Thoreau and Whitman, each admirers of the other’s work, and each an ascertainable figure in the development of American Transcendentalism, had occasion to inscribe a personalized note in the flyleaf of his book and present that book to the other. The event transpired in 1856 on an esplanade in Brooklyn; Whitman presenting a 2nd edition copy of his great literary achievement Leaves of Grass to Thoreau, and Thoreau presenting A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers to Whitman, respectively.
