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Walt Whitman to James W. Wallace, 29 May 1887

Your & Dr Johnston's2 letter & the pictures & birthday gift have safely reach'd me, & thank you indeed from my heart—I am ab't as usual in health—& a little (but not much) engaged in writing—Your letter is indeed comforting to one—

Walt Whitman

Correspondent:
James William Wallace (1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of Whitman. Wallace, along with Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician in Bolton, founded the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston and Wallace corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members of the Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet and published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more information on Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).


Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed: J W Wallace | 14 Eagle Street | Bolton England. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | May 2(?) | 3 PM | 87. [back]
  • 2. John Johnston (1852–1927) was an English physician and co-founder of the "Bolton College." For more information on Johnston, see Larry D. Griffin, "Johnston, Dr. John (1852–1927)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
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