The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 20 November 1888
Date: November 20, 1888
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00722
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), 4:236. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Braden Krien, Ryan Furlong, Ian Faith, Caterina Bernardini, and Stephanie Blalock
Camden
Nov: 20 '88
1
Still ab't holding my own & comfortable—nothing very new or notable—The Transcript I send with Hamlin Garland's2 notice of Nov: Boughs3—Still keep my sick room—Clear sunny cool to-day. How are you getting along?—The pub'r yesterday had an order for 250 copies Nov: B. for Scotland—
W.W.
Correspondent:
William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
"The Good Gray Poet," published in 1866 (a digital version of the pamphlet is
available at "The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication"). 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 | Washington D C. It is postmarked: Camden, N. J., | Nov 20 | 8 PM | 88; Washington, Rec'd. | Nov 21 | 7AM | 88 | 3. [back]
2. Hamlin Garland (1860–1940) was an American novelist and autobiographer, known especially for his works about the hardships of farm life in the American Midwest. For his relationship to Whitman, see Thomas K. Dean, "Garland, Hamlin," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
3. Whitman's November Boughs was published in October 1888 by Philadelphia publisher David McKay. For more information on the book, see James E. Barcus Jr.,"November Boughs [1888]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). Garland's review of November Boughs appeared in the Boston Transcript on November 15, 1888. He spoke of his review in letters to Whitman dated November 9, 1888 and November 16, 1888. Whitman commented to Horace Traubel: "The Transcript piece has as a trifle a certain air almost of apology: but for that feature I like it. We are forcing the enemy to listen to us" (see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Saturday, November 17, 1888). [back]