Title: Walt Whitman to the Editor of The North American Review, 3 October 1890
Date: October 3, 1890
Whitman Archive ID: loc.07844
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), 5:99. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Blake Bronson-Bartlett, Ryan Furlong, Ian Faith, and Stephanie Blalock
Camden New Jersey
Evn'g Oct: 3 1890
Y'rs asking me to write piece for Review &c: rec'd1—Yes, (and thanks)—Just now my chosen theme and head-line w'd be "Old Poets—(and other things.)" It takes in the subject you mention too. If that sh'd suit I w'd send you in a week2—
Walt Whitman
I must apologize to (I think) Mr Bryce anent of his letter & request quite long ago—I was critically ill at the time & the letter got neglected—
Correspondent:
Lloyd Bryce was the editor
of The North American Review from 1889–1896.
1. See William Rideing's October 3, 1890, letter to Whitman. Rideing was assistant editor of The North American Review. [back]
2. On October 3, 1890, William H. Rideing, the assistant editor, requested an article of about "4000 words" on "Recent aspects of American literature" for "the sum of Two hundred dollars" or on "some other subject on which you would be more willing to write." Whitman sent "Old Poets" to the magazine on October 9, returned proof on October 18, and received $75 (The Commonplace-Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]