Description

Large format softbound pamphlet, staple bound. 31 pages. Two poems by Whitman, translated into Khmer [Cambodian] by poets Ken McCullough and U Sam Oeur, Cover illustration is the portrait of Whitman by Samuel Hollyer, which first appeared in the 1855 edition of “Leaves of Grass”, while the first page has a small black and white reproduction of a photograph taken of Whitman by George C. Fox in 1887. Text is represented by the original English printed on page versos, with corresponding Khmer translation on facing rectos. First edition. Ken McCullough is a widely published poet and U Sam Oeur is a Cambodian poet who survived four years in Pol Pot concentration camps. Their choice of poems representing Whitman’s message of the universal dichotomy between transcendental self and universal democratic ideals was felt to have a natural resonance to the Cambodian people. A pristine copy. Unmarked and like new.