Lot 146: The Grabhorn Press Leaves of Grass--"400 copies and the press destroyed"

[GRABHORN PRESS]

WHITMAN, WALT. Leaves of Grass. Comprising all the Poems written by Walt Whitman following the Arrangement of the Edition of 1891-'2. New York: Random House, 1930; printed at the Grabhorn Press, San Francisco. Number 32 of 400 copies. Publisher's red niger backed Philippine mahogany boards with the Random House publisher's device carved into the lower front corner. 14 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches (37 x 25 cm); [viii], 423 pp., printed in red and black; woodcuts by Valenti Angelo. The leather of the spine is slightly toned and the raised bands etc. have a few minor scuffs and wear, some soling to the binding noted. A generally fresh copy internally, though with the typical slight darkening to the deckled page edges.

The magnum opus of the Press, which took a year to print; so extreme was the effort that the Grabhorns jestingly suggested that the colophon should read "400 copies printed and the press destroyed." Grabhorn Bibliography I 138.