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Thaddeus Hyatt to Walt Whitman, 18 March 1892

About This Item

  • Title: Thaddeus Hyatt to Walt Whitman, 18 March 1892
  • Date: March 18, 1892
  • Creator(s): Thaddeus Hyatt
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.02341
  • 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: Cristin Noonan Amanda J. Axley Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Hyatt, Thaddeus. "Thaddeus Hyatt to Walt Whitman, 18 March 1892." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 26 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.02341.xml (TEI)
 loc.02341.001_large.jpg 73 Henry Street1 Brooklyn NY 18 March 1892 Dear Mr Whitman,

With this I mail to you a copy of a collection of verses entitled "Loves Seasons or Tides of the Heart,"—which I hope you are well enough to find some pleasure in reading.

But the real poetry you will find I think in "Note 4" in  loc.02341.002_large.jpg the Appendix, to which I invite your attention.—

Notes 3 & 4 present for the consideration of thoughtful minds a new view of man; & the Fowler & Wells Co:2—are so much impressed by it that they are about to send these notes out as a leaflet to the men of thought at present engaged in studies of this nature.

I shall be glad to hear from you & to know that your health is quite restored.—I remain

Very Sincerely Yours Thaddeus Hyatt  loc.02341.003_large.jpg  loc.02341.004_large.jpg  loc.02341.005_large.jpg  loc.02341.006_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Thaddeus Hyatt (1816–1901) was an abolitionist and industrialist. Born in New Jersey, Hyatt moved to Kansas in the 1850s with a plan to develop local industry, where he befriended abolitionist John Brown. Following Brown's execution in 1859, Hyatt raised funds to support Brown's widow and children and was brought to Washington, D.C., to testify before the U.S. Senate committee investigating the events at Harper's Ferry. After refusing to testify, he was jailed at Capitol Prison for three months. Upon release, he briefly served as American consul at La Rochelle, France, before building a home in London using his own patented concrete. There, he developed the translucent paving tiles that made him a small fortune. During the last years of his life, Hyatt divided his time between Brooklyn and the British Isles and died in 1901 while vacationing with his family on the Isle of Wight. He is the author of several books, including The Prayer of Thaddeus Hyatt to James Buchanan, President of the United States, in Behalf of Kansas (Washington: Henry Polkinhorn, 1860) and Love's Seasons, or Tides of the Heart (New York: Fowler and Wells, 1892). For more information, see Steven Lubet, John Brown's Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confession of John E. Cook (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012).

Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed: Walt: Whitman | Camden | New Jersey. It is postmarked: BROOKLYN, N.Y. | MAR18 | 530PM | 92; CAMDEN, N.J. | MAR19 | 6AM | 92 | REC'D. This letter arrived a week before Whitman's death on March 26, 1892. [back]
  • 2. Lorenzo Niles Fowler (1811–1896) and Orson Squire Fowler (1809–1887) were brothers from Cohocton, New York, and well-known phrenologists. They established a Phrenological Cabinet in Clinton Hall in New York City in 1842, where Whitman received a phrenological examination in 1849. The Fowlers' brother-in-law Samuel R. Wells also joined the firm, which later came to be known as Fowler and Wells. The firm published numerous books and magazines on phrenology, reform, and self-help topics, and anonymously published Whitman's second edition of Leaves of Grass in 1856. For more information, see Madeline B. Stern, "Fowler, Lorenzo Niles (1811–1896) and Orson Squire (1809–1887)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
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