THE WHOLE PRESENT SYSTEM: A SUPERB PHOTOGRAVURE BROADSIDE ILLUSTRATED WITH A CIVIL WAR IMAGE ABOVE LINES QUOTED FROM A FOOTNOTE IN WALT WHITMAN'S "DEMOCRATIC VISTAS".

Brookline, Massachusetts: David R. Godine, [1972]., [1972].. Very good. - sc - A 31 inch high by 22 inch wide broadside printed on heavy cream "cartridge paper made by Schut". The broadside is illustrated with a 15 inch high by 20 inch wide soft-hued photogravure printed by Joh. Enschede portraying a Civil War encampment with wounded soldiers resting between trees. The text, quoted from Whitman's footnote in "Democratic Vistas", reads: "The whole present system of the officering and personnel of the army and navy of these States, and the spirit and letter of their trebly-aristocratic rules and regulations, is a monstrous exotic, a nuisance and revolt, and belong here just as much as orders of nobility, or the Pope's council of cardinals. I say if the present theory of our army and navy is sensible and true, then the rest of America is an unmitigated fraud. Walt Whitman". The first line is printed in sienna-colored capital letters above the lowercase black text reproduced from calligraphy by Bram De Does. Credits printed along the bottom read: "Published by David R. Godine, 282 Newton Street, The Barn, Brookline, Massachusetts 02146 / Printed in Photogravure by Joh. Enschede en Zonen, Haarlem, Holland, on a Cartridge Paper made by Schut, Heelsum, Holland / Calligraphy by Bram De Does". There is minor light foxing along the lower left margin of the broadside and a tiny spot to the middle right margin. There are some light creases to the bottom right corner and some light horizontal creases along the lower half of the broadside. Very good. <p>RARE.