Harrison S. Morris to Walt Whitman, 13 December 1889
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227 So. 4th St.
Phila.
Dec. 13/89.
Dear Walt. Whitman:
I give to my good friend Horace Traubel1 the Sarrazin2 book which I have had so much pleasure in translating from; and I want to excuse myself for keeping it overlong with the plan that I mainly retained it for use in case you desired me to read proof.
This gives me a chance to say a rousing Thank you! for your gift of Leaves of Grass and for your kindness in sending the
letter of Dr. Bucke3
anent the American articles—all of which 
loc.03154.002_large.jpg
loc.03154.003_large.jpgTraubel has probably
conveyed to you my gratitude for, long ago.
The unique copy of L of G.4 is better than much wealth.
Yours faithfully Harrison S. Morris
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Correspondent:
Harrison S. Morris
(1856–1948) of Philadelphia was a writer, editor, and translator. He made
an English translation of French critic Gabriel Sarrazin's "Poétes moderns
de l'amérique, Walt Whitman," La Nouvelle Revue, 52
(May 1888), 164–84; Morris's translation of Sarrazin's piece is reprinted
in In Re Walt Whitman (1893, pp. 159–194). Morris
also served as the managing director of the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine
Arts and editor of Lippincott's Magazine, as well as the
president of the Wharton Steel Company. He was the author and/or editor of
several books, including Walt Whitman. A Brief Biography, with
Reminiscences (1929).
Notes
- 1. 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]
- 2. Gabriel Sarrazin (1853–1935) was a translator and poet from France who commented positively not only on Whitman's work but also on Poe's. Whitman later corresponded with Sarrazin and apparently liked the critic's work on Leaves of Grass—Whitman even had Sarrazin's chapter on his book translated twice. For more on Sarrazin, see Carmine Sarracino, "Sarrazin, Gabriel (1853–1935)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. 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]
- 4. Whitman records in his Daybooks for December 1889 that he "sent morocco L. of G. to Harrison S Morris," referring to the 1889 special edition of Leaves of Grass that Whitman had printed to celebrate his seventieth birthday. Daybooks and Notebooks, ed. William White [New York: New York University Press, 1977], 2:541). [back]