David McKay
bookseller,
9th st. opp: P O Phila:1
Dave,
Please send me over by bearer, twelve copies Leaves of Grass, (with the Annex)2—
Walt Whitman
the pocket-b'k3copy I send is a present to you from me—
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. Since the note refers to
Whitman's two recently published books, it seems logical to assign it to 1889
[for further clarification of the assigned date, see the second note below].
According to Edwin Haviland Miller's tabulation, based upon his letters and his
entries in The Commonplace-Book, the poet's income in
1889 amounted to at least $1,447.91: royalties, $626.47; sales of books,
$245.89; payments for articles and poems, $95.00; and gifts,
$480.55. (The figures on book sales are necessarily to some extent
conjectural, based on the assumption that he charged uniform prices for his
various books.) The entries in The Commonplace-Book in
1889, like those in 1888, are not complete, as discrepancies between amounts
deposited in the bank and notations of receipts of money are commonplace (The Commonplace-Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of
the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C.). [back]
- 2. Whitman is requesting a copy
of one of McKay's printings of the sixth (1881) edition of Leaves of Grass, with the "annex" "Sands at Seventy." Because this
letter is undated, it could be argued that the poet was asking for the 1884
issue of the 1881 edition (the first issue published by McKay). However, he is
more likely asking for the 1888 issue, which dates the letter closer to 1889.
The postscript reference to the "pocket-b'k copy" Whitman gave to McKay with the
letter makes the year certain and eliminates the months January through May. The
poet had the special pocket-book edition printed in honor of his 70th birthday,
on May 31, 1889. See Whitman's May 16 1889 letter
to Frederick Oldach. [back]
- 3. 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]