The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Walt Whitman to Ainsworth R. Spofford, 22 July 1876
Date: July 22, 1876
Whitman Archive ID: loc.02849
Source: Ainsworth R. Spofford Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 6:14. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Kenneth M. Price, Elizabeth Lorang, Kathryn Kruger, Zachary King, and Eric Conrad
Camden N Jersey
July 22 '76
A R Spofford1
Dear Sir
The editions of my Leaves of Grass, as within specified, are the only ones I have published—& comprise all. (Two Rivulets, the further Vol. just issued by me, I believe you have.)
Walt Whitman
I write on the letter, & return it so, for greater definiteness.
Notes:
1. Ainsworth R. Spofford (1825–1910) was Librarian of Congress from 1864 to 1897. Whitman's reply was written on the verso of Spofford's July 21, 1876 letter, in which he cited the six editions of Leaves of Grass in the Library of Congress. [back]