The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Edwin Einstein to Walt Whitman, 18 November 1875
Date: November 18, 1875
Whitman Archive ID: loc.01611
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.
Editorial note: The annotation, "Einsteins letter," is in the hand of Walt Whitman.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Eder Jaramillo, John Schwaninger, Nima Najafi Kianfar, Caterina Bernardini, Marie Ernster, Amanda J. Axley, and Stephanie Blalock
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THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB
MADISON AVENUE, COR. TWENTY-SIXTH STREET,
New-York,
Nov. 18th, 1875.
Dear Walt—
I would not trouble you with this letter, were it not that I saw mentioned in the N. Y. Sun the other day the fact that you were in very needy circumstances, if that is so will you let me know, and myself and a few other of your old friends would be glad to aid you to the best of our ability. If it is not so, (which I sincerely trust may be the case) pardon the liberty I am taking and believe it is only done out of friendship and good will.
In any case let me hear from you and believe me with best wishes
Your Friend
Edwin Einstein
Address
Union League Club
N.Y.
Correspondent:
Edwin Einstein (1842–1905) was a tobacconist
and a friend of Walt Whitman's from the Pfaffian days of the 1850s. The Trow's New York City Directory of 1860 listed an Edwin
Einstein as "clerk, h 167 W. 14th" (260), while in 1877, the Gouldings New York City Directory listed an Edwin Einstein as
"tobacco, 87 Water" (402). Einstein was later elected to a brief stint in the House of
Representatives as a New York Republican from 1879 to 1881.