Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 7 February 1888

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 7 February 1888
Date: February 7, 1888
Creator(s): Walt Whitman | Walt Whitman>
Whitman Archive ID: loc.07507
Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 147. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Ryan Furlong Alex Ashland Caterina Bernardini Stephanie Blalock
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt and Walt Whitman>. "Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 7 February 1888." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: loc.07507.xml (TEI)

Camden1 Feb: 7 '88

Nothing new or special, I am ab't the same—quite frequent visitors—weather dark & moist & snowy, not very cold—I believe Rhys2 is to lecture to-night before the N Y Century Club—a week from to-night before the Phila: Contemporary—no letters have come here for you—I have just sent L of G. to Andrew Carnegie.3

Walt Whitman

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. This letter is addressed: Dr R M Bucke | of Canada | St Augustine | Florida. It is postmarked: [Cam]den, N.J. | (?). [back]
2. 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). [back]
3. Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), the prominent industrialist and admirer of Whitman, had donated twice to the support of the aged poet. [back]