By Walt Whitman. In 1922, Wharton Esherick showed a copy Rhymes of Early Jungle Folk, which he had illustrated with woodcut prints, to Harold Mason, owner of the Centaur Bookshop in Philadelphia. Impressed by what he saw, Mason asked Esherick to illustrate Walt Whitmans Song of the Broad-Axe, which Mason published in a limited edtion in 1924.Inspired by the woodcuts, Esherick created a hand-bound prototype book of Whitmans poem, using prints made directly from his blocks and hand-lettering it in Eshericks own calligraphic style. Illuminated letters were used to begin paragraphs, and spaces at the end of lines were filled with blue and