Life & Letters

Correspondence

About this Item

Title: Walt Whitman to Thayer & Eldridge, May 1860

Date: May 1860

Whitman Archive ID: loc.00757

Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 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: Elizabeth Lorang, Vanessa Steinroetter, Blake Bronson-Bartlett, Alyssa Olson, and Nicole Gray



page image
image 1
page image
image 2

Arrived home all right, 24th, at dusk, over the "shore line"—I like that route better than the old one—no dust that day, and fine view of the water, half the time.1

The package came safe to [hand?] on Friday, containing my 20 [purchased?] L. of G. and 20 to give away at discretion. I shall send you a tally of the latter as I [illegible]2


Correspondent:
Thayer and Eldridge was the Boston publishing firm responsible for the third edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1860). For more on Whitman's relationship with Thayer and Eldridge, see David Breckenridge Donlon, "Thayer, William Wilde (1829–1896) and Charles W. Eldridge (1837–1903)."

Notes:

1. Apparently this draft letter was sent to Thayer & Eldridge shortly after Whitman's return to Brooklyn. It would appear, then, that despite his reference in the letter from May 10, 1860 to his imminent departure, Whitman remained in Boston until May 24, and then took the new Shore Line Railroad to New York. [back]

2. On the back of this draft letter Whitman wrote a series of notes about words. [back]


Comments?

Published Works | In Whitman's Hand | Life & Letters | Commentary | Resources | Pictures & Sound

Support the Archive | About the Archive

Distributed under a Creative Commons License. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price, editors.