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Camden
Wednesday P M
Sept: 19 '88
Dear S H M
Am surviving yet & in good spirits (sort) after the past nearly four
months—Am still imprison'd here in my sick room, unable to move around or get
out at all—but have my brain power as before & right arm
volition—(now reduced to them what great blessings they are!)—November Boughs1 is all done printed
& press'd & waits the binding—will send you one as soon as I get
it—then I am to have a Complete W W in one large 900
Vol. ($6) L of G, Spec. Days, & Nov. B—all & several condensed in
one2—this is now going through the presses—your
bust of me still holds out fully in my estimation.—I consider it (to me at any
rate) the best & most characteristic really artistic & satisfactory
rendering of any—so tho't by me.—the bust of Elias Hicks3 pleases & satisfies me first rate—goes to the right
spot—the little arm chair statuette is here (as when you left it) & must
not be forgotten4—it is valuable
exceedingly—Horace5 is invaluable to me—I
couldn't have done anything with the printing without him—Whether I shall get
out of this slough remains uncertain—I am
comfortable—
Love to you & all inquiring friends
Walt Whitman
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Whitman.
Correspondent:
Sidney H. Morse (1832–1903)
was a self-taught sculptor as well as a Unitarian minister and, from 1866 to
1872, editor of The Radical. He visited Whitman in Camden
many times and made various busts of him. Whitman had commented on an earlier
bust by Morse that it was "wretchedly bad." For more on this, see Ruth L. Bohan,
Looking into Walt Whitman: American Art,
1850–1920 (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press,
2006), 105–109.
Notes
- 1. Whitman's November Boughs was published in October 1888 by Philadelphia
publisher David McKay. For more information on the book, see James E. Barcus
Jr., "November Boughs [1888]," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 2. Whitman wanted to publish a "big
book" that included all of his writings, and, with the help of Horace Traubel,
Whitman made the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick
Oldach bound Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888),
which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. The book was
published in December 1888. For more information on the book, see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 3. Elias Hicks (1748–1830) was a
traveling Quaker preacher and anti-slavery activist from Long Island, New York.
Whitman's essay on Hicks, "Notes (such as they are) founded on Elias Hicks,"
appeared in November Boughs (1888). For more on Hicks,
see Henry Watson Wilbur, The Life and Labors of Elias
Hicks (Philadelphia: Friends' General Conference Advancement Committee,
1910). [back]
- 4. A photograph of the
plaster model of this work serves as the frontispiece of Horace Traubel's third volume of With Walt Whitman in Camden (New York: Mitchell
Kennerley, 1914). [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]