Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 7 April 1889

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 7 April 1889
Date: April 7, 1889
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00671
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 The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 317. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Blake Bronson-Bartlett Caterina Bernardini Alex Ashland Stephanie Blalock
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 7 April 1889." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: nyp.00671.xml (TEI)

Camden April 7 '891

Hope this will find you at ease & comfortable—With me every thing continues on much the same—am slowly getting on with the new (pocket-book) ed'n L of G. with Annex2 bits & Backw'd Glance at end—My cold in the head still keeps on & pretty bad—have just had several visitors—

Walt Whitman

Correspondent:
William Douglas O'Connor (1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866. For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

1. This letter is addressed: Wm D O'Connor | 1015 O Street N W | Washington, D C. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Apr 7 | 5 PM | 89; Washington, Rec'd. | Apr 8 | 2 AM | 89 | 7. [back]
2. In celebration of his seventieth year, Whitman published the limited and autographed pocket-book edition of Leaves of Grass, a volume which also included the annex Sands at Seventy and his essay A Backward Glance O'er Traveled Roads. [back]