Whitman pasted the following three photographs into a copy of her 1853 edition of poetry titled Hours of Life and Other Poems that she inscribed and gifted to her friend, William Coleman. Coleman was a photographer in Providence that took multiple photos of Whitman during his career. The two photos below are examples of those taken of Whitman by Coleman.

Whitman presented the volume to Coleman just ten days before her death, but the exact dates of these photographs that she pasted inside are unknown. My approximation is that they were taken in the years after White’s daguerreotype in 1856.

The photo (shown right) depicts Whitman as a medium. She is exhibiting her ability to read a manuscript while completely veiled by pressing the parchment to her head and using the help of the spirit-world to deliver the contents to her.

The photo below appears to be an artistic rendering, yet Whitman does not credit an artist or engraver. There is no signature on or near the picture, either. It is evident that the reference used for the drawing was the photo by Coleman (shown above, left) while the artist used some of his own creative discretion while rendering the new portrait. This particular image has never been made public until now, after I came across it in my research at the John Hay Library.

Whitman’s edition of Hours of Life and Other Poems inscribed to Coleman with these photos pasted inside are kept in the Harris collection at the John Hay Library.