Walt Whitman to Ernest Rhys, 3 June 1887

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to Ernest Rhys, 3 June 1887
Date: June 3, 1887
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00590
Source: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 41. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Ryan Furlong Stefan Schöberlein Caterina Bernardini Stephanie Blalock
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Ernest Rhys, 3 June 1887." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: nyp.00590.xml (TEI)

Camden New Jersey U S America1 June 3 '87

No slips of the printed Preface or "additional note" have arrived yet2—I would like three or four of each of them—fine weather this forenoon, as I write, sunny & "growing"—rec'd last even'g a kind complimentary greeting by cable from Henry Irving3—I remain much as usual—bodily disabled, however, & a prisoner to the house—I expect to see Herbert Gilchrist4 to-day (from N[ew] York)—send me a copy of Spec: Days soon as it is out—

Walt Whitman

Correspondent:
Ernest Percival Rhys (1859–1946) was a British author and editor; he founded the Everyman's Library series of inexpensive reprintings of popular works. He included a volume of Whitman's poems in the Canterbury Poets series and two volumes of Whitman's prose in the Camelot series for Walter Scott publishers. For more information about Rhys, see Joel Myerson, "Rhys, Ernest Percival (1859–1946)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

1. This letter is addressed: Ernest Rhys | Care Walter Scott Publishing Co: | 24 Warwick Lane Paternoster | row | London England. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Jun 3 | 9 PM | 87; London | A | (?) 87 | (?). [back]
2. See See Whitman's letters to Rhys of March 8, 1887, and March 15, 1887. [back]
3. Henry Irving, the actor, and others congratulated Walt Whitman on his 68th birthday on May 31. [back]
4. Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist (1857–1914), son of Alexander and Anne Gilchrist, was an English painter and editor of Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and Writings (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887). For more information, see Marion Walker Alcaro, "Gilchrist, Herbert Harlakenden (1857–1914)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]