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Walt Whitman to Ernest Rhys, 6 April 1887

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Ernest Rhys, 6 April 1887
  • Date: April 6, 1887
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.03317
  • 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: Stefan Schöberlein Alex Ashland Caterina Bernardini Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Ernest Rhys, 6 April 1887." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.03317.xml (TEI)
 loc.03317.001.jpg Camden New Jersey U S America1 April 6 '87—

Yours of March 24 rec'd2—also one some 12 days previous—thanks—you ought to have rec'd the MS of my "additional note" to your ed'n of Spec: Days in America—as I sent it on the 15th March—yes, send me two or three printed slip impressions of the Preface, soon as ready—also two or three printed impr: of the "note" when ready—I am well as usual—delivered my annual "Death of Abraham Lincoln" lecture3 here in Camden before the Unitarians last night

Walt Whitman  loc.03317.002.jpg

Correspondent:
Ernest Percival Rhys (1859–1946) was a British author and editor; he founded the Everyman's Library series of inexpensive reprintings of popular works. He included a volume of Whitman's poems in the Canterbury Poets series and two volumes of Whitman's prose in the Camelot series for Walter Scott publishers. For more information about Rhys, see Joel Myerson, "Rhys, Ernest Percival (1859–1946)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

  • 1. This postal card is addressed: Ernest Rhys | Care of Walter Scott | Publisher 24 Warwick Lane | London England | ec. It is postmarked [cut away] [cut away] | APR [illegible] | 6 PM | 87. [back]
  • 2. The two Rhys-letters that Whitman is referring to are not extant. In his March 29, 1887 letter to Whitman, Rhys writes: "Your letter of the 15th with the 'Additional Note' was not long in following the other." [back]
  • 3. This is a reference to Whitman's lecture entitled "The Death of Abraham Lincoln." He first delivered this lecture in New York in 1879 and would deliver it at least eight other times over the succeeding years, delivering it for the last time on April 15, 1890. He published a version of the lecture as "Death of Abraham Lincoln" in Specimen Days and Collect (1882–83). For more on the lecture, see Larry D. Griffin, "'Death of Abraham Lincoln,'" Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings, ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
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