loc.02107.001_large.jpg
Rome1
17 Dec. 1891
The "linked sweetness" of my negociation ,
here in the eternal city has been so "long drawn out"2 that I I am in some fear of being
myself numbered and ticketed among the antiquities of Rome. This morning, dear Walt Whitman, Have a letter from my boy Maurice,3
loc.02107.002_large.jpg
expressing great delight at the big book4 with your inscription—which I left out to be given to him on his birthday—the 11th.
His "flight into Egypt" is still in the air; but I should not be surprised if it now came before long. He tells how, to my great regret,
that
loc_jm.00012.jpgthat poor young man Balestier5 whom I was to have
seen for you is dead—died
in a hospital at Dresden, aged 26.6 When I return I must look up Heinemann;7 &
find out with whom I have to treat; but it seems to me
Balestier's death may change your views of the whole business.8 I hope to be home for Christmas;
but it
loc.02107.004_large.jpgseems at least doubtful. This is
a beautiful winter climate; but I want to be in the evil climate of London just now for many reasons. I hope you keep well up
to the mark, dear Walt Whitman.
Yours ever
H. Burton Forman
loc.02107.005_large.jpg
see notes: quote at point in notes—late Dec '91 year Jan '92 where W &
I have a talk over the death of Balestier &
the prospects of a continuance of negotiating
loc.02107.006_large.jpg
wrote F. 1/12/91
Direct Told him to hold off abt publishing for the present.
Correspondent:
Henry Buxton Forman (1842–1917), also known as
Harry Buxton Forman, was most notably the biographer and editor of Percy Shelley
and John Keats. On February 21, 1872, Buxton sent
a copy of R. H. Horne's The Great Peace-Maker: A Sub-marine
Dialogue (London, 1872) to Whitman. This poetic account of the laying
of the Atlantic cable has a foreword written by Forman. After his death,
Forman's reputation declined primarily because, in 1934, booksellers Graham
Pollard and John Carter published An Enquiry into the Nature
of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets, which exposed Forman as a
forger of many first "private" editions of poetry.
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle Street | Camden | New Jersey | United States of
America. It is postmarked: R[illegible]
| 17 | 12-8[illegible] | 98 | ERRO[illegible]; NEW Y[illegible] | DEC | 28; D; [illegible] | A | ALL; CAMDEN, N.J. | DEC 29 | 6 AM | 91 |
REC'D. [back]
- 2. The phrase "Linked sweetness
long drawn out" comes from John Milton's (1608–1674) poem
"L'Allegro." [back]
- 3. Maurice Buxton Forman, H.
Buxton Forman's son, was a postal worker in England, a bibliographer, and an
editor. He was posthumously implicated in his father's literary counterfeit
enterprise. [back]
- 4. Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888), a volume Whitman often referred to
as the "big book," was published by the poet himself—in an arrangement
with publisher David McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves of Grass and Specimen
Days—in December 1888. With the help of Horace Traubel, Whitman made
the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick Oldach bound the
book, which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. For more
information on the book, see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 5. Wolcott Balestier
(1861–1891) was an American writer who went to London, England, in 1888 as
an agent for the publisher John W. Lovell. He became close friends with Henry
James and Rudyard Kipling, who married Balestier's sister. Balestier joined with
William Heinemann to form a publishing house in 1890, located in Leipzig,
Germany, and dedicated to publishing continental editions of English writers.
They launched their series, "The English Library," in 1891. Balestier died in
December 1891 of typhoid fever in Dresden; he was a week away from his thirtieth
birthday. [back]
- 6. Although Buxton Forman
states that Balestier, of the publishing firm Heinemann and Balestier, died at
26, a clipping from a Boston newspaper that Whitman pasted into his December 12, 1891, letter to the Canadian physician
Richard Maurice Bucke states that Balestier died "in his thirtieth year." For
more on Whitman's reaction to the news of Balestier's death, see Horace Traubel,
With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, January 6, 1892. [back]
- 7. William Heinemann
(1863–1920) was an English publisher of Jewish heritage who published the
series, "The English Library," with Wolcott Balestier (1861–1891) and
founded the Heinemann publishing house in London. [back]
- 8. In a letter to Richard
Maurice Bucke dated November 22, 1891, Whitman
noted that "Heineman, Balestier, & Lovell want to purchase the American
copyright [to Leaves of Grass]—I do not care to sell it as at present
minded." [back]