loc_zs.00153.jpg
Camden1
Dec: 24 '90
Y'rs rec'd: ab't the catheter &c:2—thanks—Am feeling
tolerably easy—bowel voidance—clear sunny weather here—
Horace3 is sending his piece to N E Magazine4—I send MS
"Some Personal Memoranda" & a poemet to Lippincott's intended for March5—I
have also sent (did I tell you?) some poetic stuff to
Scribner's6—McKay7 has paid
me for the 100 big book sets sheets went to England—Enclose
Dr J's8 letter came last evn'g9—(good friends good
set there in Bolton)—letter10 this mn'g f'm Ed Wilkins,11
welcomed—
Christmas at hand—(a sort of general prosperity & "intestinal agitation")—Looks fine out &
I sh'l likely get in wheel chair12—
God bless you all
Walt Whitman
loc_zs.00154.jpg
loc_zs.00155.jpg
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
Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: Philadelph(?) |
Dec 24 | 1 PM | 90, London | PM | DE 25 | 90 | Canada. [back]
- 2. On December 22 Bucke wrote: "The best letter I have had for a long time
was one this moment received written by Dr Mitchell jr. to Horace and forwarded
me by the latter. This letter gives an acct. of the analysis of your water and
according to it your kidneys are absolutely normal. There
is nothing at all wrong with your water works except the enlarged prostate and
the irritation consequent upon it. Your main difficulty is that on account of
the enlargement of the prostate the bladder is not entirely emptied at any
time—the urine retained undergoes decomposition and causes
irritation—Now what is wanted is that a catheter should be passed morning
and evening and all the water drawn off (in this way)
twice a day." [back]
- 3. 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]
- 4. Horace Traubel's article,
"Walt Whitman at Date," was published in the May 1891 issue of the New England Magazine 4.3 (May 1891), 275–292. The
article is also reprinted in the first appendix of the eighth volume of
Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden. [back]
- 5. See Whitman's November 20, 1890, letter to Joseph M. Stoddart and
his December 30, 1890, letter to Bucke. [back]
- 6. On December 17, Whitman sent
four poems: "Old Chants," "Grand is the Seen," "Death dogs my steps," and "two
lines." He requested $100, but the poems were rejected on January 23, 1891
(Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of
Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [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]
- 8. Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927)
of Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, was a physician, photographer, and avid
cyclist. Johnston was trained in Edinburgh and served as a hospital surgeon in
West Bromwich for two years before moving to Bolton, England, in 1876. Johnston
worked as a general practitioner in Bolton and as an instructor of ambulance
classes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. He served at Whalley Military
Hospital during World War I and became Medical Superintendent of Townley's
Hospital in 1917 (John Anson, "Bolton's Illustrious Doctor Johnston—a man
of many talents," Bolton News [March 28, 2021]; Paul
Salveson, Moorlands, Memories, and Reflections: A Centenary
Celebration of Allen Clarke's Moorlands and Memories [Lancashire
Loominary, 2020]). Johnston, along with the architect James W. Wallace, 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
Johnston, see Larry D. Griffin, "Johnston, Dr. John (1852–1927)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. See Dr. Johnston's letter of
December 13, 1890. [back]
- 10. This letter may not be
extant. [back]
- 11. Edward "Ned" Wilkins
(1865–1936) was one of Whitman's nurses during his Camden years; he was
sent to Camden from London, Ontario, by Dr. Richard M. Bucke, and he began
caring for Whitman on November 5, 1888. He stayed for a year before returning to
Canada to attend the Ontario Veterinary School. Wilkins graduated on March 24,
1893, and then he returned to the United States to commence his practice in
Alexandria, Indiana. For more information, see Bert A. Thompson, "Edward
Wilkins: Male Nurse to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review
15 (September 1969), 194–195. [back]
- 12. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]