Leaves of Grass (The Harrap Library)

Undated but circa 1900. 262pp, with plate portrait frontispiece. Bound in publisher's limp leather, yapped edges, gilt illustration and lettering on front panel. Top edge gilt, all other edges sprayed red. Grey-green endpapers. 12mo. Cover edges rubbed and creased, a little scuffed around spine, which is a tad faded. Spray on text block edges faded (but gilding still vibrant). Small dot mark on front free endpaper, else internally neat, clean and tight. A lovely vintage volume, pleasingly tactile, and easy to hold and read, containing the seminal work of one of America's foremost poets. "You really cannot understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass" [Art Historian, Mary Berenson].