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Emil Arctander to Walt Whitman, 20 June 1872

 loc_ej.00796_large.jpg Dear Sir:

In transmitting to you the last part of the translation, I beg once more leave to ask your forbearance. I know very well, that it is to say the least, a weak translation, but considering the original I was unable to do it better. I have marked some places with ? because the word used does not suit me, but neither in my head nor in my dictionary was I able to find any other.

Trusting however that it must be of some use to you,

I remain Sir, Yours Emil Arctander  loc_ej.00797_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Emil Arctander, who was acting vice-consul for Denmark, translated Rudolf Schmidt's 1872 article for Walt Whitman. According to his letters of June 17 and 20, 1872, Arctander did not complete his self-styled "weak translation" until later in the month. The translation, with scores of corrections in Walt Whitman's hand, is in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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