Leaves of Grass (1855 first edition)

Numerous facsimiles exist. Genuineness rests on the Rome-printed quarto sheets, the period cloth or wrappers, and the engraved-plate frontispiece states — NOT on the presence of gilt decoration: a genuine copy may be in gilt Binding A, in blindstamped Binding B, or in plain wrappers (Binding C). Facsimiles are betrayed by modern paper, photographic reproduction of the type and of the frontispiece plate, and the absence of period binding materials. No book-club reprint of the 1855 text is a first.