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1887. George C. Cox, New York. Not in Saunders. Courtesy Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin. On
the morning of 15 April 1887, George
Cox took several photographs of Whitman, who was celebrating
the
success of his New York lecture on Lincoln, delivered
the day
before. Whitman recalls that "six or seven" photos were
made during
the session, but Whitman's friend Jeannette Gilder, an
observer of
the session, said there were many more than that: "He
must
have had twenty pictures taken, yet he never posed
for a
moment. He simply sat in the big revolving chair and
swung
himself to the right or to the left, as Mr. Cox
directed, or
took his hat off or put it on again, his expression and
attitude remaining so natural that no one would have
supposed
he was sitting for a photograph." A few months later,
Whitman was
angry that Cox apparently was selling copies of the
photos with
forged signatures and was refusing to send Whitman copies of
the
proofs to allow Whitman to decide which ones should be
printed, but
the problem was straightened out and Cox began sending
Whitman
modest payments for the sale of photos. By October
1888, Whitman
was calling Cox "the premier exception" among
photographers and
claimed to have received around one hundred dollars in
royalties. Cox copyrighted two of the photos from this
sitting, the only time he ever did so, apparently to
protect
Whitman's financial interest in them, and he sold the photos
only to
aid Whitman. Until now, only seven photos from this session
have
been known to exist; this collection adds five more,
bringing
the total to twelve.
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