Content:
A heavily revised prose manuscript in which Whitman worked through
ideas on the death of Abraham Lincoln. Whitman himself scrawled "Death
of Abraham Lincoln" at the top of this manuscript; however, no other
textual link can be made between this manuscript and "Death of Abraham Lincoln." This
manuscript appears to be a draft of another prose piece on Lincoln,
titled "Abraham Lincoln." This essay
was first published, untitled, in Allen Thorndike Rice, ed.,
Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln
(1886). Whitman reprinted this essay in
November Boughs
(1888). A
revised version of the essay appeared in
Complete
Prose Works
(1892).
Content:
Scraps of paper attached to a larger sheet to create one leaf. Together the scraps form a draft fragment of "Abraham Lincoln," a short essay that first appeared as "Dear to Democracy" in
Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln
(1886), a compilation of essays edited by Allen Thorndike Rice. Though Whitman was not fond of this essay, he reprinted it in
November Boughs
(1888) before including the final version in
Complete Prose Works
(1892). For more information on this manuscript, including a complete transcription, see Ed Folsom, "Holograph Page of Whitman's 'Abraham Lincoln,'"
Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
5.3 (Winter 1988), 47–48.
Content:
Notes toward a draft of "Abraham
Lincoln," first published, untitled, in Allen Thorndike Rice,
ed.,
Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln
(1886). Whitman reprinted this essay in
November Boughs
(1888). A
revised version of the essay appeared in
Complete
Prose Works
(1892). Whitman composed these notes on a
piece of incoming correspondence.
