Nestled among Yeshiva University’s Special Collections are several shelves of rare works by Walt Whitman, donated to Yeshiva by Charles E. Feinberg. The gift was featured in an article in the New York Times (July 19, 1959, p. 57) where Feinberg was described as “a prosperous Detroit business man who started as a $2.50 a week messenger boy, [who] is considered a recognized authority on Whitman.”  The collection includes several books autographed by the poet, a number of rare editions of his ever-evolving work Leaves of Grass, and images of Whitman himself.

Yeshiva University Libraries

Yeshiva University Libraries

Yeshiva University Libraries

In 1960, an exhibit at the Donnell Library, “Lincoln Through the Eyes of Walt Whitman,” featured items from Yeshiva University’s Feinberg collection, including this limited edition of Hymn on the Death of Lincoln [“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed”], published on vellum, with hand-colored illustrations.

Another highlight of the collection is a rare print of a poem from an unpublished manuscript by Whitman, “Poem Describing a Perfect School,” printed from the original wood blocks on hand-made paper. The print is a treat for the eyes,  though perhaps it was still a treatise in progress regarding its sentiments on the perfection of school and education.

Yeshiva University Libraries

Please join us to Celebrate National Poetry Month with Matt Miller, Associate Professor of English, who will introduce his book on Walt Whitman, Collage of Myself, as the final of three Library Book Talks for the 2018-2019 academic year, on April 9.  Elinor Grumet, Reference and Instruction Librarian, will interview Professor Miller about his research and particular perspective on this highly influential American poet.

Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger