Department of Justice
Washington.
Dec. 7 1871.
W. H. Piper & Co.1
Dear Sirs:
Please send me acc't. & remit am't. sold—25 per cent off—of
- 25 Copies "Leaves of Grass" @ $2.50
- 25 Copies "Passage to India" @ 1.
- 25 Copies "Democratic Vistas" @ .75
sent you on sale, & receipted by you Nov. 3, 1870.
Respectfully, &c.
Walt Whitman
Notes
- 1. In a letter on July 20, 1867, John T. Trowbridge had said that
William H. Piper and Co., booksellers in Boston, were willing to take 50 copies
of the new edition of Leaves of Grass, and that he could
personally recommend the firm. The firm was advertised as Whitman's Boston agent
in books published in 1871 and 1872. Later Whitman authorized Asa K. Butts and
Co. to collect the money Piper owed to him; see Whitman's December 29, 1873 and February 4, 1874 letters to Butts. For more on Trowbridge, see
Whitman's December 27, 1863 letter. [back]