Walt Whitman to Karl Knortz, 14 June 1887

About This Item

Title: Walt Whitman to Karl Knortz, 14 June 1887
Date: June 14, 1887
Creator(s): Walt Whitman | Walt Whitman>
Whitman Archive ID: uva.00552
Source: Papers of Walt Whitman (MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 101. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Ryan Furlong Stefan Schöberlein Kevin McMullen Stephanie Blalock
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt and Walt Whitman>. "Walt Whitman to Karl Knortz, 14 June 1887." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: uva.00552.xml (TEI)

328 Mickle Street
Camden New Jersey1 June 14 '87

Yes, Doctor, I will loan you the Gilchrist book2 to read at your leisure3—Will send it on in a day or two—Go to Cox, photographer, cor. 12th St & Broadway (entrance 12th St.) & see critically some photos of me he has taken—Shall be delighted to see you here—

Walt Whitman

Correspondent:
Karl Knortz (1841–1918) was born in Prussia and came to the U.S. in 1863. He was the author of many books and articles on German-American affairs and was superintendent of German instruction in Evansville, Ind., from 1892 to 1905. See The American-German Review 13 (December 1946), 27–30. His first published criticism of Whitman appeared in the New York Staats-Zeitung Sonntagsblatt on December 17, 1882, and he worked with Thomas W. H. Rolleston on the first book-length translation of Whitman's poetry, published as Grashalme in 1889. For more information about Knortz, see Walter Grünzweig, "Knortz, Karl (1841–1918)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

1. This postal card is addressed: Dr. Karl Knortz | 540 East 155th Street | New York City. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Jun 14 | 3 PM | 87; P.O. | 6-14-87 | 12P | N.Y. [back]
2. This reference is to Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist's (1857–1914) Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and Writings (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887) about the life of his mother Anne, one of Whitman's staunchest supporters in Great Britain. For more information on Whitman's relationship with Gilchrist, see "Gilchrist, Anne Burrows (1828–1885)." [back]
3. Whitman sent Anne Gilchrist to Knortz on October 24 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]