431 Stevens st
Camden, N. Jersey—U. S.
America
Aug 111
Yours2 of July 24 rec'd, also your previous one six weeks before—I wrote to you two months ago3—also sent papers—I send paper, also my War Memoranda &c by same mail as this—same address (is it
right?)—I remain much the same—bad spells enough—I
congratulate you both—love to both—
W.W.
Notes
- 1. This letter's envelope is addressed,
"Rudolf Schmidt | 16 Klareboderne | Copenhagen | Denmark." It is postmarked:
"(?)| Aug | 11 | N.J.; New York | Aug | 12." [back]
- 2. Rudolf Schmidt, a Dane and
editor of For Idé og Virkelighed, is credited with
introducing Walt Whitman to Scandinavia by quoting translated passages from Leaves of Grass in an 1872 essay in his magazine. He
wrote to Walt Whitman on October 19, 1871:
"I intend to write
an article about yourself and your writings in the above named periodical which
is very much read in all the Scandinavian countries. ... I therefore take the
liberty to ask you, if you should not be willing to afford some new
communications of yourself and your poetry to this purpose" (The Library of
Congress). [back]
- 3. On July 24,
1876, Schmidt reported his recent marriage to "my dear faithful little
wife, to whom I have been betrothed since some years." The letter written "six
weeks before" may be Schmidt's letter of April 18,
1876, in which he admitted his failure to sell Walt Whitman's books in
Denmark. Walt Whitman's reply, probably written late in May or early in June
1876, is not known. [back]