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54 Manchester Road.
Bolton England1
Aug 11th 1891.
My Dear, Good, Old Friend,
Again have I to thank you for your kindness in sending us news of yourself—your
pc of July 31st2 coming to hand by last mail.
We note with pleasure that you were then "getting on about the same as ever" & we are delighted
to know that our
letters "help to cheer you up." That is the greatest
compliment you could pay them & it is a genuine & deep satisfaction &
joy to us
I note also that you "half think" that one of my letters—dated Aug 8th3—
loc.02508.002_large.jpg did not
reach you & in case this should be so I now send you a copy of it, from my
draft.
Yes, we have received the tomb4 photos & are much pleased to have them. The tomb
itself is truly Whitmanic in its design, its proportions, its situation & its
surrounding; tho', doubtless, as you say, its "best investments, vines, creepers
&c, are yet to come."
I fancy the figure dimly seen through the foliage is that of H.L. Traubel.5
I thank you most cordially for sending such a loving message to
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George Humphries6 which I know he will be proud to receive, & for your kind
offer to send him a copy of L. of G..7 I have mentioned
this to Wallace8 & we both think that it would be a good
thing if you were to do so, as it would probably be the means of introducing you to
a class of men who otherwise would not hear of you; but as we wd prefer to pay for
the book I enclose a p.o.o. value 21/-His address is:—
George Humphries
7 Taylor St.
Newport St
Bolton. Eng
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This is Wallace's birthday & at his desire we have done nothing in the way of
celebrating it beyond sending him letters & making him a few
presents—among these being the price of a return ticket to Camden N.J.!9 And we
regard it as a good omen that he has accepted it. May he soon be able to use it!
He has written his letter to you here this evening & has just returned to
Anderton.
We shall be anxious to hear about the effect of the great heat wave upon you.
God bless you!
My heart's best love to you
now & always
Johnston.
P.S.10 this morning I read a copy of the Scottish art journal11
from Ernest Rhys12 containing his illustrated article
upon "The Portraits of Walt Whitman."
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see notes Aug. 19 1891
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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. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle St | Camden | New Jersey | U.S.
America It is postmarked: BOLTON | 56 | AU12 | 91; New York | Aug 19 | A | 91;
Paid | C | All; Camden, N.J. | Aug | 19 | 4PM | 1891 | Rec'd. Johnston has
written his intials, "JJ," in the bottom left corner of the front of the
envelope. [back]
- 2. See Whitman's postal card to
Johnston of July 31, 1891. [back]
- 3. If a letter from Johnston to
Whitman dated August 8, 1891 reached Whitman, it has not yet been
located. [back]
- 4. Whitman was making plans to
be buried in Harleigh Cemetery, in Camden, New Jersey, in an elaborate granite
tomb that he designed. Reinhalter and Company of Philadelphia built the tomb, at
a cost of $4,000. Whitman covered a portion of these costs with money that
his Boston friends had raised so that the poet could purchase a summer cottage;
the remaining balance was paid by Whitman's literary executor, Thomas Harned.
For more information on the cemetery and Whitman's tomb, see See Geoffrey M.
Still, "Harleigh Cemetery," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. 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]
- 6. Little is known about the
millwright and machine-fitter George Humphreys, who was a member of the Bolton
College group of Whitman admirers. [back]
- 7. Whitman offered to send a
copy of Leaves of Grass to Humphries in his July 31, 1891, postal card to Johnston. [back]
- 8. 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]
- 9. In September 1891, Wallace
traveled to the United States, arriving at Philadelphia on September 8, 1891
(Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 8, 1891). Wallace's arrival was shortly preceded
by that of the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke, who had recently
returned from two months of travel in Europe, where he had spent time with
Johnston, Wallace, and the Bolton College group of English Whitman admirers.
Both Bucke and Wallace visited Whitman in Camden, and, after spending a few days
with the poet, Wallace returned with Bucke to London, Ontario, Canada, where he
met Bucke's family and friends. Wallace's account of his time with Whitman was
published—along with the Bolton physician John Johnston's account of his
own visit with the poet in the summer of 1890—in their memoir, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire
Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). [back]
- 10. Johnston wrote this
postscript sideways in the left margin of this page of the letter. [back]
- 11. Johnston is referring to the
article, "The Portraits of Walt Whitman" by Ernest Rhys (1859–1946), which
was published in The Scottish Art Review (June 1889),
17–24. [back]
- 12. Ernest Percival Rhys
(1859–1946) was a British author and editor; he founded the Everyman's
Library series of inexpensive reprintings of popular works. He included a volume
of Whitman's poems in the Canterbury Poets series and two volumes of Whitman's
prose in the Camelot series for Walter Scott publishers. For more information
about Rhys, see Joel Myerson, "Rhys, Ernest Percival (1859–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]