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W. I. Lincoln Adams to Walt Whitman, 9 January 1892

About This Item

  • Title: W. I. Lincoln Adams to Walt Whitman, 9 January 1892
  • Date: January 9, 1892
  • Creator(s): W. I. Lincoln Adams
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.08198
  • 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: Ethan Heusser Cristin Noonan Erel Michaelis Paige Wilkinson Stephanie Blalock Amanda J. Axley
  • Cite this page: Adams, W. I. Lincoln. "W. I. Lincoln Adams to Walt Whitman, 9 January 1892." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 26 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.08198.xml (TEI)
 loc_zs.00639.jpg THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES, 423 BROOME STREET, NEW YORK.1 January ninth 1892. Dear Walt Whitman!

I send you herewith a portrait of yourself, in photo type, which I have received from Mr. Gutekunst,2 of Philadelphia, to illustrate our magazine.

Enclosed also is a brief sketch of your life which I prepared and, as best I could, from a newspaper account.

I want you to see both the portrait and the sketch and get your approval of  loc_zs.00640.jpg both before I go ahead. Will you also be good enough to send me your signature that I may have a facsimile prepared and to be printed beneath the portrait, as a title.

Of course I shall be only too happy to send you as many copies as you may desire of the portrait, also of the magazine3 containing it.4

Very truly yours W. I. Lincoln Adams Editor.  loc_zs.00641.jpg

(For signature)

 loc_zs.00642.jpg see note Jan 11 1892 note Jan 16–1892  loc_zs.00643.jpg

Correspondent:
Washington Irving Lincoln Adams (1832–1896) worked in the photgraphic department of the Scovill Company, and later became editor of The Photographic Times (1871–1915).

Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman | Camden | N.J. It is postmarked: New York | Jan 9 | 430PM | A; | Camden N.J. | Jan 10 | 130 PM | 92 | REC'D. This envelope includes a printed return address for The Photographic Times, as well as subscription information for the publication. [back]
  • 2. Frederick Gutekunst (1831–1917) was a well-known ninteenth-century American photographer in Philadelphia. During the Civil War he made portraits of soldiers, and, after the War, he continued to create high quality portraits of notable figures, including Abraham Lincoln, Lucretia Mott, and Grover Cleveland. He made portraits of Whitman in Philadelphia ca. 1879–1881 and in 1889, which are available in The Walt Whitman's Archive's Gallery of Images. [back]
  • 3. The Photographic Times (1871–1915) was a well-known and widely circulating photographic journal that documented photography and its history during the years of the journal's publication. [back]
  • 4. The article and photograph appeared in the February 12, 1892, issue of The Photographic Times (vol. 22, no. 543), with the biographical sketch appearing on p. 77; the photograph, by Frederick Gutekunst, appeared as the frontispiece of the issue. Even though Whitman told Horace Traubel that he was not capable of any longer producing a viable signature, a facsimile of Whitman's signature did in fact appear beneath the photo (see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Monday, January 11, 1892). [back]
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