Roger E. Ingpen to Walt Whitman, 16 October 1890
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3 Pauntny Road
Lavender Hill. SW.
London. England1
October 16th '90
My dear Sir
The only excuse that I can offer for trespassing upon your privacy & your time, is the great admiration I hold both for your name & your works
I am having printed a volume of verses,2 and as I wish to show—though inadequately I know—my gratitude to the illustrious author of 'Leaves of Grass' I am writing to beg your acceptance of the dedication. I am quite aware that my work at its best, can be but an unfitting sequence to your name, but my tribute is not the less sincere.
The volume is to be quite a slender one, & to consist for the most part of pieces
which 
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from time to time in English periodicals. I would have enclosed proof
sheets—to enable you to judge of their merit, but I have not received any from
the printer yet & I do not wish to delay publication longer than necessary.
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Correspondent:
Roger E. Ingpen (b. 1867) was born
in London; he was the son of William Ingpen—an artist—and Emma
Constance Ingpen. Roger was a contributor to publications such as The Gentleman's Magazine, and he worked first as a
publisher's reader and, later, as a publisher and editor in his own right. He
edited numerous books of writings by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Johnson, and
Leigh Hunt.