As announced the other day, I have now the pleasure of enclosing Post-Office orders for £37.12.
It escaped me to mention in my previous letter that a Mr. Ernest Rhys1 not heretofore known to me (59 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London) called on me 2 or 3 weeks ago, wishing loc.03607.002_large.jpg to obtain your address—wh. I gave him. He intended, as I understood, to write to you with a view to entering into some terms regarding a London edition of your Poems. He seemed to me to have a genuine feeling of regard for yourself & your works, & he asked me to convey to you an expression of his feeling when next I shd write.
Yours always, W. M. Rossetti. loc.03607.003_large.jpg loc.03607.004_large.jpg from W M Rossetti 6 Oct. '85 | enclosing p o order £37.12Correspondent:
William Michael Rossetti (1829–1915), brother
of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti, was an English editor and a champion of
Whitman's work. In 1868, Rossetti edited Whitman's Poems,
selected from the 1867 Leaves of Grass. Whitman referred
to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871, letter to Frederick S. Ellis. Nonetheless,
the edition provided a major boost to Whitman's reputation, and Rossetti would
remain a staunch supporter for the rest of Whitman's life, drawing in
subscribers to the 1876 Leaves of Grass and fundraising
for Whitman in England. For more on Whitman's relationship with Rossetti, see
Sherwood Smith, "Rossetti, William Michael (1829–1915)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).