{"product_id":"9302-whitman-walt-phillips-taylor-philadelphia-original-photograph-with-a-butterfly-1873","title":"Whitman, Walt. (1819–1892) [Phillips \u0026 Taylor, Philadelphia] Original Photograph with a Butterfly, 1873","description":"\u003cp\u003eOriginal 4 x 5.5 half-length albumen photo of a seated Whitman with a butterfly perched on his outstretched finger, affixed to a 6 x 8.5 mount. In very good condition, with light overall spotting to image and some light rippling, foxing and soiling to mount.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTaken by \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePhillips \u0026amp; Taylor in Philadelphia, 1873, this was one\u003c\/span\u003e of Whitman’s favorite photographs, and it was this image which Whitman\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003egave to Oscar Wilde when they met in 1882 and which he later \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eselected as the frontispiece of the 1889 birthday edition of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLeaves of Grass\u003c\/em\u003e. “\u003cspan\u003eYes–that was an actual moth...the picture is substantially literal: we were good friends: I had quite the in-and-out of taming, or fraternizing with, some of the insects, animals,” Whitman told the historian William Roscoe Thayer. \u003c\/span\u003e Years later Whitman’s “butterfly” was found in the Library of Congress. It was made of cardboard; it had been tied to his finger with string.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What is not often noted is that the photo simply enacts one of the recurrent visual emblems in the 1860 and 1881 editions of Leaves: a hand with a butterfly\/perched on a finger. Dr. R. M. Bucke read the image symbolically: ‘The butterfly … represents, of course, Psyche, his soul, his fixed contemplation of which accords with his declaration: ‘I need no assurances; I am a man who is preoccupied of his own soul.’” (Folsom, \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e “Notes on Photographs,” 1880s, no. 18)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46093385236639,"sku":"9302","price":1800.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/4826\/7423\/files\/WhitmanButterfly9302.jpg?v=1773947692","url":"https:\/\/www.schubertiademusic.com\/products\/9302-whitman-walt-phillips-taylor-philadelphia-original-photograph-with-a-butterfly-1873","provider":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}