Henry Irving to Walt Whitman, 2 June 1889

About This Item

Title: Henry Irving to Walt Whitman, 2 June 1889
Date: June 2, 1889
Creator(s): Henry Irving
Whitman Archive ID: loc.08100
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.
Contributors to digital file: Zainab Saleh Brandon James O'Neil Stephanie Blalock
Cite this page: Irving, Henry. "Henry Irving to Walt Whitman, 2 June 1889." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: loc.08100.xml (TEI)

loc_zs.00193.jpg Form No. 1 THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY. This Company TRANSMITS and DELIVERS messages only on conditions limiting its liability, which have been assented to by the sender of the following message. Errors can be guarded against only be repeating a message back to the sending station, for comparison, and the company will not hold itself liable for errors or delays in the transmission or delivery of Unrepeated Messages, beyond the amount of tolls paid thereon, nor in any case where the claim is not presented in writing within 60 days after sending the message. This is an UNREPEATED MESSAGE, and is delivered by the request of the sender, under the conditions named above. THOS. T. ECKERT, General Manager. NORVIN GREEN, President. cable NUMBER 15
SENT BY EL
REC'D By —M
CHECK 20 Received at 627 No. 7 North THIRD St.1 6/2 1889 Dated London 6/2/89, To Walt. Whitman 328 Mickel St. Camden NJ.

Let me add to the many my respectful and sincere greetings.2

Henry Irving

Correspondent:
Sir Henry Irving (1838–1905), born John Henry Brodribb, was a well-known British stage actor and inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Both Stoker (1847–1912) and Irving visited Whitman in Camden in 1884, where the actor and Whitman talked "a good while and seemed to take to each other mightily" (Thomas Donaldson, Walt Whitman the Man [New York: Francis P. Harper, 1896], 55).

Notes

1. The address "No. 7 North THIRD St." is stamped on the line provided for the location where the message was recorded. The stamp covers and may be intended to replace the number "627," which was written previously in ink on the same line. [back]
2. This telegram was printed, along with numerous other notes and addresses honoring Whitman on the occasion of his 70th birthday, in Camden's Compliment to Walt Whitman: May 31, 1889: Notes, Addresses, Letters, Telegrams, ed. Horace L. Traubel (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: David McKay), 71. [back]