The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Walt Whitman to Dr. John Johnston, 17 February 1891
Date: February 17, 1891
Whitman Archive ID: loc.08002
Source: 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), 5:166. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Cristin Noonan, Andrew David King, Breanna Himschoot, and Stephanie Blalock
Camden N J—U S America1
Feb: 17 noon '91
The item was right—Am in a bad way—"may blow over—may not"2 but it will be all right either way. Remembrance to you & J W W[allace]3 & all the friends—Am sitting here as usual—& have had a cup of coffee—God bless you & all—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
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 One 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 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).
Notes:
1. This letter is addressed: Dr Johnston | 54 Manchester road | Bolton | Lancashire | England. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Feb 17 | 1 30 PM | 91; Philadelphia, Pa. | Feb 17 | 8 PM | Paid. [back]
2. For this quote, see Whitman's letter to the Editors of The Critic of January 16, 1891. In Johnston's letter to Whitman of February 6, 1891, he mentioned that these same words had been printed in London's Daily Graphic. [back]
3. James William Wallace (1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of Whitman. Along with John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician from Bolton, he 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]