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Walt Whitman to Lewis T. and Percy Ives, 7 September [1881]

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Lewis T. and Percy Ives, 7 September [1881]
  • Date: September 7, 1881
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: med.00648
  • Source: The location of this manuscript is unknown. Miller's transcription is derived from the Detroit Historical Society Bulletin (February 1960), 6. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 239–240. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kirsten Clawson Nima Najafi Kianfar Stefan Schöberlein Nicole Gray
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Lewis T. and Percy Ives, 7 September [1881]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 18 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: med.00648.xml (TEI)
8 Bullfinch Place Wednesday Evening September 7th My dear Mr. Ives, and dear boy Percy:1

I am compelled to go out to Brookline and wonder whether you could not come around here and see me tomorrow (Thursday) forenoon, say before ten—9½ would suit me—I hope you can—should like well to have you.

Walt Whitman

Notes

  • 1. Lewis T. and Percy Ives were father and son, both artists. In a notation late in 1880 Whitman referred to Percy, "age 16, a student, intends to be an artist . . . Academy of Fine Arts" (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). On December 21, 1881, Percy made several pencil sketches of Whitman, and in his letter to his grandmother, Elisa S. Leggett, on December 25, he drew a sketch for her of the picture which was "in a promising condition" (Detroit Public Library). His oil painting of Whitman is now in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection. See also Mrs. Leggett's letter to Whitman on July 19, 1880. [back]
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