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Walt Whitman to Thomas W. H. Rolleston, [10 (?) December 1882]

—There are no later or fuller prints of my books than those you have1—I contemplate a final compacted handy-sized Vol: comprehending all & in an order of progression that will suit me better—but it may be some time yet2. . .

Walt Whitman

Notes

  • 1. This note is addressed: T W H Rolleston | Lange Strasse 29 | Dresden | Saxony. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Dec | 1(?) | (?). The address and the text of the note were cut out and pasted on the flyleaves of Rolleston's copy of Leaves of Grass. Whitman's signature appears in the lower left corner of the address. On the flyleaf below the text Rolleston wrote: "The edition here alluded to was published by Osgood & Co. Boston, in 1882. The present volume is a reprint of it." The reprint to which Rolleston refers was published by David McKay in Philadelphia in 1882. Since, from the end of 1881 through 1882, Rolleston lived in Dresden at 29 Lange Strasse, the address of the letter card, and in 1883 moved to 28 Terrassen Ufer, 1882 must be the year in which this card was written. The month, December, is clearly visible on the postmark, and so is "1," the first number of the date. Rolleston's letter of December 26, 1882, acknowledges the receipt of Whitman's card of December 10, and according to Whitman's Commonplace Book, Whitman sent Rolleston "full set loose leaves L of G. with postal card" on December 10, 1882 (Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). The date of this note should therefore be December 10, 1882. For Rolleston's letters to Whitman in 1882, see Whitman and Rolleston—A Correspondence, ed. Horst Frenz (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1951), 56–70. [back]
  • 2. The right lower corner of the note is cut off: Whitman's signature, pasted on page 29 of Rolleston's copy of Leaves of Grass, may belong to this note (see Frenz, 72 n2). [back]
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