Correspondent:
James Gordon Bennett Jr. (1841–1918) was the editor and publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father in 1835. Julius Chambers (1850–1920) was an American author, investigative journalist, and travel writer; after working as a reporter for the New York Tribune, he became an editor of the New York Herald and, later, managing editor of the New York World. For more on the Herald and the many poems by Whitman that were published in it, see Susan Belasco, "The New York Herald."

Notes:

1. This top part of the letter was written by author John Habberton (1842–1921), at the time the literary critic at the New York Herald, and indicates that he had just printed the notice of Whitman's November Boughs in his September 17 "Some New Books" column. [back]

2. Elias Hicks (1748–1830) was a Quaker from Long Island whose controversial teachings led to a split in the Religious Society of Friends in 1827, a division that was not resolved until 1955. Hicks had been a friend of Whitman's father and grandfather, and Whitman himself was a supporter and proponent of Hicks's teachings, writing about him in Specimen Days (see "Reminiscence of Elias Hicks") and November Boughs (see "Elias Hicks, Notes (such as they are)"). For more on Hicks and his influence on Whitman, see David S. Reynolds, Walt Whitman's America (New York: Knopf, 1995), 37–39. [back]

3. Whitman sent a copy of his November Boughs essay on Elias Hicks to the New York Herald, which printed a note on Whitman in its September 17, 1888, "Some New Books" column, noting the publication of November Boughs and quoting from the Hicks essay. [back]