The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Henry Buxton Forman to Walt Whitman, 21 February 1872
Date: February 21, 1872
Whitman Archive ID: loc.01619
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 notes: The annotations, "H Buxton Forman," and "Feb 21 '72," are in the hand of Walt Whitman. The annotation, "see notes Sept 3 & 5 1888," is in the hand of Horace Traubel.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Beverley Rilett, Ashley Lawson, Kevin McMullen, John Schwaninger, Amanda J. Axley, Cristin Noonan, Paige Wilkinson, and Stephanie Blalock
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38 Marlborough Hill
St John's Wood
London, N.W.
21 Feb. 72
Dear Sir,
I send herewith, by book post, a short poem called "The Great Peace–Maker," which I have just edited for private distribution.1
As a constant reader and great admirer of your poetry, I have had the idea that the practical element in this poem, and also its fervent aspiration after the good of mankind, may commend themselves to you,—while a poem more like the rest of our contemporary verse might not.
Believe me to be
dear sir
faithfully yours,
H. Buxton Forman
Walt Whitman Esq
P. S. I have been a long time trying to persuade one or another of our publishers to print a complete English edition of your works—verbatim, without any retrenchments; and I have gone so far as to offer my poor services in justifying, as far as criticism can justify poetry, those portions which they take exception to, or fear to print. Supposing I ultimately succeeded, would a verbatim reprint of the latest edition, with an introductory essay, have your approval?
Correspondent:
Henry Buxton Forman (1842–1917), also known as
Harry Buxton Forman, was most notably the biographer and editor of Percy Shelley
and John Keats. On February 21, 1872, Buxton sent
a copy of R. H. Horne's The Great Peace-Maker: A Sub-marine
Dialogue (London, 1872) to Whitman. This poetic account of the laying
of the Atlantic cable has a foreword written by Forman. After his death,
Forman's reputation declined primarily because, in 1934, booksellers Graham
Pollard and John Carter published An Enquiry into the Nature
of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets, which exposed Forman as a
forger of many first "private" editions of poetry.
Notes:
1. Conway is refering to R. H. Horne's The Great Peace-Maker: A Sub-marine Dialogue (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, 1872). This poetic account of the laying of the Atlantic cable has a foreword written by Forman. [back]