My friend Mr Gleeson White,1 (who called on you in November), I think mentioned my name to you as one fond of reading your books.—& he sent me a flower loc_vm.00380.jpg you had picked, with a message of love besides—
Perhaps you have forgotten the incident, but he also tells me, if I send you 25 shillings (or 6 dols.), you would send me the complete edition of your works,2 with perhaps a little autograph note in the fly-leaf. This I should like above all other things & loc_vm.00381.jpg send the money in faith.
I cannot tell you what a blessed thing it was to me when I found your poems, & I could say the same of several other young Englishmen I know—
Believe me, though we can probably never meet,
affectionately yours— Henry S. Tuke Mr. Walt Whitman— Camden—New•Jersey• loc_vm.00382.jpgCorrespondent:
Henry Scott Tuke
(1858–1929) was an English photographer and painter who specialized in
male nudes and maritime themes. Among his acquaintances were Oscar Wilde and
John Addington Symonds, who also corresponded with Whitman. Tuke moved to
Swanpool in 1885 and painted from a fishing boat that he converted into a
floating studio. For more on Tuke's artistic work, see C. Kains-Jackson, "H. S.
Tuke, A.R.A.," The Magazine of Art 26 (1902):
337–343.