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Walt Whitman to David McKay, 18 August 1884

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to David McKay, 18 August 1884
  • Date: August 18, 1884
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: upa.00123
  • Source: Draft letter in Walt Whitman Collection, 1842–1957, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Stefan Schöberlein Kyle Barton Nicole Gray
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to David McKay, 18 August 1884." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: upa.00123.xml (TEI)
 upa.00123.001_large.jpg 328 Mickle street Camden Aug 18 '84 Dear Sir[David McKay]

Please send me over [—] send right away if convenient [—] by express package

  • 25 Specimen Days
  • 3 Leaves of G
  • 2 Dr Bucke's WW
—Thirty copies altogether—which, as I make it, are yet coming to me—  upa.00123.003_large.jpg

Correspondent:
David McKay (1860–1918) took over Philadelphia-based publisher Rees Welsh's bookselling and publishing businesses in 1881–82. McKay and Rees Welsh published the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass after opposition from the Boston District Attorney prompted James R. Osgood & Company of Boston, the original publisher, to withdraw. McKay also went on to publish Specimen Days & Collect, November Boughs, Gems from Walt Whitman, Complete Prose Works, and the final Leaves of Grass, the so-called deathbed edition. For more information about McKay, see Joel Myerson, "McKay, David (1860–1918)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

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