AS A STRONG BIRD ON PINIONS FREE. And Other Poems

Washington, D.C., 1872. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Printed by Samuel W. Green of New York in an edition of 572 copies, about 300 of which were bound. A collection of seven new poems, and the significant "Preface" in which Whitman (1819-92) envisions this volume as the first installment of a new collection of an "aggregated, inseparable, unprecedented, vast, composite, electric, Democratic Nationality." The poems here would eventually be swept into the epic project of Leaves of Grass but here they remained something new for Whitman, who says here of the eternal experiment of his poems: "the earnest trial and exploration shall at least be mine, and other success failing, shall be success enough." Octavo: [xiv], [16], 8 [advertisements] p. Original green cloth binding, with gilt titles. With an ink notation on the prefatory blank leaf by the Victorian-era bibliographer and antiquarian bookseller Harry Buxton Forman (1842-1917) concerning the scarcity of this title. A bit of wear to the corners and tips; otherwise very good. BAL 21408; Myerson A7.1.a. (Inventory #: 76647)