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Camden1
Sunday noon Apr: 12 '91
Cloudy & damp yet—am feeling a shade better this forenoon—bowel
actions (more or less,—generally less, but I believe decided at that) each of the
three past days—wh' is of course a great gain,—Tom Harned2 was here last evn'g—he is busy & prosperous (very
possibly going off on business to San Francisco, for a few days)—Horace3 here as usual—proof4 will soon be done—enclosed a MS
from J W W5 of Bolton, Eng:6
God bless you all—
Walt Whitman
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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. | Apr
12 | 5 PM | 91; London | PM | 91 | Canada.; Philadelphia, P[illegible] | Apr | 12 | 6 30 PM | 1891 |
Transit; Buffalo, N.Y. | Apr | 16 | 9 AM | 1891 | Transit. [back]
- 2. Thomas Biggs Harned
(1851–1921) was one of Whitman's literary executors. Harned was a lawyer
in Philadelphia and, having married Augusta Anna Traubel (1856–1914), was
Horace Traubel's brother-in-law. For more on him, see Dena Mattausch, "Harned, Thomas Biggs (1851–1921)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on his relationship with Whitman, see
Thomas Biggs Harned, Memoirs of Thomas B. Harned, Walt
Whitman's Friend and Literary Executor, ed. Peter Van Egmond (Hartford:
Transcendental Books, 1972). [back]
- 3. 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]
- 4. Whitman is referring to the
proofs for his book Good-Bye My Fancy (1891). In his
letter to Bucke of May 14, 1891, the poet writes
that Horace Traubel has also just sent Bucke "a full set (66p) 'Good-Bye' annex." Good-Bye My
Fancy (1891) was Whitman's last miscellany, and it included both poetry
and short prose works commenting on poetry, aging, and death, among other
topics. Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy
2d Annex" to Leaves of Grass (1891–1892), the last
edition of Leaves of Grass published before Whitman's
death in March 1892. For more information see, Donald Barlow Stauffer, "'Good-Bye my Fancy' (Second Annex) (1891)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. 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]
- 6. Whitman may be referring
to Wallace's letter of March 27, 1891, in which
Wallace outlined a speech he was to deliver to the County Borough of Bolton
(England) Public Libraries "college" on April 10. Bucke notes on April 14, 1891: "It is a noble production and
raises Wallace even higher than ever in my regard—I know W. pretty well
and between ourselves I think he is a very choice spirit—his spiritual
insight is especially keen and fine—I guess there is no man understands L.
of G. more profoundly." [back]