 |
Early 1840s. Daguerreotype. Photographer unknown:
perhaps John Plumbe, Jr., whose daguerreotype studio Walt Whitman often
visited around this time. Saunders #1. Courtesy Gay Wilson Allen. Walt
Whtiman described himself in an 1842 New York Aurora article:
"we took our cane, (a heavy, dark, beautifully polished, hook ended
one,) and our hat, (a plain, neat fashionable one, from Banta's, 130
Chatham street, which we got gratis, on the strength of giving him this
puff,) and sauntered forth to have a stroll down Broadway to the Battery
. . . on we went, swinging our stick, (the before mentioned dark and
polished one,) in our right hand--and with our left hand tastily thrust
in its appropriate pocket, in our frock coat, (a gray one)."
William Cauldwell, who worked as a printer on the Aurora in the
early 1840s and who knew Walt Whitman well, recalled in 1901 what Whitman
looked like then: "Mr. Whitman was at that time, I should
think, about 25 years of age, tall and graceful in appearance, neat in
attire, and possessed a very pleasing and impressive eye and a cheerful,
happy-looking countenance. He usually wore a frock coat and high hat, carried
a small cane, and the lapel of his coat was almost invariably ornamented
with a boutonniere...." |