Sale 2514 - The Pride Sale, June 20, 2019

24 c WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892) Memoranda During the War. Illustrated with two engraved author portraits. 1 page advertisement at end. 8vo, original plum cloth, front cover gilt-lettered within blind-stamped borders, all edges gilt, uneven fading, light wear to spine ends and corners; green coated embossed endpapers, paper-clip rust mark to blank recto of first frontis, single leaf comprising pp. 67-68 supplied from another copy of the same printing; preserved in custom f leece-lined full morocco gilt folding case with red and navy lettering pieces. Camden: [Printed for the Author], 1875-76. [50,000/75,000] first edition , second issue ( i . e . the only separate issue ), with the “ remembrance copy ” leaf , extraordinary presentation copy inscribed to arguably whitman ’ s most significant romantic partner : [To] Pete Doyle / [From] the author, with his love” on the specially printed page for presentation. For many years, Peter Doyle was one of Whitman’s closest friends and most significant lover. They met in Washington in December 1865, when Doyle, a former Confederate prisoner of war, was working as a streetcar conductor. Though Doyle was 25 years Whitman’s junior and neither particularly literary nor intellectual, he and Whitman were involved for some eight years. In 1873 Whitman suffered a crippling stroke; he and Doyle continued their correspondence until 1876 when the relationship seems to have ended. “Almost every copy was autographed and it is improbable that more than a hundred copies were issued. The book is exceedingly rare” and it was later incorporated into Specimen Days (Wells & Goldsmith). Myerson A8.1.a; Wells & Goldsmith pp. 19–20; BAL 21409. a more important association copy of this title is difficult to imagine .