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Ernest Rhys to Walt Whitman, 3 January 1888

About This Item

  • Title: Ernest Rhys to Walt Whitman, 3 January 1888
  • Date: January 3, 1888
  • Creator(s): Rhys, Ernest | Ernest Rhys
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.03331
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. . Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Benjamin K. Schmidt Ian Faith Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Rhys, Ernest and Ernest Rhys. "Ernest Rhys to Walt Whitman, 3 January 1888." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 29 October 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.03331.xml (TEI)
WALTER SCOTT, 
 PUBLISHER THE CAMELOT SERIES. 
  EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS. 24 WARWICK LANE, 
  LONDON, E.C. FROM 
  ERNEST RHYS. 
  C/O Walter Scott 
 24 Warwick Lane. TO 
 Walt Whitman. 
 Camden1 3rd Jany. 1888  loc.03331.001.jpg

Your card of 24th Dec. came two days ago, not a little to my relief. I was beginning to fear lest you were not so well again. This year ought to treat you well, & give you the wind & weather & everything that you love, seeing that in it you attain three score & ten. If good wishes of friends were of any direct use, physically, I mean, as well as in other ways, it would be the happiest year of your life. It seems very right & fit that in it you should publish the Édition Définitive in this vol. of your "Complete Works,"2 which we all so eagerly expect.

The last few weeks have brought nothing perhaps that is very remarkable on the surface here. I have been jogging along quietly enough, but absorbing always a great deal humanly from the endlessly wonderful life of this great London. One of the most striking episodes I have lately had any share in was the Midnight Meeting of the unemployed of London on Christmas Eve. It was held at the foot of Cleopatra's Needle, round the base of which the various speakers were grouped, faced by the  loc.03331.002.jpg motley throng of men, who cheered hoarsely with hungry throats as the speechifying went on. Through the day it had been wet & foggy in turn, but now the sky was of an American clearness, the half-moon shining bright behind the shaft of Cleopatra's Needle, contrasting strangely with the red torches held to light the orators. All together an impressive scene; & when the Christmas Bells rang out, and one of the speakers called out —"Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men! If Jesus were in London to-day, would he be in those churches?"—and the crowd shouted back, "No! he'd be here!—here with us!"—the effect was dramatic in the extreme.

When I had been standing in the crowd for some time, I discovered Jo. Pennell,3 the artist, standing near me and we presently went home together. He lives in the next street to Cowley St. from which by the way I may have to move shortly as my sister Edith (whom you know) is coming up to town to study music at the Academy.

I am writing this at the Reading Room of British Museum, & must end it rather hurriedly having to run off to meet my brother Percy (who is an actor) at Euston Station. Don't let me forget to tell you that that [sic] last night I saw Edward Carpenter4—first time these three years—at a meeting of Fabian Socy., where he lectures. He looks older than he did, —more nervous lines in his face. As he is staying in town we shall probably meet again.

For the present then, So Long! Ernest Rhys

Smith Art Review wants me to write an article on "The Portrait of W. Whitman" with portrait reproductions. Can you send any new pictures of yourself?5

 loc.03331.003.jpg see notes July 11 1888  loc.03331.004.jpg

Correspondent:
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).

Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman: | Camden, | New Jersey | United States, | America. It is postmarked: Chelsea | 3 | JY8 | 88 |[illegible]; New York | Jul | 18 ; Paid | F | ALL; Camden. N.J. | Jul | 19 | [illegible] PM | 88 | [illegible] 'D. [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. Joseph Pennell (1857–1926) was an American lithographer, illustrator, and etcher whose work often depicted historic buildings and landmarks in Philadelphia and New York. Following his education in Philadelphia, he reclocated to London, where he taught at the Slade School of Fine Art. [back]
  • 4. Edward Carpenter (1844–1929) was an English writer and Whitman disciple. Like many other young disillusioned Englishmen, he deemed Whitman a prophetic spokesman of an ideal state cemented in the bonds of brotherhood. Carpenter—a socialist philosopher who in his book Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure posited civilization as a "disease" with a lifespan of approximately one thousand years before human society cured itself—became an advocate for same-sex love and a contributing early founder of Britain's Labour Party. On July 12, 1874, he wrote for the first time to Whitman: "Because you have, as it were, given me a ground for the love of men I thank you continually in my heart . . . . For you have made men to be not ashamed of the noblest instinct of their nature." For further discussion of Carpenter, see Arnie Kantrowitz, "Carpenter, Edward [1844–1929]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 5. This postscript appears at the top of the manuscript's first page. [back]
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