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Frederick Bourquin to Walt Whitman, 26 December 1890

About This Item

  • Title: Frederick Bourquin to Walt Whitman, 26 December 1890
  • Date: December 26, 1890
  • Creator(s): Frederick Bourquin
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.01098
  • 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.
  • Contributors to digital file: Andrew David King Cristin Noonan Breanna Himschoot Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Bourquin, Frederick. "Frederick Bourquin to Walt Whitman, 26 December 1890." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 11 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.01098.xml (TEI)
 loc.01098.001_large.jpg Bourquin, F Camden Dec 26—90 Walt Whitman Esq. Honoured & Respected Friend Dear sir

I recd a beautiful Volume of your writings for which I return many thanks and shall preserve it as a choise present in remembrance of your Frendship and Good Will.

Very Respectfully &c F. Bourquin  loc.01098.002_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Frederick Bourquin (1808–1897) was a Swiss-born lithographer and Whitman's neighbor on Mickle Street in Camden, New Jersey. Bourquin immigrated to the United States with his brother Charles in 1817 and became a citizen in 1834. In 1847, he was awarded a prize from the Franklin Institute for improvements to lithography, and two years later he introduced the zincographic printing process to America. Bourquin developed the anastatic printing process with John Jay Smith, father of Whitman's acquaintance, Robert Pearsall Smith. Described as a "Democrat of the Jacksonian type," Bourquin served on Camden's City Council and in the New Jersey Legislature ("Frederick Bourquin Dead," Philadelphia Inquirer [May 26, 1897], 2). For more information, see Paul W. Schopp, "Camden and Mickle Street: A Cultural History," Mickle Street Review no. 14 (Summer 2001).

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