Camden New Jersey
April 12 '82
Dear Sirs
Yours of 10th just rec'd 1—If you desire to cease to
be the publishers of Leaves of Grass unless I make the
excisions required by the District Attorney—if this is your settled
decision—I see indeed no other way than "some reasonable arrangement for
turning the plates over" to me—What is the am't of royalty due me, according
to contract, from the sales altogether? & what is your valuation of the
plates?
Walt Whitman
Notes
- 1. Osgood & Co. wrote to
Whitman on April 10: "We have laid before the
District Attorney the alterations proposed by you. They are not satisfactory. .
. . As we said at the outset we do not wish to go into court in connection with
this case. Therefore as your views seem to be irreconcilable with those of the
official authorities there seems no alternative for us but to decline to further
circulate the book. We should be open to any reasonable arrangement for turning
the plates over to you." On April 13 the publisher
informed Whitman that the royalty due him was $405.50 and that the cost of
the plates was $475. In return for a receipt for the royalty, the firm was
willing to turn over to Whitman the plates, the steel portrait and 225 copies of
the book in sheets. As Whitman did not reply, the firm wrote again on May 4. The poet arranged better terms in the final
settlement (see the letter from Whitman to Osgood & Company of May 23, 1882). [back]