Attorney General's Office,
Washington
Dec. 17, 1868.
Mr. Putnam.
Dear Sir:1
Would the enclosed piece be available to you for say the March number of your monthly?
The price is $45—and 30 copies of the number in which it may be printed.
I have had it put in type for my own convenience, & to insure greater correctness.
May I ask you the favor to send me your decision within a week?
Walt Whitman
I reserve the right of printing the piece in future book.
Notes
- 1. George Palmer Putnam
(1814–1872) was founder and publisher of Putnam's
Monthly Magazine. In January of 1868, Putnam had printed William D.
O'Connor's "The Carpenter," 11 (1868), 55–90, and one of Burroughs' essays
in August (Whitman recommended the essay, "A Night-Hunt in the Adirondacks," to
Louisa Van Velsor Whitman in his July 17, 1868
letter). It is not known which poem Whitman submitted. [back]