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Sheridan Ford to Walt Whitman, 13 April 1888

About This Item

  • Title: Sheridan Ford to Walt Whitman, 13 April 1888
  • Date: April 13, 1888
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman | Sheridan Ford
  • Whitman Archive ID: med.00823
  • Source: The location of this manuscript is unknown. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, With Walt Whitman in Camden, ed. Horace Traubel (Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1906), 496–497. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Alex Ashland Ian Faith Stefan Schöberlein Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt and Sheridan Ford. "Sheridan Ford to Walt Whitman, 13 April 1888." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 26 April 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: med.00823.xml (TEI)
New York, April 13, 1888. Mr. Walt Whitman, 
 Camden, New Jersey.1 My dear Sir:

Would you be willing to entertain a proposition to cross this Autumn to England and deliver a course of lectures in a few of the larger cities?

From facts in my possession I am quite sure that you would be very successful for the cultured class of Great Britain have an abiding interest in you and everything which concerns you. I should be willing to guarantee you a stated sum or if you would prefer it star you on a percentage. My friend and yours, R. Macaulay Stevenson2 of Glasgow, perhaps better known to you as "Calamus," thinks that your reception throughout Scotland would partake of the character of an ovation.

Pray let me hear from you, and you believe me, with sentiments of the deepest respect,

Faithfully yours, Sheridan Ford

Correspondent:
Sheridan Ford (1860—1922) was an American journalist, politician, essayist, and art critic. He was known for his work on James McNeill Whistler.

Notes

  • 1. In Walt Whitman in Camden, Traubel records Whitman's comments about this letter. See the entry for Friday, April 5, 1889. [back]
  • 2. Robert Macaulay Stevenson (1854–1952) was a Scottish painter associated with the "Glasgow Boys," a collective of artists who sought to expand the canon of post-impressionist painting. [back]
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