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Walt Whitman to Elizabeth & Isabella Ford and Edward R. Pease, 28 May [1884]

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Elizabeth & Isabella Ford and Edward R. Pease, 28 May [1884]
  • Date: May 28, 1884
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: bol.00001
  • Source: Walt Whitman Collection, Bolton Central Library, Bolton, England. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

    Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Stefan Schöberlein Kyle Barton Nicole Gray Kevin McMullen
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Elizabeth & Isabella Ford and Edward R. Pease, 28 May [1884]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 05 December 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: bol.00001.xml (TEI)
 bol_ch.00001_large.jpg Camden New Jersey U S America 328 Mickle Street May 28, 18841

—Your kind message received. I am as usual & in good heart.2

Walt Whitman  bol_ch.00002_large.jpg

Correspondents:
Isabella Ford (1855–1924) was an English feminist, socialist, and writer. Elizabeth (Bessie) Ford was her sister. Both were introduced to Whitman's writings by Edward Carpenter and they quickly became admirers of Whitman.

Edward Reynolds Pease (1857–1955) was an English writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society.

Notes

  • 1. This postcard is addressed: Bessie Ford, Isabella Ford and Edward R Pease | 5 Hyde Park Mansions | London nw England. It is postmarked: CAMDEN | MAY 28 | 4PM | 1884 | N.J. ; LONDON S.W. | JU 9 | 84. [back]
  • 2. Elizabeth Ford wrote to Whitman on February 16, 1875: "Your words that you have written are such a strength, it is so wonderful to find said, things that hover in one. I mean, to read things that one's heart cries out in answer to. This is what makes me so that I cannot help writing to you." Her picture, inscribed June 20, 1877, is in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. Whitman sent Leaves of Grass and Specimen Days to Isabella on October 11, 1882, and to Elizabeth on June 27, 1883 (Whitman's Commonplace Book). For Pease, see the letter from Whitman to Edward R. Pease of August 21, 1883. [back]
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