I have been away two days—went Wednesday—wedding yesterday back today.
Did some meter business2 at same time. The wedding3 was a very pleasant one, both
groom & bride very jolly—everything went smoothly and we all had a good time—.
The affair was very stilish—6 bridesmaids &c &c Champaine breakfast. And all the
rest of it—wedding presents very handsome and very numerous—Got back home at noon today and all
afternoon we have been having "athletic sports" at the asylum.—quite a "big loc_es.00365.jpg time" attendants and
patients taking part—we had over $100. worth of prizes and had a lot of fun. I
suppose the books are getting on? I hope you will settle down to the notion of
issuing the big book4 yourself without the intermediary of
any publisher—print 400 or 500 copies—get them up in all ways in first
class style—number each—sell for $10. Advertise in the "N.B."5 and
perhaps in "Critic" & "Pall Mall Gazette"— let Horace6 do all the work except autographing—make it a solid
remembrance of yourself for your friends—make it as personal as possible
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).