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Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton to Walt Whitman, 27 September 1875

About This Item

  • Title: Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton to Walt Whitman, 27 September 1875
  • Date: September 27, 1875
  • Creator(s): Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.01733
  • 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: Alex Kinnaman Elizabeth Lorang Kevin McMullen Ashley Lawson John Schwaninger Caterina Bernardini Marie Ernster Amanda J. Axley Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton. "Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton to Walt Whitman, 27 September 1875." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.01733.xml (TEI)
 loc.01733.001_large.jpg Brevoort House, New York. Sep. 27th Dear Mr. Whitman:

I was only in Philadelphia for a few hours, but I propose to return there for some days the end of next month or the beginning of November

 loc.01733.003_large_mflm.jpg

It will give me real pleasure to make your aquaintence​ having been, I think, one of the first to welcome you into our great old world literature.

I remain yr​ very tly​ L​ Houghton  loc.01733.003_large.jpg  loc.01733.004_large_mflm.jpg

Correspondent:
Richard Monckton Milnes (1809–1885), Lord Houghton, was an intimate of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) and William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863), as well as a poet. He was a collector of famous people; in Dictionary of National Biography he is characterized as "eminently a dilettante." Houghton wrote to Joaquin Miller on September 1, 1875, from Chicago: "Please give my best regards to Mr Whitman." On September 5, 1875, Miller informed Whitman that he was trying to arrange a meeting with Lord Houghton. On November 3, 1875, Houghton himself wrote to Whitman to ask whether November 6 would be convenient for a meeting. See Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906–1996), Thursday, June 21, 1888, 364, and Wednesday, September 12th, 1888, 310; In Re Walt Whitman (1893), ed. Horace L. Traubel, Richard Maurice Bucke, and Thomas B. Harned, 36; and Harold Blodgett, Walt Whitman in England (1934), 141–143.

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