Sept. 4 '761
I forward you by Express to-day, same address as this letter the package of Books (see list on other side)2—I wish Tennyson to have a set & have enclosed one, & would ask you to do me the favor of seeing that it is
safely transmitted to him.3 Notwithstanding the disclaimer in yours of April 28 I also send
a set for Richard Bentley4 in response to his kindness & generosity: (if any thing I know not of prevents
its reaching him, I wish you to keep it for yourself.)
Please see that the photograph is given to the School of Art, with my affectionate respects.
Trusting to your kindness to see that they are carefully sent to the subscribers.
Notes
- 1. This draft letter is
endorsed, "R Buchanan." [back]
- 2. The list, which is not
with the draft letter, appears in his Commonplace Book under September 5, 1876:
two volumes were sent to Tennyson, Richard Bentley, Roden Noel, and Drummond;
Two Rivulets was sent to Robinson, Salaman, Marks,
Townsend Mayer, Thomas Ashe, Mrs. Dickens, and Henry Lobb; Memoranda During the War was sent to Newton, Coleman, and Hirsh; and a
photograph was sent to the School of Art in London. Buchanan's letter of April 28, 1876, in addition to these names, cited a
contribution £2 from Browning and his desire for a complete set of the 1876
edition. Buchanan acknowledged receipt of the volumes on January 8, 1877
(Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919,
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden [1906–1996],
1:2–3). [back]
- 3. Whitman had written of his
intent to send these books to Tennyson in his June 26,
1876 letter to William Michael Rossetti. [back]
- 4. Richard Bentley and Son
were London publishers. According to Buchanan's letter of April 28, 1876, Bentley was among those who "do not
want copies, some having them already." [back]