Last Saturday night I was at the Dinner given by the Lotus Club to Mons. Giacosa2—the Shakspear of Italy—whose Play on Wed. night at the Standard Theater Sarah Bernhard 3 is to celebrate—
During the evening I had a good long half hour's talk with Bronson Howard4 and he surprised me by telling me how much he thought of & read L of G and said he wished he had a good copy easy to hold and handle—and I recommended the 2 vol edition & he thanked me for offering loc.02580.002_large.jpg to write you for them—
If you will send them to Bronson Howard New Rochelle N.Y.
I will guarantee cash payment.
4 weeks housed up—Up and at it now, but tire out easy, but am better every day—
Ever yours JHJ loc.02580.003_large.jpg loc.02580.004_large.jpgCorrespondent:
John H. Johnston (1837–1919) was a New York
jeweler and close friend of Whitman. Johnston was also a friend of Joaquin
Miller (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, August 14, 1888). Whitman visited the Johnstons for the
first time early in 1877. In 1888 he observed to Horace Traubel: "I count
[Johnston] as in our inner circle, among the chosen few" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, October 3, 1888). See also Johnston's letter about
Whitman, printed in Charles N. Elliot, Walt Whitman as Man,
Poet and Friend (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1915), 149–174. For
more on Johnston, see Susan L. Roberson, "Johnston, John H. (1837–1919) and Alma Calder," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).