Huntington Smith to Walt Whitman, 5 March 1889

 loc_tb.00055.jpg 65 Pleasant St., Dorchester, Mass., Mar. 5/89 Dear Sir,

I'm preparing a volume of selections from American literature to cover the period from Franklin to Lowell, I would like very much to make use of the following extracts from your writings:1

"Specimen Days and Collect,"2 the passage beginning p. 268, line 5, "the art of arts, the glory of expression," ending p. 270 line 15, "more divine than men and women."

 loc_tb.00057.jpg

"Leaves of Grass," the poems entitled "For You O Democracy," p. 99, "the Singer in the Prison," p. 292, and "O Captain, My Captain," p. 262—or, in lieu of the first two, the poem called "Pioneers! O Pioneers!"

If you will kindly grant me permission to avail myself of the extracts I have indicated, it will be a very great favor.

Yours truly, Huntington Smith Mr. Walt Whitman  loc_tb.00058.jpg

P.S.—I do not know whether you care to see notices of your books or not, but I venture to send you a review of your "November Boughs,"3 which I recently contributed4 to the Literary World—a paper which in the past I believe has been anything but prejudicial in your favor

H.S.  loc_tb.00056.jpg Huntington Smith

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Notes

• 1. Smith is referring to A Century of American Literature, Benjamin Franklin to James Russel Lowell; selections from a hundred authors (1889). Walt Whitman is listed 89th in the table of contents along with the following four works: "Greatness in Poetry," "O Captain! My Captain!," "The Singer in the Prison," and "For You, O Democracy" (Huntington Smith, ed., A Century of American Literature, Benjamin Franklin to James Russel Lowell; selections from a hundred authors [London: Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill, 1889], 13). [back]
• 2. The first issue of Whitman's Specimen Days and Collect was published by the Philadelphia firm of Rees Welsh and Company in 1882. The second issue was published by David McKay. Many of the autobiographical notes, sketches, and essays that focus on the poet's life during and beyond the Civil War had been previously published in periodicals or in Memoranda During the War (1875–1876). For more information on Specimen Days, see George Hutchinson and David Drews "Specimen Days [1882]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
• 3. 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]
• 4. Huntington Smith may, in fact, be the anonymous author of the review, "Whitman's November Boughs," which was published in The Literary World on December 8, 1888. The postscript included in Richard Maurice Bucke's letter to Whitman of December 16, 1888, notes this review: "I have the "Boston Literary World" of 8th inst. . . . Not a bad little review at all of 'November Boughs' Do you know who did it?" [back]