Skip to main content

Walt Whitman to William Sloane Kennedy, 21 December 1881

My dear W S K

Yours rec'd & glad to hear from you—have not forgotten those pleasant calls & chats, & hope they will one day be renewed—I read your (added to & somewhat changed) California magazine criticism1—the copy you showed Osgood—& thought it noble—

Am thankful to you & of course much pleased with your study of, & exploiting L of G—have just sent you a package by express of the late & other editions & Vols. of poems &c. as my Christmas offering2—with affectionate remembrances—

Walt Whitman

Notes

  • 1. This is a reference to "A Study of Walt Whitman," The Californian, 3 (February 1881), 149–158. [back]
  • 2. Whitman sent three copies of Leaves of Grass (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). Kennedy wrote at the conclusion of the letter: "I afterward sent him $5. as part payment for these K" (Faint Clews & Indirections: Manuscripts of Walt Whitman and His Family, ed. Clarence Gohdes and Rollo G. Silver [Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1949], 94n). [back]
Back to top