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Catalogs of Manuscripts at Individual Repositories

Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in the British Library

Original record created by the Walt Whitman Archive and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. Encoded Archival Description completed with the assistance of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the University of Nebraska Research Council, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.


Title: Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in the British Library

Creator:  Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892


Repository:  The British Library

Abstract:
This catalog was created by the Walt Whitman Archive from a digital image of the original manuscript and from information found on the British Library's online Manuscripts Catalogue. The original manuscripts are held at the British Library.

Scope and Content: 
The British Library has one Walt Whitman poetry manuscript and one Walt Whitman prose manuscript, both described below.

Biographical Information:
For additional biographical information, see "Walt Whitman," by Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price, and the chronology of Whitman's Life.

Subjects:
Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892;  Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892--Manuscripts; Poets, American--19th century



Whitman Archive Title: My Book and I
Whitman Archive ID: brl.00002
Repository ID: Ashley MS 5133
Date: 1886 or 1887
Genre: prose
Physical Description: 22 leaves, handwritten
View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46
Content: A late-stage draft, with printer's notes, of the essay "My Book and I," which was first published in Lippincott's in January 1887. Much of this essay would later appear, slightly altered, in "A Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads," published in Whitman's November Boughs in 1888.



Whitman Archive Title: O Star of France
Whitman Archive ID: brl.00001
Repository ID: Add 39168 (I.10)
Date: 1871
Genre: poetry
Physical Description: 5 leaves, handwritten
View images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Content: Full draft, heavily revised, of "O Star of France," which was first published in the June 1872 issue of The Galaxy. It was subsequently reprinted in As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free (1872) and Two Rivulets (1876). A revised version appeared in Leaves of Grass (1881–82) and in Leaves of Grass (1891–92). The poem's title is repeated on the verso of the final leaf. Images of the other versos are forthcoming.




Restrictions on Original Materials:  Please consult with repository.

Preferred Citation:  To identify this catalog as a source, see the Archive's "Conditions of Use" page.


Repository Contact Information:

The British Library
Manuscript Collections
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB, United Kingdom


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Distributed under a Creative Commons License. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price, editors.