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Harry C. Kochersperger to Walt Whitman, 27 June 1890

 loc_jm.00435.jpg Walt Whitman Esq. Dear Sir

May I take the liberty on account of the anniversary of your birthday in this City at Reisser's Cafe1 to ask you to send me an autograph letter, signed by yourself.

I have them from many literary people and you would make me happy by sending yours

Trusting you will excuse the liberty I take,

I Remain Very Respty Yours young friend Harry C. Kochersperger 426–31 Drexel Building Philadelphia Pa.  loc_jm.00436.jpg

Correspondent:
Harry Clifford Kochersperger (1871–1951) of Philadelphia, worked in the banking and brokerage industries in Camden, New Jersey. Kochersperger and his wife Marie Edith Gane Kochersperger (1874–1942) were the parents of at least three daughters.


Notes

  • 1. For Whitman's seventy-first birthday, Horace Traubel and a group of Whitman's friends (including Richard Maurice Bucke, Thomas Harned, and Daniel Brinton) arranged for a dinner on May 31, 1890, at Reisser's restaurant in Philadelphia. Compared to the festive seventieth-birthday celebration, this one was a smaller affair with only thirty-one guests, four of them women. For the planning of the dinner, see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, May 20, 1890. Traubel also offers a full description of the event, including the speakers and the lively conversation in his entry for Saturday, May 31, 1890. [back]
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