A Fine Collection of American Literature and History

Important Association Copies of Traubel's Memoirs of Whitman in Camden

Boston: Small, Maynard & Company/New York: D. Appleton and Company/New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1906, 1908, 1914. In three volumes. First editions. 8vo. Presentation copy of first volume, inscribed by Traubel on front free endpaper to New York bibliophile George M. Williamson, dated March, 1906, and with part of a mailing envelope signed by Traubel to Williamson tipped in to same; with an additional autograph letter, signed by American naturalist and friend of Walt Whitman, John Burroughs, to Williamson, praising Traubel's work, inserted following half-title of same volume, dated April, 1906. Presentation copy of second volume, signed by Traubel to Victorian-era bibliographer and forger Harry Buxton Forman. Set illustrated with numerous facsimiles and plates. Publisher's blue-green cloth-covered boards, stamped in gilt, scattered wear and rubbing to boards and extremities, spine of third volume darkened, other slightly faded; top edges gilt, other edges trimmed; green morocco book-plate of American collector William Van R. Whitall on front paste-down of first volume; illustrated book-plate of Forman on front paste-down of second volume, with illustrated book-plate of mystery writer and Whitman bibliographer, Carolyn Wells, on top of same; front hinge of third volume worn.

Includes another first edition presentation copy of the first volume, inscribed by Traubel on front blank to Frank Bain, dated 1910. Includes two printed poems, signed by Traubel, as well as two photographs of Whitman, all laid in. Probably recased; endpapers renewed.

George M. Williamson (b. 1850) was a New York book collector, and publisher of the Catalogue of A Collection of Books, Letters, and Manuscripts written by Walt Whitman, in the Library of George M. Williamson, Grand View on Hudson (New York: The Marion Press, 1903).

John Burroughs (1837–1921) was an American naturalist and essayist. He met Whitman in Washington, D.C., in 1864, and after returning to Brooklyn he and Whitman commenced a lifelong correspondence. Burroughs would write several books involving or devoted to Whitman's work, including Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and Person--the first book on Whitman, see lot--(1867), Birds and Poets (1877), Whitman, A Study (1896), and Accepting the Universe (1924).

Harry Buxton Forman (1842-1917) was a Victorian-era bibliographer, biographer, and bookseller, and is remembered as the biographer and editor of Percy Shelley and John Keats. Following his death his reputation declined following the publication of John Carter's An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets, that implicated him in the creation and sale of numerous forgeries along with Thomas James Wise.

Frank Bain (1875-1959) is presumably the recipient of the second presentation copy of the first volume. He, along with his wife Mildred, were close friends and patrons of Traubel's, and were both Whitman enthusiasts.

Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was a prolific American author, remembered primarily for her popular mysteries, children's novels, and humorous verse, publishing 170 books by her death. In 1922 she, along with Alfred Goldsmith, published A Concise Bibliography of the Works of Walt Whitman, and at her death bequeathed her important collection of Whitman's poetry to the Library of Congress.

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