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Medical Superintendent's
Office
INSANE ASYLUM
LONDON ONTARIO1
13 Oct. 1891
I have your letter of 10th2 I
fear you are not having a good time and I guess this change in the weather from hot
to almost cold will not be favorable to you—I wish you would ask Longaker3 if he does not think a steam bath (with alcohol lamp)
would be good for you—say about once—or even twice a week? Here all goes well—bright, crisp weather and all in
good health—pretty busy, but that does no
harm—Inspector4 is to be here tomorrow or next day—I am about half
through my annual report—I hear nothing from you or Horace5 about the new L. of G.6—What are you doing with
it? Send me a line as often as possible—I cannot do much for you but I am here
to do what I can
With best Love
R M Bucke
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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:
Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle Street | Camden | New Jersey | U.S.A. It is
postmarked: LONDON | OC 13 | 91 | Canada.; CAMDEN, N.J. | OCT 15 | 1 PM | 91 |
REC'D. [back]
- 2. See Whitman's letter to
Bucke of October 10, 1891. [back]
- 3. Daniel Longaker
(1858–1949) was a Philadelphia physician who specialized in obstetrics. He
became Whitman's doctor in early 1891 and provided treatment during the poet's
final illness. For more information, see Carol J. Singley, "Longaker, Dr. Daniel [1858–1949]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R.LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Bucke is likely referring to
the Inspector of Asylums for the Province of Ontario, Canada. [back]
- 5. 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]
- 6. The 1891–1892 Leaves of Grass was copyrighted in 1891 and published by
Phildelphia publisher David McKay in 1892. This volume, often referred to as the
"deathbed" edition, reprints, with minor revisions, the 1881 text from the
plates of Boston publisher James R. Osgood. Whitman also includes his two
annexes in the book. The first annex, called "Sands at Seventy," consisted of
sixty-five poems that had originally appeared in November
Boughs (1888); while the second, "Good-Bye my Fancy," was a collection
of thirty-one short poems taken from the gathering of prose and poetry published
under that title by McKay in 1891, along with a prose "Preface Note to 2d
Annex." Whitman concluded the 1891–92 volume with his prose essay "A
Backward Glance o'er Travel'd Roads," which had originally appeared in November Boughs. For more information on this volume of
Leaves, see R.W. French, "Leaves of Grass, 1891–1892, Deathbed
Edition," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed.
J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing,
1998). [back]