Abraham Simpson to Walt Whitman, 19 August 1867

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Messrs. A. SIMPSON & Co. respectfully announce for early publication, the following works by Foreign and American Authors:

GENERAL SCIENCE

• I.

• METEORS, AËROLITES, AND FALLING STARS. By T. L. Phipson,9 Doctor of Science, etc.
• An admirable little work, written in simple language, and treating of a most interesting department of science.

• II.

• GEOLOGY FOR GENERAL READERS. A series of Popular Sketches in Geology and Palæontology. By David Page,10 F.R.S.E., etc.
• In this work the author has endeavored to produce a treatise which every intelligent person can understand. It should find a place in every library, large and small.

• III.

• POPULAR LECTURES ON FOOD. By E. Lankester,11 M.D., F.R.S., etc.

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• IV.

• THE USES OF ANIMALS IN RELATION TO THE INDUSTRY OF MAN. By E. Lankester, M.D., etc.
• Both the above works are exceedingly interesting and instructive, and are freely illustrated.

• V.

• THE REASONING POWER IN ANIMALS. By the Rev. John Selby Watson.12

• VI.

• PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM, IN AID OF REARING AND FEEDING THE LIVE STOCK. By William Seller, M.D.,13 etc., and Henry Stephens.14 A book for every Farmer and Rearer of Cattle.

MEDICAL SCIENCE.

• I.

• BELLEVUE AND CHARITY HOSPITAL REPORTS. A collection of monographs by Physicians and Surgeons of these great hospitals, and by other medical gentlemen of eminence, similar in general scope to Guy's Hospital and other English Hospital Reports, to be published on the 1st of January of each year. The first volume is now in preparation, and will be published January 1st, 1868. Subscriptions will be received by the undersigned. Price to subscribers, $5,00; to all others, $6,00. A limited edition only will be printed.

• II.

• A MANUAL OF MINOR SURGERY AND SURGICAL DRESSINGS. By James L. Little, M.D., Lecturer on Operative Surgery and Surgical Dressings in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. (In preparation.)

• III.

• A TREATISE ON EMOTIONAL DISORDERS OF THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM OF NERVES. By William Murray, M.D.,15 etc. (In press.)

• IV.

• LIGHT; ITS INFLUENCE ON LIFE AND HEALTH. By Forbes Winslow, M.D. (In press.)

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• V.

• A TREATISE ON MELANCHOLY. From the French of Dr. E. Du Vivier.

BELLES LETTRES AND GENERAL LITERATURE.

• I.

• POEMS By F. S. Cozzens,16 author of the "Sparrowgrass Papers," etc. (In preparation.)

• II.

• THE SAYINGS OF DR. BUSHWHACKER, AND OTHER LEARNED MEN; By F. S. Cozzens, (author of the Sparrowgrass Papers) et al. (In press.)

• III.

• POEMS FROM THE PORTUGUESE OF LUIS DE CAMOENS;17 with Remarks on his Life and Writings. By Lord Viscount Strangford. (In press.)

• IV.

• GALILEO.18 HIS LIFE, HIS DISCOVERIES, AND HIS WORKS. From the French of Dr. Max Parchappe. (In preparation.)

A. SIMPSON & CO., PRINTERS & PUBLISHERS, No. 60 DUANE ST, NEW YORK.19

Notes

• 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman Esq | Washington | DC. It is postmarked: Carrier | AUG | 19 | 7 P.M. [back]
• 2. In 1866, Dr. William A. Hammond (1828–1900), F. S. Hoffman, and "Abe" Simpson joined with B. W. Bond (of the publishing firm Moorhead, Simpson & Bond) to form the Agathynian Club, which printed both original works and reprints with an interest in typographical innovation. The Club produced periodicals, as well as reprints of rare, curious, and old American, English, French, and Latin books (American Literary Gazette and Publishers Circular [Philadelphia: George W. Childs, Publisher, No. 600 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, July 1, 1867], 9:136). While preparing the Agathynian Club's second volume, a fire destroyed the Bradstreet book-bindery, all 150 copies of the Club's second volume, and by extension the Club itself, which folded in 1868 when Hammond elected to focus on his medical practice. For more information on the Club, see Adolf Growell, "The Agathynian Club (1866–1868)," American Book Clubs: Their Beginnings and History, and a Bibliography of their Publications (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1897), 145–151. [back]
• 3. J. M. Bradstreet & Son, publishers located at 18 Beekman Street, New York, published Drum-Taps. [back]
• 4. Edward S. Dunster (1837–1888) became a Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Michigan. [back]
• 5. George P. Philes (1828–1913) was a linguist and bibliographer from New York. [back]
• 6. Francis Grose (1731?–1791) was an English antiquary and writer of several books on the subject of antiques. Grose's membership in the Surrey regiment earned him the title of captain in 1766, which he adopted as an informal title as well. Grose was the anonymous author of Advice to the Officers of the British Army: With the addition of some Hints to the Drummer and Private Soldier (1783), which satirized British conduct in the American Revolutionary War. [back]
• 7. Desiderius Erasmus (1467–1536) was a Renaissance scholar and theologian. [back]
• 8. Polydore Vergil or simply Virgil (?–1555), an Italian priest and scholar. [back]
• 9. T. L. (Thomas Lamb) Phipson (1833–1908) was a British author who wrote wide ranging works on scientific theory and discovery. [back]
• 10. David Page (1814–1879) was a widely celebrated Scottish geologist and scientific author of the nineteenth century. President of the Edinburgh Geological Society, Page's pursuit for knowledge and academia in his field came about naturally, when after completing divinity school as a teen and in lieu of joining the ministry, he went to work in scientific lecturing and journalism. [back]
• 11. Sir Edwin Ray Lankester (1847–1929) was a British zoologist. He was the third Director of the Natural History Museum, London. [back]
• 12. John Selby Watson (1804–1884) was a British classical translator and deacon; he later pleaded insanity for the murder of his wife, Anne Armstrong. Prior to his crime and life imprisonment, Watson was the headmaster of Stockwell Grammar School and garnered respect as a scholar and translator. Watson was also ordained as a deacon by the Bishop of Ely in 1839. He wrote biographies and religious works, in addition to the volume Reasoning Power in Animals (1867). [back]
• 13. William Seller (1798–1869) was a physician from Edinburgh and a former editor of the Edinburgh Medical Journal. [back]
• 14. Henry Stephens (1795–1874) was a Scottish farmer, meteorologist, and agricultural author. During his tour across continental Europe between 1818 and 1819, Stephens gathered intel of agricultural techniques among various plats of land, aiming to advance agricultural methods. In lieu of farming, during the latter part of his life Stephens devoted his time to writing and publishing materials centered on the advancement of farming practice and educating the general public on the basic principles of agricultural science. His book, The Book of the Farm (1841) was revolutionary in execution, lauded as a standard reference work and farming manual. Physiology at the Farm, in Aid of Rearing and Feeding the Live Stock (1867) was authored with William Sellers, M.D., and focused on animal nutrition. [back]
• 15. William Murray was a physician who wrote about the nervous system and treatment of aneurism. [back]
• 16. Frederic Swartwout Cozzens (1818–1869) was a New York humorist and author of The Sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker, and Other Learned Men (sometimes spelled "Bushwacker"), an 1867 collection of essays, Prismatics (written under the pseudonym Richard Haywarde) and The Sparrowgrass Papers, a humorous account of a city man running a country home. [back]
• 17. The Portuguese poet Luis de Camões (d. 1580), sometimes Anglicized as Camoens, is considered the most important poet of the Portuguese language. [back]
• 18. Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), Italian astronomer and physicist. [back]
• 19. Enclosed in this letter is a return envelope addressed to the Agathynian Club at 18 Beekman Street, New York. [back]