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Camden1
Dec: 12 '91
I saw an item of Balestier's2 death four days ago, but tho't it needed authentication (& seems to me yet), but I
find this printed in Bost.3—
He was the proposer of the foreign edn L of G.4 I spoke of—
Was any thing done—or
is there any thing further—of sending5 the plaster bust6 to
Dr Johnston?7
—fine sunny Dec: weather—
Bad condition with me—"Keep good heart—the worst is to come"—was one of the sayings of my dear old father8—
Ingram9 has moved into Phila: for the winter—I have sent paper-b'd copies of the new L of G.10 to Dr. J. & J W W.11
Horace12 here last evn'g as usual—just taken a cool refreshing glass buttermilk—tolerable night last—sitting here
ab't as ever big chair, wolf-skin, oak fire. God bless you
Walt Whitman
WOLCOTT BALESTIER.13
The cable has done few things more tragic, in its own terse and terrible way, than to announce the sudden death, last Sunday,
December 6th, at Dresden, of Wolcott Balestier. To those who knew him, the news will forever remain incredible, he was so full of active boyish interest in life and work,
of plans and criticism, of real promise and personal significance.
He would make on a stranger the impression of one who meant to last long, and yet he was not of robust build. He had a look not unlike the portraits of Hazlitt14 in his youth;
slight, fair, decisive of step and speech; and his whole character was almost typically American, as befitted
the descendant of Wolcott the Signer.15 He had written two novels. His "Common Story"16 in a recent Century17 won smiling praise everywhere for its shrewd and
tender comprehension of women; and he had the glorious fun (it would have been his own word), of building and launching
"The Naulahka,"18 pegging away, day by day, with his dear friend Rudyard Kipling.19 He had passed most of his life with books, and he found,
without trouble, his vocation as publisher. The new firm of Heinemann20 & Balestier started out with a vast stock of courage, and many English and American authors have reason to know that it made
an instant, an honorable success. Press of pleasant affairs, and the occult duty of dethroning the kings of the house of Tauchnitz, carried him this month as often before,
to Germany; and here, in his thirtieth year, is the inscrutable end.
Ships at sea, the noisy New York highways where first he studied the humanities, the all-but-uninterrupted stretch
of grass from Dean's Yard, Westminster, to his door at Kensington, which made his daily walk, and which he
pointed out with great mischief to New Yorkers reared on din and dust—these shall know him no more.
He had many illustrious friends in his delightful exile; Mr.21 and Mrs. Edmund Gosse,22 with their lovely little children, will miss him most of all.
What his loss is to his mother23 and his sisters,24 one of whom, long in England at his side, was his devoted playmate, comforter and stay, cannot be put into words.
I shall think of him always as last I saw him—loving games and dogs and natural laughter; full of enthusiasm for literature and for old London; full of kindness for every
creature about him; the busy, happy, unsoiled young heart! "The peace of Heaven, The fellowship of all great souls, go with thee."
LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY.25
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Correspondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Dr Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: CAMDEN, N.J. |
DEC 12 | 8 PM | 91; PHILADELPHIA, P.A. | DEC | 12 | 930 PM | 91 | TRANSIT;
LONDON | PM | DE 14 | 91 | CANADA. Whitman's return address is printed on the
envelope as follows: WALT WHITMAN, | CAMDEN, | NEW JERSEY. [back]
- 2. Wolcott Balestier
(1861–1891) was an American writer who went to London, England, in 1888 as
an agent for the publisher John W. Lovell. He became close friends with Henry
James and Rudyard Kipling, who married Balestier's sister. Balestier joined with
William Heinemann to form a publishing house in 1890, located in Leipzig,
Germany, and dedicated to publishing continental editions of English writers.
They launched their series, "The English Library," in 1891. Balestier died in
December 1891 of typhoid fever in Dresden; he was a week away from his thirtieth
birthday. [back]
- 3. Mounted on the right-hand
side is a clipping from the Boston Evening Transcript of
December 10, 1891, recounting the "sudden death" of Balestier in Germany. [back]
- 4. In a letter to Richard
Maurice Bucke dated November 22, 1891, Whitman
noted that "Heineman, Balestier, & Lovell want to purchase the American
copyright [to Leaves of Grass]—I do not care to sell it as at present
minded." [back]
- 5. See the letter from
Whitman to Dr. John Johnston of August 16–17,
1891, and the letter from Whitman to Bucke of January 23, 1892. [back]
- 6. Bucke is referring to one of
the four plaster busts of Whitman that were sculpted by Sidney Morse. [back]
- 7. Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927)
of Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, was a physician, photographer, and avid
cyclist. Johnston was trained in Edinburgh and served as a hospital surgeon in
West Bromwich for two years before moving to Bolton, England, in 1876. Johnston
worked as a general practitioner in Bolton and as an instructor of ambulance
classes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. He served at Whalley Military
Hospital during World War I and became Medical Superintendent of Townley's
Hospital in 1917 (John Anson, "Bolton's Illustrious Doctor Johnston—a man
of many talents," Bolton News [March 28, 2021]; Paul
Salveson, Moorlands, Memories, and Reflections: A Centenary
Celebration of Allen Clarke's Moorlands and Memories [Lancashire
Loominary, 2020]). Johnston, along with the architect James W. Wallace, founded
the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston and Wallace
corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members of the
Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet and
published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two Lancashire
Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more information on
Johnston, see Larry D. Griffin, "Johnston, Dr. John (1852–1927)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. Walter Whitman, Sr. (1789–1855) married Louisa
Van Velsor in 1816. Together they had nine children, the second of whom was his
namesake and future poet, Walt Jr. Well-connected and politically radical,
Walter's personality was rigid and stern, a temperament that alienated his poet
son. For more on Walter Sr. and his relationship with his son, see "Whitman, Walter, Sr. (1789–1855)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. William Ingram, a Quaker, kept a tea
store—William Ingram and Son Tea Dealers—in Philadelphia. Of Ingram,
Whitman observed to Horace Traubel: "He is a man of the Thomas Paine
stripe—full of benevolent impulses, of radicalism, of the desire to
alleviate the sufferings of the world—especially the sufferings of
prisoners in jails, who are his protégés" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Sunday, May 20, 1888). Ingram and his wife visited the physician
Richard Maurice Bucke and his family in Canada in 1890. [back]
- 10. Whitman wanted to have a
copy of the final Leaves of Grass before his death, and
he also wanted to be able to present copies to his friends. A version of the
1891–1892 Leaves of Grass, often referred to as the
"deathbed edition," was bound in December of 1891 so that Whitman could give the
volume to friends at Christmas. [back]
- 11. James William Wallace
(1853–1926), of Bolton, England, was an architect and great admirer of
Whitman. Wallace, along with Dr. John Johnston (1852–1927), a physician in
Bolton, founded the "Bolton College" of English admirers of the poet. Johnston
and Wallace corresponded with Whitman and with Horace Traubel and other members
of the Whitman circle in the United States, and they separately visited the poet
and published memoirs of their trips in John Johnston and James William Wallace,
Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–1891 by Two
Lancashire Friends (London: Allen and Unwin, 1917). For more
information on Wallace, see Larry D. Griffin, "Wallace, James William (1853–1926)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 12. 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]
- 13. Whitman has written the
following source information at the bottom of the newspaper clipping: "Bost
Trans | Dec 10 '91." [back]
- 14. William Hazlitt
(1778–1830) was well known as an English essayist. He was also a literary
critic and a painter, and was considered to be one the finest art critics of his
time. [back]
- 15. The politician Oliver
Wolcott (1726–1791) signed the United States Declaration of Independence
as a representative of Connecticut. [back]
- 16. Baletsier's "A Common
Story," was publshed by Century Illustrated Monthly
Magazine in August 1891. [back]
- 17. The
Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, the successor of Scribner's Monthly Magazine was first published in 1881
by the Century Company of New York City. Richard Watson Gilder served as the
magazine's editor until his death in 1909. Five of Whitman's poems were first
published in the magazine: "Twilight" (December 1887), "Old Age's Lamben Peaks" (September 1888), "My 71st Year," (November 1889), "Old Age's Ship and Crafty Death's" (February 1890), and "A Twilight Song"(May 1890). [back]
- 18. The
Naulahka: A Story of West and East was a novel set in the fictional
state of "Rahore" in India by Rudyard Kipling and Wolcott Balestier. It was
first published as a serial novel in Century Illustrated
Monthly Magazine from November 1891 to July 1892. [back]
- 19. Joseph Rudyard Kipling
(1865–1936) was an English novelist, poet, and short-story writer. India,
the country of his birth, inspired his most remembered literary works, such as
The Jungle Book (1894) and Kim
(1901). Kipling was just beginning his rise to international celebrity in the
early 1890s. He married Carolina Starr Balestier (1862–1939) in
1892. [back]
- 20. William Heinemann
(1863–1920) was an English publisher of Jewish heritage who published the
series, "The English Library," with Wolcott Balestier (1861–1891) and
founded the Heinemann publishing house in London. [back]
- 21. Sir Edmund William Gosse
(1849–1928) was an English poet and the author of Father
and Son (a memoir published in 1907). Gosse wrote to Whitman on December 12, 1873: "I can but thank you for all
that I have learned from you, all the beauty you have taught me to see in the
common life of healthy men and women, and all the pleasure there is in the mere
humanity of other people" (see Horace Traubel, With Walt
Whitman in Camden, Friday, June 1, 1888). Gosse reviewed Two
Rivulets in "Walt Whitman's New Book," The Academy, 9 (24
June 1876), 602–603, and visited Whitman in 1885 (see Whitman's letter
inviting Gosse to visit on December 28, 1884 and
The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller [New
York: New York University Press, 1961–1977], 3:384 n80). In a letter to
the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke on October
31, 1889, Whitman characterized Gosse as "one of the amiable
conventional wall-flowers of literature" (Charles E. Feinberg Collection). For
more about Gosse, see Jerry F. King, "Gosse, Sir Edmund (1849–1928)," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 22. Ellen Epps Gosse
(1850–1929) was a Pre-Raphaelite painter and a writer for various
publications. She and her husband Edmund were the parents of three children:
Emily Teresa (b. 1877), Philip Henry George (1879–1959), and Laura Sylvia
(1881–1968). [back]
- 23. Wolcott Balestier
(1861–1891) was the son of Henry Wolcott Balestier (1840–1870) and
Anna Smith Balestier (1838–1919). [back]
- 24. Balestier had two sisters,
Caroline Starr Balestier Kipling (1862–1939) and Josephine Balestier (b.
ca. 1870). [back]
- 25. Louise Imogen Guiney
(1861–1920), of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was an essayist, poet, and editor.
She held jobs ranging from postmistress to cataloging at the Boston Public
Library. She moved to Oxford, England, in 1901, and she contributed to The Atlantic Monthly, Scribner's,
and the Dublin Review, among other magazines. [back]