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Tuesday May 22 '881
To Mr. Bennerman:
The bearer of this is Horace Traubel,2 a young friend of mine in
whom I have confidence—I want to have printed (stereotyped) a book of
(probably) 160 to 200 pages3—may-be somewhat
less—long primer—exactly same sized page as the "Specimen Days" you
printed of mine six years ago—
Can you & would you like to do it for me?—Have you some
good long primer? The copy is ready—it is all printed
matter—(or nearly all)—is all plain sailing—you could commence
next Monday—Sh'd want liberal proofs—
You can talk with Horace Traubel just the same as you w'd with me—I am almost
entirely disabled ab't walking, or bodily locomotion—
Walt Whitman
328 Mickle Street
Camden NJ
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Correspondent:
Whitman had intended to have Mr.
Bennerman, a Philadelphia proprietor, print November
Boughs, but Bennerman lost the print job in part because, Whitman
claimed, "he never wanted me to go upstairs into the composing room" (Horace
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Friday, May 25, 1888).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Mr Bennerman | Printing Office cor: 7th & | Cherry Streets | Philadelphia.
Whitman's return address is printed on the envelope as follows: WALT WHITMAN, |
CAMDEN, | NEW JERSEY. [back]
- 2. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Whitman is referring to
November Boughs. [back]