Camden1
March 26 '89
Fine weather continued—a little cooler. The news ab't O'C[onnor]2 in y'r letter & Dr Hood's3 strikes in
& gloomily—& has depress'd me all day4—
Much the same with me—feeling fairly, physically—Getting ready for L of
G. ed'n to commemorate 70th year finish5—have paid the binder's (Oldach)6
for calf bind'g $65.28 & also bill for the ¾ portrait
"process" 10.50—McKay7 was here yesterday—promis'd
to come 28th & pay me the 1st Dec. '88 statement (wh' is not yet
paid)—have also to pay other bills just come in, wh' I will now be enabled to
do—
W W
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 postal card is
addressed: Dr R M Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario Canada. It is postmarked:
Camden, N.J. | Mar 26 | 8 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. As yet we have no information about
this person. [back]
- 4. Bucke wrote candidly on
March 23, 1889: "We must make up our minds to
his death or worse—for should he live much longer
his life would necessarily become a burden to himself and others." He enclosed a
letter from Dr. T. B. Hood, O'Connor's physician, written on March 19 (Horace
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, March 26, 1889). [back]
- 5. Whitman had a limited
pocket-book edition of Leaves of Grass printed in honor
of his 70th birthday, on May 31, 1889, through special arrangement with
Frederick Oldach. Only 300 copies were printed, and Whitman signed the title
page of each one. The volume also included the annex Sands at
Seventy and his essay A Backward Glance O'er Traveled
Roads. See Whitman's May 16, 1889, letter
to Oldach. 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]
- 6. Frederick Oldach (1823–1907)
was a German bookbinder whose Philadelphia firm bound Whitman's November Boughs (1888) and Complete
Poems & Prose (1888), as well as the special seventieth-birthday
issue of Leaves of Grass (1889). [back]
- 7. 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]