Content:
Proofs of four poems pasted together and collected under the main
handwritten title "An Old
Man's Recitatives." The poems included are: "Ancient songs
reciting" (published as "Old Chants" in 1891), "Grand is the seen"
(first published in 1891), "Death dogs my steps" (published as part of
"L. of G.'s
Purport" in 1891), and "For us two, reader dear," first published
in 1891. A note in Whitman's hand in the right margin details
failed attempts to publish this grouping in
Scribner's
.
Content:
Manuscripts of the following four poems, written neatly with slight
corrections: "My
task,"
"L of G's Purport,"
"Death dogs my
steps," and "For
us two, reader dear." All of the verses except "For us two, reader
dear" were fused together and published as one poem entitled
"L. of G.'s
Purport" in 1891.
Content:
Proof pages of six poems collected under the general title "Old-Age Recitatives."
The poems included are: "Old Chants" (1891), "On, On the Same,Ye Jocund
Twain!" (1891), "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon
Yacht!" (1891), "L. of G.'s Purport"
(only two lines of the twelve-line poem of the same title first
published in 1891), "My task" (published as part of "L. of G.'s Purport" in
1891), and "For
us two, reader dear" (1891). At the top of the first page is a note to the printer
in Whitman's hand.
Content:
A draft of the poem "For Us
Two, Reader Dear," first published in 1891. Also
on the leaf is a letter to Whitman dated June 4, 1890 from
Mrs. Noble T. Biddle.
Content:
A galley proof of a group of six poems titled "Old-Age Recitatives." The poems included
are: "Sail out for good,
Eidolon yacht!" (first published in 1891), "My task" (published as
part of "L. of G.'s
Purport" in 1891), "L. of G.'s Purport" (only the first two
lines of the poem of the same title published in 1891),
"Death dogs my
steps" (published as part of "L. of G.'s Purport" in 1891), "For us
two, reader dear" (first published in 1891), and "Grand is the seen" (first published in 1891). On the verso is a note to the printer.