Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 6 August [1882]

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 6 August [1882]
Date: August 6, 1882
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00464
Source: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 300. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Stefan Schoeberlein Nima Najafi Kianfar Eder Jaramillo Nicole Gray
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 6 August [1882]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 23 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: nyp.00464.xml (TEI)

Camden,1 Aug: 6 Evening

Nothing specially new—I am well—pleasant weather—the 2d Phila ed'n was delay'd till Friday last—commenced coming in at noon—by noon next day (yesterday) 500 had been sold2—Specimen Days is jogging along—neither very fast, or slow—You will get a copy of the Phila. ed'n L of G to-morrow or next day, as I have requested one sent you—by what I can learn there is no Florio Montaigne3 to be had for love or money—Have been in all day finishing up copy of S. D. for the printers—Out now to p.o.4

W W

Notes

1. This letter is endorsed: "Answ'd Aug 19/82." It is addressed: Wm D O'Connor | Life Saving Service Bureau | Washington D C. It is postmarked: Camden | Aug | 6 | 6 PM | N.J.; Washington, D.C. | Aug | 7 | 4 AM | 1882 | Recd. [back]
2. Whitman never stated the exact number of copies of the second Philadelphia impression. Since he referred to the "cautious 1000" copies of the first impression, presumably this printing was larger. Whitman wrote in a letter to John Burroughs on August 13 that the second impression was "now nearly gone." On August 27 he wrote to O'Connor that Rees Welsh & Co. were "paying out their 3d edition." On September 17 he wrote to O'Connor that "they are now on their fourth Phila: ed'n L of G." The fifth impression was run off in October (see the letter from Whitman to Sylvester Baxter of October 8, 1882). [back]
3. See the letter from Whitman to O'Connor of July 21, 1882. [back]
4. In his answer on August 19, O'Connor mentioned with resentment that J. B. Gilder, of The Critic, was supporting Chadwick and deplored the fact that Leaves of Grass, according to the New York Tribune on August 15, was now "proscribed by Trinity College, Dublin" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, October 17, 1888, 496). [back]