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Why did Walt Whitman publish the first edition of Leaves of Grass himself?
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Walt Whitman
American poet Walt Whitman, photograph by Mathew Brady.
Walt Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass at his own expense in 1855 primarily because he was unable to find a publisher for the volume.1
By the spring of 1855, Whitman had compiled a collection of poems written in a new, unconventional style. To finance the publication of this thin volume, he sold a house. The resulting first edition was released anonymously, without the name of either a publisher or the author appearing on the book.1