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THE
PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES,
423 BROOME STREET,
NEW YORK.1
January ninth 1892.
Dear Walt Whitman!
I send you herewith a portrait of yourself, in photo type, which I have received from
Mr. Gutekunst,2 of Philadelphia, to illustrate our magazine.
Enclosed also is a brief sketch of your life which I prepared and, as best I could,
from a newspaper account.
I want you to see both the portrait and the sketch and get your approval of loc_zs.00640.jpg both before I go ahead.
Will you also be good enough to send me your signature that I may have a facsimile prepared and to be printed beneath the portrait,
as a title.
Of course I shall be only too happy to send you as many copies as you may desire of
the portrait, also of the magazine3 containing it.4
Very truly yours
W. I. Lincoln Adams
Editor.
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(For signature)
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see note Jan 11 1892
note Jan 16–1892
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Correspondent:
Washington Irving Lincoln
Adams (1832–1896) worked in the photgraphic department of the Scovill
Company, and later became editor of The Photographic
Times (1871–1915).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman | Camden | N.J. It is postmarked: New York | Jan 9 | 430PM | A; |
Camden N.J. | Jan 10 | 130 PM | 92 | REC'D. This envelope includes a printed
return address for The Photographic Times, as well as
subscription information for the publication. [back]
- 2. Frederick Gutekunst
(1831–1917) was a well-known ninteenth-century American photographer in
Philadelphia. During the Civil War he made portraits of soldiers, and, after the
War, he continued to create high quality portraits of notable figures, including
Abraham Lincoln, Lucretia Mott, and Grover Cleveland. He made portraits of
Whitman in Philadelphia ca. 1879–1881 and in 1889, which are available in
The Walt Whitman's Archive's Gallery of
Images. [back]
- 3.
The Photographic Times (1871–1915) was a well-known
and widely circulating photographic journal that documented photography and its
history during the years of the journal's publication. [back]
- 4. The article and photograph
appeared in the February 12, 1892, issue of The Photographic
Times (vol. 22, no. 543), with the biographical sketch appearing on p.
77; the photograph, by Frederick Gutekunst, appeared as the frontispiece of
the issue. Even though Whitman told Horace Traubel that he was not capable of
any longer producing a viable signature, a facsimile of Whitman's signature did
in fact appear beneath the photo (see Horace Traubel, With
Walt Whitman in Camden, Monday, January 11, 1892). [back]