Camden, N. Jersey—U. S. America—
March 231
Yours2 of March 53
recd. with enc.—Books will be sent hence by Baldwin's Express (office in London, H. Starr
& Co. 22 Moorgate st)—will probably arrive there somewhere ab't 10th or 12th April.
I sent a set (L of G and Two Riv. Two Vols. in one package) to you by mail March 15—& another set two Vols. same date, to Mrs. G[ilchrist]4—but have since learn'd that such packages are overweight, & fear they may not have been forwarded from N. Y.
I wrote you letter March 17—I sent a single Vol. (Two Riv) by mail, March 20—I continue about the same.
W.W.
Notes
- 1. This letter's envelope bears the address,
"W M Rossetti | 56 Euston Sq | London | n w | England." It is postmarked:
"Camden | Mar | 23 | N.J.; London N.W. | C 10 | Paid | (?)| 76." [back]
- 2. William Michael Rossetti (1829–1915), brother
of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti, was an English editor and a champion of
Whitman's work. In 1868, Rossetti edited Whitman's Poems,
selected from the 1867 Leaves of Grass. Whitman referred
to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871, letter to Frederick S. Ellis. Nonetheless,
the edition provided a major boost to Whitman's reputation, and Rossetti would
remain a staunch supporter for the rest of Whitman's life, drawing in
subscribers to the 1876 Leaves of Grass and fundraising
for Whitman in England. For more on Whitman's relationship with Rossetti, see
Sherwood Smith, "Rossetti, William Michael (1829–1915)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. William Michael Rossetti's letter is
apparently lost. [back]
- 4. These transactions are confirmed in
Whitman's Commonplace Book (Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt
Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]