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Roger E. Ingpen to Walt Whitman, 16 October 1890

 loc.02357.001.jpg 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 loc.02357.002.jpg have appeared 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.

Believe me Yours very truly Roger E. Ingpen Walt Whitman Esq  loc.02357.003.jpg  loc.02357.004.jpg  loc.02357.005.jpg  loc.02357.006.jpg

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.


Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed: Walt. Whitman Esq | Camden | New Jersey | United States of America. It is postmarked: London S [illegible] | 3 | OC [illegible] | 90; Camden, N.J. | OCT | 27 | 6 AM | 1890 | REC'D. [back]
  • 2. If this volume was ever published, it has not been identified. [back]
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