Walt Whitman to Robert Buchanan, 21 November 1876

431 Stevens street Nov. 21 '761 My dear R B

I sent you over two months ago (Sept 5),2 by express prepaid direct to same address as this letter, a package of some 17 or 18 vols of my books, in wrappers, with names on them. As up to this date I have heard nothing of them from you, and Messrs. Strahan have not acknowledged them either, I am a little uneasy about them. Have they arrived? Have they been distributed?3

I am jogging along much the same. My limbs still lamed from paralysis—but I get around yet—strength a little more reliable—spirits cheerful.

Your letters of April 18 and 28th were very comforting to me. I have read them several times—& they are before me now.

I wrote to you Sept. 4, announcing the Vols. That was my last. Did it reach you? Your letter of April 28th is the last I have rec'd from you.

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Notes

• 1. This draft letter is endorsed, "to Robt Buchanan | Nov 21 | '76." [back]
• 2. See Whitman's September 4, 1876 letter to Buchanan. [back]
• 3. On January 8, 1877, Buchanan informed Walt Whitman that he had neglected acknowledge the books because "the tone adopted by certain of your friends here became so unpleasant that I requested all subscriptions etc. to be paid over to William Michael Rossetti, and received no more myself" (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). [back]