she compiled
with Alfred F. Goldsmith. The collection contains nearly one hundred copies
of Leaves of Grass, included both issues of the first edition published
in Brooklyn in 1855; an autographed copy of the exceedingly rare Memoranda
During the War (Camden, N.J.: 1875-76); and one of the five known copies
(the Library received a second copy through copyright deposit) of Letters
Written by Walt Whitman to his Mother from 1866 to 1872 (New York and
London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1902), a work which was edited by Thomas B. Harned,
Whitman's close friend and an executor of his literary estate. The Wells
bequest is shelved in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division with
other Whitman publications (some copyright deposit copies) selected from
the Library's general collections. Many of the 480 volumes in the Whitman
collection are listed in Walt Whitman: A Catalog Based Upon the Collections
of the Library of Congress, with notes on Whitman collections and collectors
by Charles E. Feinberg. The Feinberg-Whitman Collection in
the Manuscript Division is probably
the finest collection of Whitman materials ever assembled. |