Content:
Eighteen lines of prose in Whitman's hand, beginning "In general
civilization" and concerning the formation of a "National Literature,"
written in pencil with corrections in purple crayon. This is a draft of the essay Whitman later
published as "American National
Literature" in
Good-Bye
My Fancy
(1891). It is laid in one of Whitman's diaries of the war. The draft is composed
on the inside of an envelope addressed to "Walt Whitman, Esq., Camden, N.J.,
Oct. 9(?),
1890" from the
North
American Review
.
Content:
The notes on the recto are prefatory in nature and reflect the spirit of the
preface to Whitman's 1891
Good-Bye My Fancy 2d Annex to Leaves of
Grass
. The exact phrase, "the mullein and the bumble-bee" is
on page 36 of the section entitled "Gathering
the Corn" of
Good-Bye My
Fancy
. On the verso is a partial letter from Whitman to unknown friends.
