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119 Lower Baggot Street Dublin 14 February 1876 My dear Mr. Whitman, 'Bram Stoker Feb, '76.

My friend Edward Dowden has told me often that you like new acquaintances or I should rather say friends

I wrote the enclosed draft of a letter which I intended to copy out and send to you —it has lain in my

much consolation—and I do believe that your open earnest speech has not been thrown away on me or that my

a hot debate on your genius at the Fortnightly Club in which I had the privilege of putting forward my

One of his own countrymen (a press correspondent) thus writes of him— The only American prophet to my

He has no respect for artificial barriers to poetic inspiration:— "In my opinion the time has arrived

In my opinion, I say, while admitting that the venerable and heavenly forms of chiming versification

"Yes, my brethren, oh!

And thee, My Soul! Joys, ceaseless exercises, exaltations!

This man (whose frame, as I afterward found, was no mean type of the generous heart within) came to my

bed, sat down, & after some talk with me wrote a letter to my parents in Michigan.

This act secured my gratitude & we became intimately acquainted & close friends—Being furloughed in July

an ugly bullet hole through my left lung that time finding a lodgment at Armory Sqr.

My friend was still in Washington, we met, & our intimacy was renewed and again abruptly broken off in

Dublin, 18/2 187 6 My dear Mr Whitman I send you an order for 39/= for a copy of your works the $10 edition

I must say that I only know Mr Dowden casually—a person of my world cannot aspire to much acquaintance

My knowledge of literature is very slight—I have not the critical insight into things that he has Dear

My having been obliged to give up all idea of a separate life for myself beyond the grave, forces me

The books are for my wife "Mary F.

My dearest Friend, Do not think me too wilful or headstrong but I have taken our tickets & we shall sail

And since we have to come to a decision my mind has been quite at rest.

I have arranged for my goods to sail a week later than we do, so as to give us time.

Good bye for a short while my dearest Friend Anne Gilchrist.

1 Torriano Gardens Camden Rd London Feb 25 /76 My dearest Friend, I received the paper & enclosed slip

Soon, very soon I come my Darling.

for us— years of tranquil, tender happiness—me making your outward life serene & sweet—& you making my

benign influences round us out of our happiness and fulfilled life—Hold on but a little longer for me my

You must be very indulgent towards him for my sake dear Friend.

Gilder, Whitman justified his decision, writing that "No established publisher in the country will print my

books, & during the last three years of my illness & helplessness every one of the three successive

In the afternoon the books, I dont don't know how to settle down my thoughts calmly enough to write,

I have not shut my eyes to the difficulties and trials & responsibilities (for the childrens children's

discontent with old England or by any adverse circumstances here which I might hope to better there—my

reasons, emotions, the sources of my strength and courage for the uprooting & transplanting—all are

That America has brought them forth makes me want to plant some, at least, of my children on her soil

Ap 21, 1876 My dearest Friend, I must write again, out of a full heart.

"The Two Rivulets" has filled it very full—Ever the deep inward assent, rising up strong, exultant, my

Ever the sense of dearness —the sweet subtle perfume, pervading every page, every line to my sense—O

nor what answering emotion pervades me, flows out towards you—sweetest deepest greatest experience of my

Do not dissuade me from coming this autumn my dearest Friend —I have waited patiently 7 years—patiently

./76 I have had such joy this morning, my Darling—Poems of yours given in the "Daily News" sublime Poems

(one of them reaching dizzy heights) filling my soul with strong delight.

—The days, the weeks are slipping by my Beloved, bearing me swiftly surely to you —before the beauty

deep chords in the human soul when it is the vehicle of a great Master's thought & emotions—if only my

All my heart shall go into them—Take from my picture a long long look of tender love and joy and faith

Just a line of birthday greeting, my dearest Friend.

May all that will do you good come my dearest Friend–and not least the sense of relief & joy in having

That is what I believe as surely as I believe in my own existence.

best for us to go to New York (only I want to go at once where we are likeliest to stop, because of my

Solemn thoughts outleaping life, immortal aspirations of my Soul toward your soul.

I am having it printed on my own account. None of the publishers will take my writings.

I was telling a friend the other day that I was beginning to grow proud of always having my writings

My only way is to print the things myself or have them printed in the newspapers.

grave illness, I gather up the pieces of prose and poetry left over since publishing a while since my

For some reason—not explainable or definite to my own mind, yet secretly pleasing and satisfactory to

And thee, My Soul! Joys, ceaseless exercises, exaltations!

Thee for my recitative!

Roll through my chant with all thy lawless music!

The only American prophet to my knowledge who enjoys a fame in England not accorded him in his own country

, strolling tides, Companions, travelers, gossiping as they journey; And he sends it out 'partly as my

And thee, My Soul! Joys, ceaseless exercises, exaltations!

Thee for my recitative!

Roll through my chant with all thy lawless music!

Evidently very intelligent and well-bred—very affectionate—held on to my hand, and put it to his face

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

I do not forget what I am owing to you, and try in every way to raise something towards discharging my

In order to tide over the dullness, I have accepted proofreading outside of my business, altho' although

My business is in the hands of a rural boy, & I attend to my correspondence from 4 A.M. till 6:30 A.M

But my mortification at having to ask you to wait, under all the circumstances, is very great.

Walt Whitman Esq My dear Sir: I ask you to excuse me for neglecting so long to answer your note.

It came to my house instead of the office and was consequently overlooked. It was Mrs.

April 15 1876 My dear sir Please find enclosed my check for $5.—for a copy of "Leaves of Grass."

My delay is because of my intention to canvas canvass my friends and secure additional subscribers and

Apl 18 1876 My dear sir Enclosed please find Money order for Five of 100 Dollars for a copy of Two Rivulets

, which please send to my address & to my name This subscription is from a lady client of mine yours

Seeger Since writing my note I have secured the promise of one subscription & possibly with it 2 more

In my copy, would solicit the pleasure of having your autograph signature on fly leaf.

two met while studying at Cambridge University and then, as Carpenter recounted in his autobiography (My

of what is intended; meanwhile for the time I have been absorbed by the news of the death of one of my

This brings with it the additional pang to me that it will probably prevent my intended journey to the

My dear Mr. Whitman, Yesterday your post-card & your very welcome books reached me.

We are all well, my wife & children & I .

previously published in Leaves of Grass, "Passage to India" was Whitman's attempt to "celebrate in my

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

My dear Mr. Whitman, Some days ago came my parcel—many thanks—Mr. Grosart's books included.

Graves had come previously—I have waited a few days expecting to hear from my brother (from Edinburgh

this year also, to get a kind of confession or self–revelation from one of the most promising men in my

Probably my next bit of work will be the arranging for publication a volume of Essays on 19 th century

at this moment; but he would like to get your photograph (of which you spoke) & if you address it to my

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

originated in an untitled section of the 1855 edition, which in the 1867 edition became "Now List to My

My dear Mr. Whitman, I received a few days since your last letter.

It is very pleasant to me to find you liked my Shakspere Shakespeare book, but much more to know that

But I do not doubt that half-a dozen of my friends will wish to have the books, so I should be obliged

which consisted in the main of apt selections from L. of G. & Democratic Vistas, & these were felt by my

Then, to my surprise & great satisfaction, followed speaker after speaker on the Whitman side,—a barrister

Dowden has written and then crossed out a note at the top of the page: "My former draft (for 10 dollars

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

criticism . . . after full retrospect of his works and life, the aforesaid 'odd-kind chiel' remains to my

large collection to which I earnestly desire to add your name, especially as I am trying to complete my

Th 187 6 Walt Whitman Respected Sir: I began several years since the collection of the autographs of my

.— "Thou seest all things—thou wilt see my grave, Thou wilt renew thy beauty, morn by morn; I, earth

How can my nature longer mix with thine?

Coldly thy rosy shadows bathe me, cold Are all thy lights, and cold my wrinkled feet Upon thy glimmering

My first glimpse of Whitman was under such circumstances that I could not easily forget him.

As I sat listening to the arguments of Andrew and Sewall in my behalf, and of Woodbury against them,

not live another day; I cannot can not rest, O God — eat Or drink or sleep, till I put forth myself, My

West, where "In a far-away faraway northern county, in the placid, pas- toral pastoral region, Lives my

farmer-friend farmer friend , the theme of my recitative, a famous Tamer of Oxen ." : This is a worthy

My dear Sir, Some years ago when I had occasion to address you, you were so good as to say you should

be happy to hear from me again; and as my admiration of your works and interest in whatever concerns

you have rather strengthened than weakened, I feel sure you will not mind my asking one or two questions

As a faithful student of your books, I have made it my business to obtain every edition I could, and

When at my friend Mr W.B.

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

My work is extremely personal—rightly considered so—and on the fly-leaf of each volume I have put my

photograph with my own hand."

I have printed my own works, and am now printing them in two volumes, for sale.

I am living here at my brother's house.

A paralysis of the left side, which chiefly affects my left leg and thigh, hinders me.

—of the poet that is to me more attractive than his writings, and my earliest recollections of poetry

I never saw my grey haired friend in such royal spirits.

short collar, open and fine beard, frosted poll, but not with age, till I could compare him only to my

Jan. 2, 1876 My dear Mr.

Ap. 16. 76 My dear Walt Whitman: I met a mutual friend last evening who informed me he had just procured

And so on reflection I have decided to write you that when you receive my order through Mr.

I will only say that my Soul and my sympathy all go out toward you and I often think of you as the one

Whitman papers sent July 25 I thank you heartily for my share in your Custer poem, which I have just

My address is now 506 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, and I would be very much obliged if you would spend

to here hear from you very much This leaves me well thank God but I have been sick most all winter my

wife is sick at presant present But the Lord has been good to me in past and I know if I put my trust

the warmth of a loving heart and universal charity so beautifully expressed —that which leans towards my

ask if he got the pretty little printed articles of a Georgia Poet Fruit -Growing which I sent him in my

trouble or spells of unhappiness we are a discordant household , and will (of course) say it is not my

In the spring, when commencing to plow, I was feeling poorly, and my 13 year old boy to g .

me the pleasure I have had with Walt Whitman's books and to the books also—I'll (Please excuse all my

—I claim a patent right for the my old terms "champion of nature" and "good-enough man" &c &c If you

feel a little desire to "dig at the ribs" of demoralizing superstition) Why didnt didn't you notice my

t to doubt whether my friends get unmistakably true " Philosopher" JNJ John Newton Johnson Send only

If you encourage me to write, and say you will sometimes write to me I will buy me some pens —one of my

Dec 1st 76 My Dear Sir: Yes, I received the letter, with the picture & printed slips last year, & meant

have a 10 acre farm here on the banks of the Hudson near Po'keepsie Poughkeepsie , I spend some of my

How fortunate to leave to be content with doing nearly nothing —with My soul, for twenty purturbability

(Now, if there were living near me, such people that I could take my Walt Whitman books with me, and

I dont don't want my your books worn out by borrow ers but I like to lend them as I feel like—sending

I see that I can get (or have) the means to come and pay my own way, first and last.

All stubbornly at my own expense. As I write this, I am not disposed to come there.

As I have exhausted my sheet, I forbear giving news of the situation with us, till such is called for

previously published in Leaves of Grass, "Passage to India" was Whitman's attempt to "celebrate in my

&c &c sent June 8 '76 by Ex & rec'd June 1st JQA Ward 9 or 10 Vols, &c sent, by Ex My dear Mr Whitman

I inclose check for Fifty dollars ($50) my subscription for five copies of your complete works If I

Be kind enough to send them to my address.

April 23d /76 140 East 38th st New York My dear Mr Whitman: Your note was received and I am only waiting

134 East 38th St New York April 24, 1876 My dear Walt— Please send 3 sets on account of my list of 5.

Walt Whitman— My Dear Friend: I enclose a P.O. order for $10, in payment for a copy of your last book

London Saturday 23 Sept. 1876 Dear Walt Whitman I have received your volume and thank you heartily My

I would send you a volume of poems of my own, but they are very juvenile; and I would rather not be known

My wife & I would both be delighted if you could come and stay with us so long as might suit you.

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

Mr Whitman, Dear Sir, My friend & yours Mr Joaquin Miller tells me that the best way to gratify a long-cherished

greatest men of our age both abroad & at home; & when I remember your work during our dreadful war, my

heart as well as my pride is touched, & I cannot though a stranger to you, forbear presenting to the

true man a nobler title even than that of the true poet, my profoundest respect & admiration— With sincere

My motive was the necessity of saving you & your relatives from the degradation implied in Mr.

You may remember that I talked to you in my bedroom about your circumstances, after I had conversed with

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