The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Walt Whitman to George Collins Cox, 15 September 1887
Date: September 15, 1887
Whitman Archive ID: nym.00001
Source: The Museum of the City of New York. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 4:123. 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, Stefan Schöberlein, Caterina Bernardini, and Stephanie Blalock
328 Mickle Street
Camden New Jersey1
Sept 15 '87—Even'g—
The package of Photos. came this afternoon. I will sign & return them to-morrow or next day—All the propositions of Mr Carey & yourself are satisfactory2—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
George Collins "G. C." Cox
(1851–1903) was a well-known celebrity photographer who had taken
photographs of Whitman when the poet was in New York to give his Lincoln lecture
in April 1887. "The Laughing
Philosopher," one of the most famous photographs of Whitman, was taken
by Cox in 1887.
Notes:
1. This letter is addressed: G C Cox | Photographer | Broadway & 12th Street | New York City. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Sep 15 | 8 PM | 8 PM | 87; P.O. | 9-16 87 | 2 A | N.Y. [back]
2. George Cox proposed selling signed copies of his photographs of Walt Whitman. However, when the September 1887 issue of Century appeared with an advertisement, Whitman still had not seen proofs, much less signed the photographs. He wrote John H. Johnston on September 1, 1887, "He advertises . . . to sell my photo, with autograph. The latter is forged, & the former illegal & unauthorized." The disagreement was quickly resolved, and Whitman signed photographs for Cox and returned them. [back]