Walt Whitman to Melville Philips, 22 February 1890

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to Melville Philips, 22 February 1890
Date: February 22, 1890
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: hun.00049
Source: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
Contributors to digital file: Blake Bronson-Bartlett Ian Faith Stephanie Blalock
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Melville Philips, 22 February 1890." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: hun.00049.xml (TEI)

hun.00049.001_large.jpg 328 Mickle Street Camden noon Feb: 22 '90 Dear M P

y'r note rec'd an hour ago, & I send the biographic sketch if wanted. I suppose you rec'd some ten days ago the lines to be fac-simile'd to go under the portrait—also "the Commonplace" a poemet—also "the Voice" in prose for the Weekly.1—I have recd a photo proof of my phiz I suppose from the flash light—I don't like it—I send you herewith a big front head y'r artist might make something of if not too late, hasn't been printed at all any where—(but probably is)—Of this biography—and all else sent—dont fail to send me proof wh' the messenger can wait & take back—or if by mail I will send immediately back by next mail2

Walt Whitman

I shall not charge Mr M3 any thing for this Auto but will want a dozen copies of the paper without fail—

hun.00049.002_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Melville Phillips was an editor at Munyon's Illustrated World and visited Whitman in Camden to request that Whitman contribute work to the journal. He also reviewed November Boughs in the Philadelphia Press, where he served as literary editor, in 1888.

Notes

1. On February 3 Whitman sent "The Commonplace" and "The Human Voice" (prose) as well as a paragraph "ab't common school teachers" to Munyon's Illustrated World—"$20 due me" (The Commonplace-Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839-1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). The poem appeared in that magazine in manuscript facsimile in March, 1891, and "The Human Voice" (later entitled "The Perfect Human Voice") in October, 1890. [back]
2. "Walt Whitman's Life" appeared in Munyon's Illustrated World in April. [back]
3. J. M. Munyon established Munyon's Illustrated World in 1884; the magazine ceased publication in 1894. Whitman mentions J. M. Munyon in his notebooks. [back]