May I send a Disciple's greeting & a word of loving regard expressive of hope
that you are as well as one may hope to be in the
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the "November"-tide of Life.
I am to read a paper before our Literary Society at the close of the year & I am anxious
to prepare myself properly. The subject is yourself as a Leader of the thought & manly
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character of the age—a former & Re-former of the times. I read somewhere that you had
a few copies of the original Edn of "Leaves" which cd be got
from you alone. Is it so? If I am
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rightly informed wd you kindly mail me a single line
giving me prices & any particulars.
With earnest & sincere tender good wishes
Faithfully Yours Edmund J. BaillieCorrespondent:
Edmund John Baillie
(1851–1897) was a Welsh horticulturalist specializing in fruit trees and a
Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. In 1882, he published John Ruskin: Aspects of his Thought and Teachings (London: John
Pearce). Baillie served as vice president of the Vegetarian Society and
president of the John Ruskin Society in Liverpool. For more information, see
"Mr. E. J. Baillie," The Manchester Guardian (October 19,
1897), 12.