The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Walt Whitman to Jeannette L. Gilder, 15 January 1881
Date: January 15, 1881
Whitman Archive ID: loc.02206
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.
Notes for this letter were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented, updated, or created by Whitman Archive staff as appropriate.
Contributors to digital file: Grace Thomas, Stefan Schoeberlein, Nicole Gray, and Nima Najafi Kianfar
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431 Stevens Street
Camden New Jersey
Jan: 15 '81
My dear friend
As I have not rec'd the proof,1 I take it things are lagging or postponed a little with the Critic (is that the name?)—
—In the Feb: N A Review there is a piece of mine about Poetry (a good many of my private sentiments publicly expressed)2—Of course I should like to have it exploited—& by you if handy—Should you think proper, would it be worth while to get it in advance, for the Herald?3 (should the Review not be out when you get this) you can send to Mr Rice,4 the editor, or Mr Metcalf5 the business manager, & I think get the sheets—you can use my name—
Walt Whitman
Should you notice, send to me
In my last I addressed you at 757 Broadway—is either that, or the address to this letter, all right?
—Send me word more definitely about the Critic & mind the proof—send it in a letter, letter postage—& it will be returned same night—
—I am feeling real well for me this winter
WW6
Notes:
1. Whitman returned the proof of his article on January 20 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]
2. "The Poetry of the Future" (see the letter from Whitman to Harry Stafford of January 2, 1881). [back]
3. Jeannette Gilder had been associated with the New York Herald (see the letter from Whitman to John Burroughs of December 12, 1878). [back]
4. Charles Allen Thorndike Rice (1851–1889) purchased The North American Review in 1876. See also the letter from Whitman to John Burroughs of February 1, 1881. [back]
5. Perhaps Lorettus S. Metcalf, listed in the directories as a journalist. [back]
6. The following phrase appears at the bottom of the letter in Whitman's hand, but has been rubbed out: "The article in Feb Rev was." [back]