The New-York Saturday Press

Founded on October 23, 1858 by Henry Clapp, Jr., the Saturday Press was the unofficial weekly newspaper of the circle of artists and writers who frequented Pfaff's Beer Cellar in New York City. But the paper, designed as a miscellany of news and culture, also gained national prominence, and in the minds of many readers, it was New York's response to the Boston-based Atlantic Monthly. Clapp, a friend of Whitman's, invited a variety of writers to contribute, including those who were not frequenters of Pfaff's, such as William Dean Howells and John Greenleaf Whittier. But he struggled with financial problems and had to suspend publication of the paper on December 15, 1860. Clapp revived it again briefly from August 5, 1865 through June 2, 1866. While the paper lasted, however, Whitman was not only a frequent contributor but also the subject of several articles and even parodies that appeared in its pages. Clapp also printed numerous advertisements for the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. The publication of "A Child's Reminiscence" on the first page of the paper on December 24, 1859, was accompanied by an editorial note ghostwritten by Whitman which encouraged readers to consider the poem "as our Christmas or New Year's present to them." The publication of the poem prompted a strongly negative review by a writer for the Cincinnati Daily Commercial on December 28, 1859. Whitman responded with "All about a Mockingbird" in which he offered his defense of his poetry. All of the furor only served to call attention to Whitman, and he continued to publish a series of poems in the Press.