How did Walt Whitman’s experience as a printer influence his career?

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“Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos” — Walt Whitman American poet Walt Whitman, photograph by Mathew Brady.

Walt Whitman’s early experience in the printing trade was a foundational element of his professional life, serving as a bridge between his early employment and his eventual literary career.

Beginning work at age 12, Whitman learned the printing trade in Brooklyn and New York City, which provided him with a practical background in the mechanics of publishing. This experience facilitated his transition into journalism, where he eventually served as an editor for several newspapers, including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.1

His familiarity with the printing process proved critical when he struggled to find a publisher for his innovative collection of poems, Leaves of Grass. Because he possessed the technical knowledge and experience of the trade, Whitman was able to print the first edition of the volume at his own expense in 1855. While his earlier work as a printer, teacher, and journalist produced only sentimental stories and poems that lacked literary promise, this hands-on mastery of the printing craft ultimately allowed him to bypass traditional publishing barriers and introduce his revolutionary new style of poetry to the world.1