Walt Whitman to Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, 13 December 1886

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, 13 December 1886
Date: December 13, 1886
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: loc.01356
Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 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
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, 13 December 1886." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 25 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: loc.01356.xml (TEI)

loc.01356.002_large.jpg

loc.01356.001_large.jpg 328 Mickle street—Camden New Jersey—U S. America1 Dec. 13, '86—

Here I am, still, dear friend, & nothing new or special—the last week I was quite ill again, but am on the mend yesterday and to-day—Your good father comes to see me often,2 & Logan paid me a nice visit yesterday3—Your letter of Nov. 12 has been read & re-read, & quite gone the rounds—much admired—I send you "My Book & I," in print—

Walt Whitman

Correspondent:
Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe (1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." A scholar of Italian Renaissance art and a daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith, she would in 1885 marry B. F. C. "Frank" Costelloe. She had been in contact with many of Whitman's English friends and would travel to Britain in 1885 to visit many of them, including Anne Gilchrist shortly before her death. For more, see Christina Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

1. This postal card is addressed: Mrs: Costelloe | 40 Grosvenor Road | the Embankment | London England. It is postmarked: CAMDEN | DEC | 13 | 4 30 PM | 18(?) | N.J. [back]
2. On December 22 Whitman noted in his Commonplace Book: "Kind visits from R P Smith—liberal & kind gifts." [back]
3. Logan was Mary's brother. [back]