Cooler & pleasant—I am well—Hartmann (the Japanee)2 was to see me. Is in N Y city, journalizing—a queerish fellow, (for all the fellows, litterateurs as well as any, the moral marrow is the spinal sine qua non—without wh' not, then not)—There is a book ab't American Poets (I don't know the name) by (Prof. I believe) Enrico Nencione,3 Florence, Italy, in wh' is a chapter devoted to L of G & me quite appreciative & favorable—must have been pub'd (say) two y'rs ago—you might have in mind, & be on the look out for—Prof. E N is (I believe) in the University at Florence.4
Nothing specially newer with me—Am getting along well enough considering—to-day (set in last evn'g) much cooler & pleasant—yesterday Wednesday was ab't the most burning day known, following three days nearly as bad, yet I was careful eating & drinking &c, & bathed freely, & have come out so far fairly—Am just preparing some good honey in the comb (of wh' I have a little supply) to send in a sick lady next door—was down to the river last evn'g to pier, Market St here, an hour as usual—Still live on blackberries & bread & honey largely—rec'd a kind note f'm Tom Donaldson5—am sitting here the same old way in my den in shirt sleeves but a merino wool undershirt on—bright sun out—
God bless you all— Walt Whitman loc_zs.00063.jpg loc_zs.00064.jpgCorrespondent:
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).