Camden
March 24 '891
Another beautiful sunny day. Rec'd a kind letter from T B Aldrich2 Boston—he buys the big book3 (sending $25 for
it)4—Am feeling well (for me)—pass my whole time in the room & chair
& bed—wonder I keep up & as good trim & spirits—but believe
I do—no doctors now for over a month—No
visitors to day—no mail—have flesh rubbing & massage
daily—
Best love to you & N[elly]5
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Wm. D O'Connor | 1015 O Street N W | Washington |
D C. It is postmarked: Camden (?) | Mar 24 | 5 PM | 8(?); Washington, Rec'd. |
Mar (?) | 2 AM | 89 | 7. [back]
- 2. Thomas Bailey Aldrich
(1836–1907) was associated with Henry Clapp's Saturday
Press from 1858 until its final number in 1860; see Ferris Greenslet,
the Life of Thomas Bailey Aldrich (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, Co., 1908), 37–49. In 1865 Aldrich left New York and returned to
Boston—to gentility and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Aldrich was editor of
the Atlantic Monthly from 1881 to 1890. For Aldrich's
opinion of Whitman's poetry, see Greenslet, 138–139. [back]
- 3. Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888), a volume Whitman often referred to
as the "big book," was published by the poet himself—in an arrangement
with publisher David McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves of Grass and Specimen
Days—in December 1888. With the help of Horace Traubel, Whitman made
the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick Oldach bound the
book, which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. For more
information on the book, see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 4. Aldrich acknowledged
receipt of the book on March 25, 1889. Aldrich's check for $25 is in the
Houghton Library. [back]
- 5. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]