[London, Ontario]
4 Dec [188]6
My dear Walt
The "After All" parcel1 came to hand last evening to my
great relief for I had almost given it up and had written to Washington about it. I
see it was returned to you for more stamps. Thank you very much for the new (1886)
portrait,2 I like it very much & thanks too for
the facsimile letter with English list of contributors.3
I have the Centenial ed. both of L of G. & 2 Riv. (sent on last order) but
nothing further so far. You know I asked you also for L. of G. author's Ed.
1882—also current Ed. of L. of G. & specimen days, also for any thing you might have and be willing to part with earlier than 1870—
By the way I want, both '71 and '72 L of G. but I do not think you have them. I have sent
to McKay4 for some portraits for Harry Forman5 and myself
and have told McKay when he has them collected to send them over to you to be signed
and dated. I hope you will kindly do this for me. Is the new portrait for "Autumn
Boughs"? and are you thinking of bringing that book out soon.6 I hope so. Do not forget that you are to be ready to
move in May bag & baggage & make your calculations
accordingly. Mercury fell to zero here this morning, a lovely bright
morning—good sleighing here now. Remember me very kindly to Mrs Stafford &
all the family when you see them—Has Harry had his neck attended to yet?7
Please send on the book as soon as convenient.
Always Affectionately
R M Bucke
Correspondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. The parcel contained
two sets of proof sheets for After All, Not to Create
Only and photographs of Whitman. Both copies of the bound proofs are in
the Charles E. Feinberg Collection (Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C.). [back]
- 2. This portrait is
unidentified. [back]
- 3. William Michael
Rossetti distributed a facsimile of Whitman's letter to him of May 30, 1886, in which the poet thanked his English
friends for gifts totalling £155. Among those who contributed were Henry
James and Robert Louis Stevenson. [back]
- 4. David McKay (1860–1918) took
over Philadelphia-based publisher Rees Welsh's bookselling and publishing
businesses in 1881–82. 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 original publisher,
to withdraw. McKay also went on to publish Specimen Days &
Collect, November Boughs, Gems
from Walt Whitman, Complete Prose Works,
and the final Leaves of Grass, the so-called deathbed edition. 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). [back]
- 5. Henry "Harry" Buxton
Forman (1842–1917) was a British man-of-letters, an editor of and
authority on the works of Keats and Shelley, and, starting in 1887, a
conspirator in literary forgeries that were exposed after his death. The
correspondence at this time between Bucke and Forman makes it clear that Bucke
was also building up Forman's collection of Whitman materials (D. B. Weldon
Library, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario). [back]
- 6. Traubel brought Whitman
the first batch of copies of November Boughs for
distribution to friends on October 4, 1888 (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Thursday, October 4, 1888). [back]
- 7. Whitman's relations
with the Stafford family of Kirkwood, New Jersey, especially with Harry
Stafford, are perceptively described by Miller (Edwin Haviland Miller, ed., Walt Whitman: The Correspondence [New York: New York
University Press, 1961–77], 4:2–9). Harry had recently had a throat
operation. For a summary of Whitman's relationship to the Staffords, see David
G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M.," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). For a further discussion of Harry Stafford, see Arnie
Kantrowitz, "Stafford, Harry L. (b.1858)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]