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Walt Whitman to Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, 8 July 1888

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, 8 July 1888
  • Date: July 8, 1888
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.01368
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 183. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Ryan Furlong Ian Faith Caterina Bernardini Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, 8 July 1888." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.01368.xml (TEI)
Camden N J America1 Sunday noon July 8 '88

Well here I am all alive yet—but some thumps & bruises—but above board yet—& (though perhaps not certain) count to rally in fair time—It is now a month I have been confined to room & bed—hot weather &c. brain & stomach trouble—a paralytic attack over four weeks ago—Best love to you & all

Walt Whitman

Correspondent:
Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe (1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." A scholar of Italian Renaissance art and a daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith, she would in 1885 marry B. F. C. "Frank" Costelloe. She had been in contact with many of Whitman's English friends and would travel to Britain in 1885 to visit many of them, including Anne Gilchrist shortly before her death. For more, see Christina Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

  • 1. This postal card is addressed: Mrs: Whitall Costelloe | 40 Grosvenor Road | the Embankment | London | England. This postal card is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Jul 8 | 5 PM | 88. [back]
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