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The second copy of book & my lending one, has come safe—too—and the card that told of your attack of

illness, & the welcome news of your recovery in the Paper; & I have been fretting with impatience at my

own dumbness—but tied to as many hours a day writing as I could possibly manage, at my little book now

(last night)—finished, all but proofs, so that I can take my pleasure in "Specimen Days" at last; but

My love to brother & sister & to Hattie [&] Jessie. Good-bye, dear Walt.

It is not for want of thinking of you, dear Walt, that I write but seldom: for indeed my thoughts are

I also saw this summer two women doctors who were very kind & good friends to my darling Bee— Drs.

I hope you received my little book safely.

to care whether you found patience to read it—for I grew to love Mary & Charles Lamb so much during my

My Dearest Friend: Lazy me, that have been thinking letters to you instead of writing them!

But they do: I am as sure of that as of my own existence. When will men begin to understand them?

of the sea and I seem to remember such a place near Lynn Regis, where I was thirty years ago, when my

My little book on Mary Lamb just out—will send you a copy in a day or two.

I am still struggling along, striving to say something which, if I can say it to my mind, will be useful—will

My Dearest Friend: Those few words of yours to Herby "tasted good" to us —few, but enough, seeing that

here as by a kind of natural destiny that has to be fulfilled very cheerfully, could I make America my

I say how very highly I prize that last slip you sent me, "A backward glance on my own road"?

"A Backward Glance on My Own Road," The Critic, 4 (5 January 1884), 1–2.

My Dearest Friend: Your card (your very voice & touch, drawing me across the Atlantic close beside you

) was put into my hand just as I was busy copying out "With husky, haughty lips O sea" to pin into my

I am getting on—my heart is in my work—& though I have been long about it, it won't be long—but I think

comfortable, elderly couple to keep house for you was a good hearing—for "the old shanty" had risen before my

My poor article has so far been rejected by editors—so I have laid it by for a little, to come with a

Whitman: "Because you have, as it were, given me a ground for the love of men I thank you continually in my

ferry boats & enjoy the beautiful broad river & the sky & the throngs of people as of old—you are in my

—I cannot help grieving over public affairs too—never in my lifetime has old England been in such a bad

I could not get my article into any of the magazines I most wished.

was interested also in a little paragraph I found about Pullman town, near Chicago, which confirmed my

My Dearest Friend: A kind of anxiety has for some time past weighed upon me and upon others, I find,

My love, dear Walt. Anne Gilchrist. Anne Gilchrist to Walt Whitman, 20 July 1885

June 15/80 My dearest Friend, Many tokens have you sent me.

Often dear Friend do I picture you sitting on one of the benches (may my dream come true!)

I still busy with the proof &c. of the new edition of my Husbands Husband's book.

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

Whitman: "Because you have, as it were, given me a ground for the love of men I thank you continually in my

Feb 16/81 My dearest friend, At last I am beginning to feel myself again after a four months spell of

I feel as if my usual good health has made me obtuse & unsympathetic towards the ailing.

It was very hard for us to be sundered during my illness—but was the right thing to do, she was so much

My letter seems all about myself but then I want you to know why I have been so long silent.

I send you a photo of my little grandson. Anne Gilchrist to Walt Whitman, 16 February 1881

./82 Dearest friend, I like with all my heart (& head too) "A memorandum at a venture".

I have never for a moment wavered in my belief in this truth since it burst upon me a veritable sunrise

He has gone just now to my favorite Haslemere, in quest of nightingales—& I hope will make the acquaintance

reading it—suddenly remembered your birthday—that it was past & I had not written one word—not just put my

I was then (when I should have written—middle of May just preparing & starting on my journey to the north—first

I enjoyed everything—the being with Norah (who is like one of my own) & the dearest jolliest little man

wonderful colours & sweet odors of the sea—everything is best except the keenness of the wind which made my

SHOTTERMILL, HASLEMERE, Surrey, October 6, '79 1879 My dearest friend, Your letter came to me here just

We have been spending the last six or seven weeks in this village I am so fond of where my children grew

up; we came to live here after my husband's death and remained seven or eight years till until the boys

I am trying to write a brief memoir of my Husband to prefix to the new edition of the Blake Macmillan

I cannot tell you, dear friend, how often and how affectionately my thoughts turn to America the great

Boston March 13th 1887 My dear Sir: I hope you will do us the favor to accept the enclosed invitation

Looking for a favorable reply and a promise to be my guest, I remain Very truly yours Annie Fields Annie

My dear Mr Whitman Please write Your Autograph & Enclose in the Accompanying Envelope I appreciate the

Many favors Asked of You feel desire Your Autograph So Much to Add to My Already Good Collection that

Wood is with [me] here at my old home says it is not very natural here does not seem at all like an hospital

My Dear Uncle W, Your very kind letter of the 16th was duly received and appreciated to the best of my

I do not know whether there are any characters among my neighbors that would interest you particular

My Dear Friend, Tis a long time since I have had the pleasure of hearing from you so I fear you did not

I am getting around quite lively on just a single cane and my health is good.

Now good bye, my good freind and may heaven keep you safe from harm. Anson Ryder, Jun.

Bowling Green Febry February 24th 1867 My Dear Friend I was thinking to day today whether I had answered

good berth in Tennessee but being of a modest disposition of course I cannot call his attention to my

This is my excuse for profering proffering this request and I entertain the hope that you will graciously

That he obtained your goods & service under false pretenses is perfectly certain to my mind .

would let me have some property which he had no earthly use for viz some books which had once been in my

private library a $150 bookcase which had been in my library 5 or 6 years before I thought of going

pay you $200.00 (just what was due Dec 1st '74) In another place he binds himself to carry out all my

I have done for 3 or 4 years, day & night & sunday, to get justice out of this fellow for myself & my

But as I did not receive an answer from you, and thinking that my letter miscarried, I concluded to write

My dear old friend Mr. Whitman So many years have passed since we last saw each other.

that you remember me , and the old home on M.Street —and the dear old "Cherry Tree" " where you and my

Sevellon Brown, Sackett my son were there also.

Although many years have passed since you lived at my house and many changes have come to us, still,

hope this may reach you, it would give me a great deal of pleasure to know that you remember me and my

Whitman's book Good-Bye My Fancy (1891) was his last miscellany, and it included both poetry and short

Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy" in Leaves of Grass (1891–1892

For more information see, Donald Barlow Stauffer, "'Good-Bye my Fancy' (Second Annex) (1891)," Walt Whitman

Dec. 2, 1866 My dear Whitman: I find your book and cordial letter, on returning home from a lecturing

I have had the first edition of your Leaves of Grass among my books, since its first appearance, and

frankly, that there are two things in it which I find nowhere else in literature, though I find them in my

There is not one word of your large and beautiful sympathy for men, which I cannot take into my own heart

I say these things, not in the way of praise, but because I know from my own experience that correct

Nov. 12, 1866 My dear Sir: I send to you by the same mail which takes this note, a copy of my last poem

The age is over-squeamish, and, for my part, I prefer the honest nude to the suggestive half-draped.

Dear Mr Whitman Please pardon my intrusion but as I am a great lover of literature especially poetry,

Miller's muse If you will be so kind as to answer my critical questions I will thank you very much.

volumes of Horace Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden (various publishers: 1906–1996) and Whitman's "My

If one's patient has an ache or pain, the nurse whistles for the student (my whistle is 2).

One of my patients has empyema following pleurisy.

Several of my patients (I have all the very sick just now) require very careful watching.

Please give my love to Mrs. Whitman & remember me to Colonel Whitman.

If it were not for records accumulating mountain high I should have time to write to my friends.

Please remember me to all the Staffords & give my especial love to Mrs. Stafford. Also to Mrs.

thanks—and if I may impose on your generosity I should be please pleased to have a lett letter for my

My dear Sir: Your esteemed favor containing poems submitted for the Arena received;—and in reply would

Boston December 11, 1863 Walt Whitman— My dear sir— I went to the hospital in Pemberton Square yesterday

There seems a sort of hopelessness about this, and being unused to hospitals my feelings were far from

See Trowbridge, My Own Story, with recollections of noted persons (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1903), 179

On October 18, 1863, Babbitt was depressed—"dark clouds seem to be lying in my pathway and I can not

remove them nor hide them from my mind"—until he mentioned his beloved, Nellie F.

your book on the market advertised as the suppressed edition, and invite the authorities to dispute my

Morse, Quincy, Mass., the sculptor, whom you know, and who has long been one of my intimate friends.

He does not know of my design in this matter, but he will tell you that I am thoroughly reliable, and

received the letter I wrote in answer to yours of date "a long time ago" ( very definite ) in reply to my

I have an impression that I can give a reason why you did not answer my last though I perhaps do you

My dear Heaven waitheth waiteth for mortals when earth is departed.

received one letter from you but when I wrote again I received no answer and supposed you had not received my

correspondents for I would really like to hear from you very much for I formed an attachment for you during my

My Friend Hamilton started for Leavenworth Kansas last week to see his Brother, who has been jammed up

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

On April 21, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

I have entirely recovered from my wounds long since and have been at work part of the time and attending

I have been at work about six weeks, consequently my hand is not in very good condition for writing.

I have been promising myself to write to you ever since I returned home but have failed to keep my promise

If I can not go into anything there, what do you think of my going further south, say to Savannah.

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

On April 21, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

A few days ago I picked up a paper through my Friend Hamilton containing an article regarding Walt Whitman

I would like very much to read your works for I have heard my Father speak a few days ago of your Leaves

I must draw my letter to a close for this time, and hope I shall hear from you soon again.

night, and will not lose any time in answering it this time, but I do not know as you will approve of my

writing on Sundays, but that is about the only time I have for writing except evenings and then my hands

tremble so from my work (which is nearly all done by the hands) that I can scarcely write inteligibly

deserve his love as well as that of thousands of others myself included, and I wish you to give him my

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

Walt Whitman, I was very much pleased a few days ago to receive your prompt answer of April 12 th to my

I recd received a letter from my wife about the middle of last week she had arrived safely and was enjoying

I do not want you to misunderstand my motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in

my last letter or else I shall have to be mor more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

Syracuse April 7th/67 Dear Friend & Comrade I can not make any other excuse for my delay in answering

thought would interest you, and I do not know as it will now for I have not much to write of except my

My Wife started for New York City last friday night to be gone several weeks. she is to be with her Sister

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

and to talk about, but I fear I shall weary you with such a letter as this so I will close it with my

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

But my kind Old Friend you must not think that because I wrote to you and mentioned it, that I wish you

myself in debt six hundred dollars and finally came to the conclusion that it was time I closed up my

business, so I did so about the first of July last, and am now at work at my trade in a Piano Forte

& Melodeon Manufactory and find that it pays me better than business on my own book.

Now I think I have given you a good statement of my situation and hope it will be to your satisfaction

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

15 th Sunday 18 67 Dear Friend Walt Whitman I know that you will not think I have forgotten you by my

long silence for I have been waiting patiently for more than four months for an answer to my last letter

I spent a week in New York City in June, my Wife was taken sick there while visiting her Sister and they

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

every week since I received your letter that I would write to you and as often I have failed to keep my

Mother & My Wife send their regards to you.

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and

Syracuse Dec 27th/68 Walt Whitman Dear Friend I suppose you will think by this time that I have forgotten my

Dear old Friend by my long silence & neglect to answer your letter, or acknowledge the receipt of your

think of you & promise myself that I will not delay writing to you any longer but as often I break my

My health is very good. Father has been quite sick for a week but is improving now.

York next summer & cannot come up and make me a short visit let me know when you are coming and if my

I got the thumb of my right hand in to some Cog Wheels and smashed it pretty fine so that I have not

My thumb is very Painful so that I can not write much at present but will do so as soon as it gets well

My family are all well. Write soon Yours with Love B. H. Wilson. B H Wilson Benton H.

your last letter so long that I am most ashamed to write to you now but I know that you will excuse my

My little baby Walt is well & Bright as a dollar. with Love to yourself I will close for the present.

Father & Mother & My Wife send Love to my kind Friend, & you know you have a good share of mine.

I am a married man but I am not happy for my disposition is not right.

21, 1867, Wilson acknowledged Whitman's reply of April 12, 1867: "I do not want you to misunderstand my

motives in writing to you of my Situation & feelings as I did in my last letter or else I shall have

to be more guarded in my letters to you.

I wrote so because you wanted me to write how I was situated, and give you my mind without reserve, and