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Joseph M. Stoddart to Walt Whitman, 11 March 1891

About This Item

  • Title: Joseph M. Stoddart to Walt Whitman, 11 March 1891
  • Date: March 11, 1891
  • Creator(s): Joseph M. Stoddart
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.04683
  • 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.

    Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Cristin Noonan Andrew David King Breanna Himschoot Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Stoddart, Joseph M.. "Joseph M. Stoddart to Walt Whitman, 11 March 1891." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 11 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.04683.xml (TEI)
 loc_gt.00185_large.jpg LIPPINCOTT'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE Philadelphia, March 11 1891 Dear Mr Whitman.

The bearer of this is my son1—who inherits his father's admiration for you. He will explain his mission & if you can gratify him, I will greatly appreciate the kindness.

The Whitman articles2 are exciting considerable attention.—Will get up the notices after while and send them to you for perusal.

Ever yours truly J. M. Stoddart—  loc_gt.00186_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Joseph Marshall Stoddart (1845–1921) published Stoddart's Encyclopaedia America, established Stoddart's Review in 1880, which was merged with The American in 1882, and became the editor of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1886. On January 11, 1882, Whitman received an invitation from Stoddart through J. E. Wainer, one of his associates, to dine with Oscar Wilde on January 14 (Clara Barrus, Whitman and Burroughs—Comrades [Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1931], 235n).

Notes

  • 1. Joseph Alfred Stoddart (1870–1932) was the oldest of the four children born to Joseph Marshall Stoddart (1845–1921) and his wife Isabella Herkness Stoddart (1850–1900). Usually referred to as "Alfred" or "J. Alfred," was a financier who spent forty years working for Drexel and Company. He was also "a writer for magazines on horses, hounds and fox hunting" (see "J. Alfred Stoddart," Philadelphia Inquirer [October 13, 1932], 23). [back]
  • 2. Stoddart is referring to the March issue of Lippincott's in 1891 (Volume 47, pages 376–389). The issue contained Whitman's portrait as a frontispiece, "Old Age Echoes" (including "Sounds of Winter," "The Unexpress'd," "Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht!" and "After the Argument"), Whitman's "Some Personal and Old-Age Memoranda," Horace Traubel's "Walt Whitman: The Poet and Philosopher of Man," and "The Old Man Himself. A Postscript." [back]
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