Camden NJ—US America1
Oct: 27 '91
J W W[allace]2 has ret'd3 f'm a pleasant visit to the Staffords4
(Glendale, Camden Co: N J)—is well, has just gone over to Philadelphia—O'Connor's5 book
"Three Tales"6 pub'd by Houghton, Mifflin & Co:
Boston, is out—I am having a bad spell—(sinking & congestion.) All yr's
recd7—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Dr. Johnston | 54 Manchester R'd | Bolton Lancashire | England. It is
postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Oct 27 | 6 PM | 9(?); (?) Pa. | Oct 27 | 9PM |
Paid. [back]
- 2. 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]
- 3. Wallace visited Whitman in
Camden, New Jersey, and the Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke at Bucke's
home in London, Ontario, Canada, in the fall of 1891. He also spent time in New
York during the trip. Accounts of Wallace's visit can be found in Dr. John
Johnston and Wallace's Visits to Walt Whitman in
1890–91 (London, England: G. Allen & Unwin, ltd.,
1917). [back]
- 4. George (1827–1892) and Susan
Stafford (1833–1910) were the parents of Harry Stafford, a young man whom
Whitman befriended in 1876 in Camden. They were tenant farmers at White Horse
Farm near Kirkwood, New Jersey, where Whitman visited them on several occasions.
For more on Whitman and the Staffords, see David G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M." Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings, ed., (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998), 685. [back]
- 5. William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Three of William D.
O'Connor's stories with a preface by Whitman were published in Three Tales: The Ghost, The Brazen Android, The Carpenter (Boston and
New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1892). Whitman's preface was also
included in Good-Bye My Fancy (Philadelphia: David McKay,
1891), 51–53. [back]
- 7. See Johnston's letters of
October 17, 1891 and October 24, 1891. [back]