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Catalog of the Walt Whitman Literary Manuscripts in Folger Shakespeare Library

Original records created by the Folger Shakespeare Library; revised and expanded by the Walt Whitman Archive and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. Encoded Archival Description completed with the assistance of the National Endowment for the Humanities.




Individual items at this repository

  • Whitman Archive Title: [as real as]
  • Whitman Archive ID: fol.00007
  • Repository ID: Y.d.1036 (3)
  • Repository Title: Autograph notes by Walt Whitman [manuscript], 19th century.
  • Date: 1878-1888
  • Genre: prose
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: A manuscript for a portion of Whitman's essay "George Fox and Shakspere," which first appeared as the final piece in "November Boughs" (1888) and was later reprinted in Complete Prose Works (1892). In the essay, Whitman compares Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement, and Shakespeare, noting that both were "born and bred of similar stock, in much the same surroundings and station of life from the same England—and at a similar period."

  • Whitman Archive Title: Poetry to-day in America
  • Whitman Archive ID: fol.00002
  • Repository ID: S.a.106
  • Repository Title: Poetry today in America--Shakespeare--the future [manuscript], 1881
  • Date: 1881
  • Genre: prose
  • Physical Description: 8 leaves, printed; handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16
  • Content: Page proofs of Whitman's essay "The Poetry of the Future" with numerous corrections in Whitman's hand. The essay appeared in the February 1881 issue of The North American Review . These corrections were made after the piece's initial publication, and reflect changes that Whitman made before the essay was retitled "Poetry to-day in America—Shakspere—the Future" and included in Specimen Days in 1882. It would also be reprinted in Complete Prose Works (1892).

  • Whitman Archive Title: What lurks behind Shakespeare's historical plays?
  • Whitman Archive ID: fol.00003
  • Repository ID: S.b.89
  • Repository Title: What lurks behind Shakespeare's historical plays? [manuscript], ca. 1884
  • Date: 1884
  • Genre: prose
  • Physical Description: 6 leaves, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
  • Content: A late-stage manuscript of Whitman's essay "What lurks behind Shakespeare's historical plays?", which was first published in the Critic on September 27, 1884. The piece would later be republished in November Boughs (1888) and Complete Prose Works (1892). The manuscript contains detailed handwritten instructions to the printer, as well as various corrections made by Whitman in red ink.

  • Whitman Archive Title: [The Bible Shakspere]
  • Whitman Archive ID: fol.00010
  • Repository ID: Y.d.1036 (2)
  • Repository Title: Autograph notes by Walt Whitman [manuscript], 19th century.
  • Date: 1890-1891
  • Genre: prose
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: A list of authors and books, some with specific editors and editions noted. Many of the authors and books which appear on the list (including the specification of a certain edition) are included in an essay entitled "Some Personal and Old-Age Memoranda," in which Whitman offers a description of objects which can be found strewn about the floor of his Camden home, "some quite handsome editions, some half cover'd by dust, some within reach, evidently used." The piece first appeared in the March 1891 issue of Lippincott's Magazine , and was then reprinted in The Critic on 28 February 1891. It was later published under the title "Some Personal and Old-Age Jottings" in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) and Complete Prose Works (1892).

  • Whitman Archive Title: Shakspere for America Manuscript
  • Whitman Archive ID: fol.00006
  • Repository ID: Y.d.1035
  • Repository Title: Shakspere for America [manuscript], 1890
  • Date: September 1890
  • Genre: prose
  • Physical Description: 1 leaf, handwritten
  • View Images: 1 | 2
  • Content: A portion of a letter sent by Whitman to the editors of Poet-Lore in September 1890. The second half of the letter is now held at Duke University. The majority of the letter was reprinted, nearly verbatim, under the title "Shakespeare for America," in the September 1890 issue of Poet-Lore , and was a response to a piece entitled "Walt Whitman's View of Shakespeare," by Jonathan Trumbull, which appeared in the July issue. With a slightly altered title, "Shakspere for America" was later reprinted in The Critic on 27 September 1890, as well as in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) and Complete Prose Works (1892).

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