Thomas W. H. Rolleston to Walt Whitman, July 29, 1879
man_ej.00013.jpg
Tuesday, July 29
Glasshouse
Shinrone
Kings County
Ireland
Dear Mr Whitman
Last year, in June '78. I was the means of introducing your book to a Mrs Alexander, in the North of Ireland. She wrote at that
time to you, enclosing a money order for £1-6-0 for one of your books, I think
the Two Rivulets. A couple of months afterwards I heard that she
had never received any answer, & after some time I wrote to my friend Professor
Dowden1 whom I knew to be in correspondence with you, asking him
to mention the circumstance to you when he next wrote. I think he must have
forgotten to do this, as I have heard again 
man_ej.00175_large.jpgtoday that Mrs Alexander has not received the book. Therefore I thought better to
write to you myself, as having given her your address, &c. I feel myself in a certain degree
responsible. I heard that at the time you should have received her letter you were away
from home. I concluded that the letter failed somehow to reach you. And it has also
occurred to me that perhaps your last edition is out & you have no more copies
to send—or that you may have mislaid the letter & address.
So I should be much obliged if you would let me have a line today whether 
man_ej.00176_large.jpgyou ever received
it, or not, & if your books are obtainable from you still in the usual way.
You have forgotten no doubt a letter I wrote you some years ago while an
undergraduate in College, thanking you as deeply as I could find words to do for the
spiritual health and thought I had found or gained in the Leaves of
Grass. I cannot let this occasion pass without renewing my
thanks, sending you again my greeting and love. Your book has travelled with me
wherever I have gone. I have joined hands with you in it, tried to realize its
ideals in my life; and to lead others to do so, often I am glad to say with success. homage like this you
must have often received, nevertheless I think you will 
man_ej.00015_large.jpghardly think very lightly of any one—and
this makes me feel encouraged to tell you freely what you have done
for me.
P.S. If you will kindly send Mrs Alexander the Two Rivulets, & let me know, I will enclose you the money if not received. Her address is Mrs J. Alexander The Palace Derry Ireland.
TWHR.Correspondent:
Thomas William Hazen Rolleston
(1857–1920) was an Irish poet and journalist. After attending college in
Dublin, he moved to Germany for a period of time. He wrote to Whitman
frequently, beginning in 1880, and later produced with Karl Knortz the first
book-length translation of Whitman's poetry into German. In 1889, the collection
Grashalme: Gedichte [Leaves of
Grass: Poems] was published by Verlags-Magazin in Zurich, Switzerland.
See Walter Grünzweig, Constructing the German Walt Whitman (Iowa
City: University of Iowa Press, 1995). For more information on Rolleston, see
Walter Grünzweig, "Rolleston, Thomas William Hazen (1857–1920)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Edward Dowden (1843–1913), professor of English literature at the University of Dublin, was one of the first to critically appreciate Whitman's poetry, particularly abroad, and was primarily responsible for Whitman's popularity among students in Dublin. In July 1871, Dowden penned a glowing review of Whitman's work in the Westminster Review entitled "The Poetry of Democracy: Walt Whitman," in which Dowden described Whitman as "a man unlike any of his predecessors. . . . Bard of America, and Bard of democracy." In 1888, Whitman observed to Traubel: "Dowden is a book-man: but he is also and more particularly a man-man: I guess that is where we connect" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Sunday, June 10, 1888, 299). For more, see Philip W. Leon, "Dowden, Edward (1843–1913)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]