The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: David Mckay to Walt Whitman, 31 October 1890
Date: October 31, 1890
Whitman Archive ID: loc.03128
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, Brandon James O'Neil, Marie Ernster, and Stephanie Blalock
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DAVID MCKAY,
23 S. 9th St., Phila.1
Oct 31 1890
PUBLISHER AND BOOKSELLER
Old Books Bought, Sold, and Exchanged.
Please send us 1 Complete Edition,2 with bill for same, also send bill for 50 in sheets and one bound, which have been delivered
yours &etc
David McKay
Correspondent:
David McKay (1860–1918) took
over Philadelphia-based publisher Rees Welsh's bookselling and publishing
businesses in 1881–2. McKay and Rees Welsh published the 1881 edition of
Leaves of Grass after opposition from the Boston
District Attorney prompted James R. Osgood & Company of Boston, the
publisher Whitman had originally contracted with for publication of the volume,
to withdraw. McKay also went on to publish Specimen Days &
Collect, November Boughs, Gems
from Walt Whitman, and Complete Prose Works. For
more information about McKay, see Joel Myerson, "McKay, David (1860–1918)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes:
1. This postal card is addressed: Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle St. | Camden | N. J. It is postmarked: [Philadephia] | Oct 31 | 1230PM | 90; Camden, N. J. | Oct 31 | 3PM | 90 | Rec'd. [back]
2. Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888), a volume Whitman often referred to as the "big book," was published by the poet himself—in an arrangement with publisher David McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves of Grass and Specimen Days—in December 1888. With the help of Horace Traubel, Whitman made the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick Oldach bound the book, which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. For more information on the book, see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and Commentary. [back]