Camden1
Feb: 9 '89
All goes well & as usual—A sunny day, pleasant, fairly cool—bowel
dejection—have been thinking a good deal of O'Connor2—sent to him a letter & papers last night—
Y'rs of 7th has come by the 2 p m mail3—you have of
course by this time the printed slip-sheet of the Sarrazin4
trans: by K[ennedy]5 & it is good—but I suspect there
is plenty left of the S review,6 more that I sh'd like well to have—if (quite
when opportune) you feel to make such additional trans: do so—but do not
bother or hurry ab't it—but you probably have trans: & I shall get it
to-morrow—Upon the whole I opine S's piece is the best we have rec'd in
Europe—& that's saying a good deal. I have sent you six copies the S
piece—Would it facilitate any when you come, (& supposing the leave
obtained)—if you went directly from London to Washington, to see & be a
few hours with O'C?—or is it best to come to Phila: & go hence to W?
Sunday p m Feb: 10
Still all well, I believe—Horace7 last evn'g bro't over
four copies of the "Complete"8 in their good half-calf binding—they are superb,
the best part being the substantiality, with the rich
plainness of the look of them, one is for H himself with a dedication (wh' I have
written in just now) & one I keep for you—Look for word f'm Mrs: O'C9 to morrow.
I enc: Mary Costelloe's10 letter,11 tho'
I dare say you have every minute occupied—
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 | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: Camden,
N.J. | Feb 10 | 5 PM | 89. [back]
- 2. William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. See Bucke's letter to
Whitman of February 7, 1889. [back]
- 4. Gabriel Sarrazin (1853–1935)
was a translator and poet from France who commented positively not only on
Whitman's work but also on Poe's. Whitman later corresponded with Sarrazin and
apparently liked the critic's work on Leaves of
Grass—Whitman even had Sarrazin's chapter on his book translated
twice. For more on Sarrazin, see Carmine Sarracino, "Sarrazin, Gabriel (1853–1935)," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Whitman had asked both
Kennedy and Bucke to make an abstract in English of Sarrazin's "Poétes
moderns de l'amérique, Walt Whitman," La Nouvelle
Revue, 52 (May 1888), 164–84 (see Whitman's letter to Kennedy of
January 22, 1889, and to Bucke of January 27, 1889). Sarrazin's piece is reprinted in
an English translation by Harrison S. Morris in In Re Walt
Whitman (1893, pp. 159–194). The letter is discussed in Horace
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, February 5, 1889, and Saturday, February 9, 1889. [back]
- 7. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. Whitman is referring to Complete Poems & Prose (1888). With the help of
Horace Traubel, Whitman made the presswork and binding decisions, and Frederick
Oldach bound the volume, which included a profile photo of the poet on the title
page. The book was published in December 1888. For more information on the book,
see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 9. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 10. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe
(1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." For more information
about Costelloe, see Christina Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 11. See Mary Whitall Smith
Costelloe's letter to Whitman of January 25–26,
1889. [back]