Camden
Nov: 20 '88
1
Still ab't holding my own & comfortable—nothing very new or notable—The Transcript
I send with Hamlin Garland's2 notice of Nov: Boughs3—Still keep my sick room—Clear sunny cool to-day.
How are you getting along?—The pub'r yesterday had an order for 250 copies Nov: B. for Scotland—
W.W.
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 | Washington D C. It is postmarked: Camden, N. J.,
| Nov 20 | 8 PM | 88; Washington, Rec'd. | Nov 21 | 7AM | 88 | 3. [back]
- 2. Hamlin Garland
(1860–1940) was an American novelist and autobiographer, known especially
for his works about the hardships of farm life in the American Midwest. For his
relationship to Whitman, see Thomas K. Dean, "Garland, Hamlin," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Whitman's November Boughs was published in October 1888 by Philadelphia
publisher David McKay. For more information on the book, see James E. Barcus
Jr.,"November Boughs [1888]," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). Garland's review of November
Boughs appeared in the Boston Transcript on
November 15, 1888. He spoke of his review in letters to Whitman dated November 9, 1888 and November 16, 1888. Whitman commented to Horace Traubel: "The
Transcript piece has as a trifle a certain air almost of apology: but for that
feature I like it. We are forcing the enemy to listen to us" (see Horace
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Saturday, November 17, 1888). [back]