Camden1
10½ a m
Dec: 20 '88
Am getting along—more favorably turning than the other—relish'd my
mutton-broth & dry biscuit—& am sitting here by the stove—sharp
cold & clear to day—Yours of 17th came this mn'g—so the books
arrived at last—& you are contented & pleas'd—& the trilogy
holds together & fuses, tho' various & paradoxical & rapidly twittering,
(probably like Dante's filmy ghosts, rushing by with mere gibberish)—yes it is
mainly all autobiographic environ'd with my time & deeply
incarnated & tinged with it, & the moral begetting of it (I hope)—The
first time soon write whether you get every thing letters & papers—I have
written now every day the last five days & sent budgets of papers or
magazines—wrote a line to Mrs. O'Connor2 last
evn'g—If I hear any thing I will forward you—I am sitting up all day,
yesterday & this—I believe I told you the bladder trouble appears to have
subsided—
3 p m—I have just eaten some vanilla ice
cream—McKay3 has out an ed'n with the annex, Sands at Seventy. I have one—it goes all
right—sells the same $2—the postage on the big book4 is 38cts—I put
four 10ct stamps—I sent one by p o to-day—(the last page contains "Old
Age's Lambent Peaks")—I enclose two letters—one from Logan Smith5—one from Algiers, Africa6—Love to you all & God bless you—
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. | Dec 20 | 8 PM | 88. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. 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]
- 4. Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888), a volume Whitman often referred to
as the "big book," was published by the poet himself—in an arrangement
with publisher David McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves of Grass and Specimen
Days—in December 1888. With the help of Horace Traubel, Whitman made
the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick Oldach bound the
book, which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. 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]
- 5. Logan Pearsall Smith
(1865–1946) was an essayist and literary critic. He was the son of Robert
Pearsall Smith, a minister and writer who befriended Whitman, and he was the
brother of Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, one of Whitman's most avid followers.
For more information on Logan, see Christina Davey, "Smith, Logan Pearsall (1865–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Smith wrote a chatty
letter to Whitman on November 30, 1888. Irish
writer and politician Justin Huntly McCarthy (1859–1936) wrote to Whitman
from Algiers on December 3, 1888, and noted the
loss of his fianceé, an admirer of Whitman's poetry. In his grief he was
reading Whitman's poems alone: "They are helping me, they are strengthening me
& I wish to send you these few words of thanks & gratitude for the sake
of my dead love & my living grief. Camerado, will you give me your hand
across the sea." See also Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in
Camden, Wednesday, December 19, 1888. [back]