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Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 12–14 November 1891

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 12–14 November 1891
  • Date: November 12–14, 1891; November 13, 1891
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman | Unknown
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.07851
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

    Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Mykle Law Amanda J. Axley Cristin Noonan Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt and Unknown. "Walt Whitman to Richard Maurice Bucke, 12–14 November 1891." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 26 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.07851.xml (TEI)
 loc_zs.00568.jpg Camden NJ—1891

Nov: 12—Sunny fine Nov. day—have pann'd oysters for my meals—continued bowel stoppage—rise late—feelings ab't "same subject continued"—probably a little more heavy headed & inertia.—lots of pieces ab't me in newspapers (especially NY) frequently horribly erroneous & silly—Horace1 and Tom H2 are quite excited ab't a (supposed) plot or black mail or extortion to get a big sum of money out of me (or friends) for the tomb3—Tom H has it in hand—& I have too—don't anticipate much f'm it—but we will see—have paid them $1500,4 & am willing to pay same am't more wh' is certainly 1/3d more (altogether) than square—But I wanted much to collect my parents'5 & two or three relatives' dead relics with my own—& this is the result—& I am & think I shall be satisfied

Nov: 14—Fine sunny Nov: weather cont'd—feeling ab't same—buckwh't cakes & coffee for brkf't no specific news of JWW's6 arrival7 yet—no word yet f'm Forman8 ab't the Eng: publishing nibble9—fearful rush lately of autograph fiends upon me—20 or 30 this week—sitting here same in big chair—have rec'd copy of O'C's10 "Three Tales"11—books & papers galore—head uneasy or congested or aching all the time

Walt Whitman

Mr. Donnelly Aids a Worthy Cause.12

Hon. Ignatius Donnelly13 will lecture on "The Authorship of Shakespeare's Plays" at the Academy of Music, on Monday night next, in aid of St. Agnes' Hospital. As this will be the first appearance here for years of a Philadelphia scholar and orator who, in addition to his literary fame, is recognized as one of the most gifted speakers in the West, and as the object is most worthy, it is safe to predict a crowded house and a substantial addition to the resources of one of our grandest local charities.

Phil: Record Nov. 13 '91

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. 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]
  • 2. Thomas Biggs Harned (1851–1921) was one of Whitman's literary executors. Harned was a lawyer in Philadelphia and, having married Augusta Anna Traubel (1856–1914), was Horace Traubel's brother-in-law. For more on him, see Dena Mattausch, "Harned, Thomas Biggs (1851–1921)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on his relationship with Whitman, see Thomas Biggs Harned, Memoirs of Thomas B. Harned, Walt Whitman's Friend and Literary Executor, ed. Peter Van Egmond (Hartford: Transcendental Books, 1972). [back]
  • 3. Whitman was making plans to be buried in Harleigh Cemetery, in Camden, New Jersey, in an elaborate granite tomb that he designed. Reinhalter and Company of Philadelphia built the tomb, at a cost of $4,000. Whitman covered a portion of these costs with money that his Boston friends had raised so that the poet could purchase a summer cottage; the remaining balance was paid by Whitman's literary executor, Thomas Harned. For more information on the cemetery and Whitman's tomb, see See Geoffrey M. Still, "Harleigh Cemetery," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 4. The receipt from P. Reinhalter & Company read: "Received from Walt Whitman tenth of July, 1891 One thousand dollars cash, for the tomb in Harleigh Cemetery—making, including the sum of five hundred dollars (paid May 12 last) altogether to date the sum of fifteen hundred dollars which is hereby receipted"; see the Detroit Public Library's publication, An Exhibition of the Works of Walt Whitman, (Detroit: February and March 1955), 41. [back]
  • 5. Walter Whitman, Sr. (1789–1855), married Louisa Van Velsor in 1816. Together they had nine children, the second of whom was his namesake and future poet, Walt Jr. Well-connected and politically radical, Walter's personality was rigid and stern, a temperament that alienated his poet son. The close relationship between Walt and his mother Louisa contributed to his liberal view of gender representation and his sense of comradeship. For more information on Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, see "Whitman, Louisa Van Velsor (1795–1873)." For more on Walter Sr., see "Whitman, Walter, Sr. (1789–1855)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 6. James William Wallace (1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of Whitman. Wallace, along with Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician in Bolton, founded the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston and Wallace corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members of the Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet and published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more information on Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 7. At this time, Wallace was returning to his home in Bolton, Lancashire, England, after spending several weeks traveling in the United States and Canada. During his trip, Wallace visited Whitman in Camden, and, after spending a few days with the poet, Wallace traveled with the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke to Bucke's home in London, Ontario, Canada, where he met Bucke's family and friends. Wallace's November 14, 1891, letter to Whitman tells of his arrival to Liverpool the previous day, November 13, 1891. Wallace's account of his time with Whitman was published—along with the Bolton physician John Johnston's account of his own visit with the poet in the summer of 1890—in their memoir, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). [back]
  • 8. Henry Buxton Forman (1842–1917), also known as Harry Buxton Forman, was most notably the biographer and editor of Percy Shelley and John Keats. On February 21, 1872, Buxton sent a copy of R. H. Horne's The Great Peace-Maker: A Sub-marine Dialogue (London, 1872) to Whitman. This poetic account of the laying of the Atlantic cable has a foreword written by Forman. After his death, Forman's reputation declined primarily because, in 1934, booksellers Graham Pollard and John Carter published An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets, which exposed Forman as a forger of many first "private" editions of poetry. [back]
  • 9. See Whitman's October 18, 1891, letter to Forman. [back]
  • 10. 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]
  • 11. Three of William D. O'Connor's stories with a preface by Whitman were published in Three Tales: The Ghost, The Brazen Android, The Carpenter (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1892). Whitman's preface was also included in Good-Bye My Fancy (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891), 51–53. [back]
  • 12. Whitman pasted this enclosed newpspaper article in the bottom right corner of the letter. He wrote the source information "Phil: Record Nov. 13 '91" at the bottom of the clipping in black ink. [back]
  • 13. Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (1831–1901) was a politician and writer, well known for his notions of Atlantis as an antediluvian civilization and for his belief that Shakespeare's plays had been written by Francis Bacon, an idea he argued in his book The Great Cryptogram: Francis Bacon's Cipher in Shakespeare's Plays, published in 1888. [back]
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