loc.02502.001_large.jpg
Bolton England
July 29. 91
My Dear Walt Whitman
Our "Whitman mail" this morning was quite a heavy one—a post card1 from you a
letter from you (to Wallace2) a letter from Traubel3 & a long letter from
Warry!4
Accept of my best thanks for your kind p.c of July 17th announcing your receipt of our
cablegram re Dr. B's5 safe arrival & for your loving message to us all.
Sorry to hear though that you continue to have bad days & that your loc.02502.002_large.jpg bladder trouble
has returned & we hope that these outings that Traubel6 tells us of will do you good.
Warry's letter is full of the homely talk about you wh. we all like and appreciate so
much. He also sends me a copy of the "fine" portrait of himself which is good but
has suffered from the attempts of the photographer to improve it—art v. nature—
Please thank Warry & Traubel in the meantime for me. I will write soon
The more we know of Warry—& Dr Buck7 told
loc.02502.003_large.jpg us a good
deal—the better we like him & the more thankful are we that you have such
an affectionate faithful young fellow to attend on you
I think I will send his letter to Dr. B as it will interest him.
On the 31st my wife8 &
brother9 with a lady friend10 intend going for a weeks holiday to Ballacooil—a farm on the west coast of
the Isle of Man where is the finest rock scenery of that beautiful little gem of the
Irish Sea & we hope to have a real good time amid loc.02502.004_large.jpg the delights of the sea & shore of
"Lovely Mona."
August 11th is Wallaces birthday & it is proposed to celebrate it by a picnic in
the country
I hear that Lippincott11 for August12 is out but
have not yet seen it
Wallace has just had tea with me & is sitting now in the next room reading my
notes of Dr B. visit to us.
I am sending you a few photos—the group is only so so but it may interest you.
The duplicates of Dr B you can give loc.02502.005_large.jpg to Traubel, Warry and Mrs Davis13
The N.E. Mags14 sent by Traubel have arrived.
Please convey my thanks to him & tell him I will write to him by next mail
With kindest regards to all & wish best
love to yourself
I remain
Yours affectly
J Johnston
loc.02502.006_large.jpg
see note Aug 14 1891
Correspondent:
Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927)
of Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, was a physician, photographer, and avid
cyclist. Johnston was trained in Edinburgh and served as a hospital surgeon in
West Bromwich for two years before moving to Bolton, England, in 1876. Johnston
worked as a general practitioner in Bolton and as an instructor of ambulance
classes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. He served at Whalley Military
Hospital during World War I and became Medical Superintendent of Townley's
Hospital in 1917 (John Anson, "Bolton's Illustrious Doctor Johnston—a man
of many talents," Bolton News [March 28, 2021]; Paul
Salveson, Moorlands, Memories, and Reflections: A Centenary
Celebration of Allen Clarke's Moorlands and Memories [Lancashire
Loominary, 2020]). Johnston, along with the architect James W. Wallace, founded
the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston and Wallace
corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members of the
Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet and
published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire
Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more information on
Johnston, see Larry D. Griffin, "Johnston, Dr. John (1852–1927)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Whitman had written a postal
card to Johnston on July 17, 1891. [back]
- 2. James William Wallace
(1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of
Whitman. Wallace, along with Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician in
Bolton, founded the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston
and Wallace corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members
of the Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet
and published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace,
Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two
Lancashire Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more
information on Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Frank Warren Fritzinger
(1867–1899), known as "Warry," took Edward Wilkins's place as Whitman's
nurse, beginning in October 1889. Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons
of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former sea captain who
went blind, and Almira E. Fritzinger. Following Henry Sr.'s death, Warren and
his brother—having lost both parents—became wards of Mary O. Davis,
Whitman's housekeeper, who had also taken care of the sea captain and who
inherited part of his estate. A picture of Warry is displayed in the May 1891
New England Magazine (278). See Joann P. Krieg, "Fritzinger, Frederick Warren (1866–1899),"
Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 240. [back]
- 5. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 7. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. Margaret Beddows Johnston
(ca. 1854–1932?) of Bolton, England, was the daughter of Thomas
Beddows—a wheelwright—and his wife Mary. Margaret was a millinery
worker and a dressmaker; she married Dr. John Johnston in Bolton in 1878. The
couple did not have any children. [back]
- 9. William Joseph Johnston
(1863–1935), the younger brother of Dr. John Johnston, was a solicitor in
Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. [back]
- 10. As yet we have no information about
this person. [back]
- 11. Lippincott's Monthly Magazine was a literary magazine published in
Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915. Joseph Marshall Stoddart was the editor of the
magazine from 1886 to 1894, and he frequently published material by and about
Whitman. For more information on Whitman's numerous publications here, see Susan
Belasco, "Lippincott's Magazine." [back]
- 12. Horace Traubel's article
"Walt Whitman's Birthday, May 31, 1891," was published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in August 1891. It offered a detailed
account of Whitman's seventy-second (and last) birthday, which was celebrated
with friends at the poet's home on Mickle Street. [back]
- 13. Mary Oakes Davis (1837 or
1838–1908) was Whitman's housekeeper. For more, see Carol J. Singley,
"Davis, Mary Oakes (1837 or 1838–1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 14. Johnston is referring to the
New England Magazine. Horace Traubel's article, "Walt
Whitman at Date," had been published in the May 1891 edition of the New England Magazine 4.3 (May 1891), 275–292, and
it is likely that Traubel had sent Johnston a copy of this piece. The article is
also reprinted in the first appendix of the eighth volume of Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden. [back]