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J. E. Holdsworth to Walt Whitman, 15 December 1891

About This Item

  • Title: J. E. Holdsworth to Walt Whitman, 15 December 1891
  • Date: December 15, 1891
  • Creator(s): J. E. Holdsworth
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.02263
  • 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: Andrew David King Cristin Noonan Stephanie Blalock Amanda J. Axley
  • Cite this page: Holdsworth, J. E.. "J. E. Holdsworth to Walt Whitman, 15 December 1891." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 11 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.02263.xml (TEI)
 loc.02263.001_large.jpg GOD IS OUR KING! GOD AND LIBERTY! THE LABOUR CHURCH, MANCHESTER. 47 Violet St. Halifax, England1 15.12.91 Dear Sir

I am engaged in compiling a hymn-book for use in the Labour Church movement (see circulars enclosed2) & I wish to include a few selections from your poems in the work. As I do not know what copyright you may have in England, & as, in any case, I would rather not pirate, I beg to ask your kind permission to publish in our hymn-book, two or three short selections from your verses. I  loc.02263.002_large.jpg may add that we do not expect to make a profit on the book, but if we should do so it will go to the funds of the Labour Church

I enclose stamped envelope for reply

Yours Truly J. E. Holdsworth

P.S. Do you know what copyright J. Russell Lowell3 has in England?—or can you give me the address of his representatives or executors?

 loc.02263.003_large.jpg  loc.02263.004_large.jpg  loc.02263.005_large.jpg  loc.02263.006_large.jpg  loc.02263.007_large.jpg  loc.02263.008_large.jpg  loc.02263.009_large.jpg answered [illegible] Feb 2 '92 I said 'yes.' see notes Feb. 3 1892  loc.02263.010_large.jpg

Correspondent:
J. E. Holdsworth may be the James Edward Holdsworth (ca. 1870–1936) who lived in Halifax, Yorkshire, Enagland, and was employed as a "Designer." Holdsworth was also affiliated with the Labour Church, an organization whose socialist politics and working-class ideals were often informed by Whitman's work.

Notes

  • 1. This letter addressed: Mr. Walt Whitman | Camden | New Jersey | U.S.A. It is postmarked: HALIFAX | 32 | DE 15 | 91; 33; CAMDEN, N.J. | DEC 25 | 6 AM | 91 | REC'D; NEW YORK | DEC 24 | B | 91 | PAID | B | ALL. [back]
  • 2. Holdsworth encloses in this letter two flyers and an essay by John Trevor, all promoting The Labour Church. [back]
  • 3. James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) was an American critic, poet and editor of The Atlantic. One of Whitman's famous poetic contemporaries, Lowell was committed to conventional poetic form, which was clearly at odds with Whitman's more experimental form. Still, as editor of the Atlantic Monthly, he published Whitman's "Bardic Symbols," probably at Ralph Waldo Emerson's suggestion. Lowell later wrote a tribute to Abraham Lincoln titled "Commemoration Ode," which has often, since its publication, been contrasted with Whitman's own tribute, "O Captain! My Captain!" For further information on Whitman's views of Lowell, see William A. Pannapacker, "Lowell, James Russell (1819–1891)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998) [back]
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