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Washington, D.C.1
November 1, 1888.
Dear Walt:
I was so impressed with the letter Mr. Stetson2 wrote a year ago about the calendar,
that I got Grace3 to send it to me from California, and enclose
you a copy, thinking you might like to see it. You can return it sometime, as I have
sent back the original.
It does not say much, to be sure, but it has large import, and makes me long for such
a mind to do the calendar. Don't you think so?
—The eye is as bad as ever, loc.03350.004.jpg and I see with difficulty.
Goodbye,
Always faithfully.
W. D. O'C
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Correspondent:
William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Mr. Walt Whitman, | 328 Mickle Street, | Camden, | New Jersey. It is postmarked:
Washington D.C. | Nov 1 | 8 PM | 88; Camden, N.J. | Nov | 2 | 6am | 1889 |
Rec'd. [back]
- 2. Charles Walter Stetson
(1858–1911) was a visual artist, often described as a "colorist." He
married writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1884, and the couple divorced
amicably in 1894. Soon after, he married Grace Ellery Channing. [back]
- 3. Grace Ellery Channing
(1862–1937) was a writer and editor. She was the niece of William D.
O'Connor. In 1894 she married artist Charles Walter Stetson, soon after his
divorce from Channing's lifelong friend, writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. After
her initial refusal to ever read Whitman's work, Channing became enthralled by
the poet's words and, in 1887, had the idea of creating an illustrated calendar
with excerpts from Leaves of Grass. The illustrations
would be made by Walter Stetson. The project was never realized. For more on the
calendar project, see see Joann Krieg, "Grace Ellery
Channing and the Whitman Calendar," Walt Whitman
Quarterly Review 12:4 (1995), 252–256. Channing published her own
volume of Whitman-inspired poetry titled Sea-Drift in
1899. [back]