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would have made me feel miserable were it not that before then the matter had already been set right, & my

My first letter to you was written too much from the impulse of the moment; &, finding soon after from

Not one syllable of any one of your poems, as presented in my selection, will be altered or omitted:

To be by your friendship is as great a satisfaction & distinction as my life has presented or ever can

acquiesce in the express views he takes of late years of particular questions wd be simply to abnegate my

My dear Sir, Allow me with the deepest reverence & true affection to thank you for the copy of your complete

My selection was settled more than a month ago, & is now going thro' the press .

I shall always hold it one of the truest & most prized distinctions of my writing career to be associated

My dear Sir, Your letter of 22 Novr. reached me the other day thro' Mr. Conway .

I think the most convenient course may be for me first to state the facts about my Selection.

publisher told me that he projected bringing out a selection from your poems, & (in consequence of my

My Prefatory Notice explains my principle of selection to exactly the same effect as given in this present

I had previously given it a title of my own, "Nocturn for the Death of Lincoln"; & in my Prefatory Notice

editorial decisions, which included editing potentially objectionable content and removing entire poems: "My

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

My dear Walt: I duly got your letter of May 5th and was very glad to hear from you.

Part of it is about my coming upon the Times —a sort of hankering treatment of the subject, but no offer

, which of course he couldn't well make, not knowing exactly how useful or available my talent would

Give my loving remembrance to all, especially your mother.

No report has, within my knowledge, been made to you from this office, in relation to any violations

Sir: I have the honor herewith to transmit my opinion as to the proper course to be taken in reference

Tapara, which you have brought to my notice since that opinion was prepared, does not seem to me to authorize

compensation allowed to counsel upon employment by this office, I feel that I am scarcely warranted in giving my

the suggestion that you reduce it to the sum I have indicated, which, being done, I will promptly add my

As a claim against the United States, it is clearly without my official province, & I must therefore

Sir: In accordance with your request, I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of my letter of January

Rider, and that in my opinion, no public object now exists which could be promoted by the proposed attempt

Sir: A few days since I gave to the Secretary of the Interior my opinion in favor of the payment of your

to direct you to take the same course in regard to the Fenian arms at Rouse's Point, as indicated in my

the 6th inst. relative to proceedings pending in your District "to confiscate the property of the Captain

I should be glad to know whether you are aware of any objections to my complying with the request of

Hartwell, was yesterday advanced by the Supreme Court, on my motion, and that the second Monday in January

me of the 1st November 1867,— whereupon the whole matter was treated as having been withdrawn from my

consideration, and all the papers relating to it, were, with my letter of 5th Nov. 1867, transmitted

That he acted at the instance of the United States, however, is sufficient to authorize my consent to

My dear Madam: I have received your letter of the 9th instant, and in reply beg to say that if you will

Ohio, enclosing a copy of Governor Tod's letter to you, I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of my

making Appropriations for the current and Contingent Expenses of the Indian Bureau," by which it is made my

examination and to state that what proceedings, &c. relative to said stocks and investments, are in my

On the third point of inquiry, in my opinion, the various law officers now attached to the other Departments

This preliminary action was made necessary by my imperfect knowledge of the circumstances.

Y., sought to be acquired for Customs' purposes; and to state that, in my opinion, the proposed conveyance

O joy of my spirit uncaged—it hops like a bird on the grass mounds of earth.

O joy of my spirit

The first several lines of "Pictures" (not including this line) were revised and published as "My Picture-Gallery

A similar line in that poem reads: "O the joy of my spirit! It is uncaged!

original "Inscription" to the 1867 edition, ultimately appearing under the title "Small the Theme of My

March 19, 1867 Dearest mother, I got both your letters last week, & they were a relief to my mind—I want

hear—But, Mother, you must not worry about it—it will be arranged some way— There is nothing new in my

I write this at my desk—spring is quite advanced here—it is a damp, misty, cloudy forenoon—but pleasant—I

James Gray, Bookbinder 16 Spruce st. 4th floor, is the custodian of the sheets of my Leaves of Grass,

Mother, all the news I have to write about my affairs, is the same old thing—we have had another long

this week—they have carried all their measures successfully over the President—I am writing this at my

already—the grass & trees are beginning to look green—they have made a large flower garden right in front of my

idea for days & days, & of course suffered awfully—One of the watchmen of the Treasury, (formerly a Captain

Walt If Mary & the girls come, you must give them my love, & tell Mary I shall send her a small package

Simpson My dear Sir: I have been absent in New York & Brooklyn & only returned three days ago.

At present, I can only say that if you are going into publishing & if you feel like taking hold of my

My address is at this office.

…One of my reasons for securing your friendship is my appreciation for you as a man, with knowing your

My dear loving boy, I wish things were situated so you could be with me, & we could be together for a

I must put something to you better than that in my letter.

So I will cheer my boy [&] tell you again, Benton, that I love you dearly, & always keep you in mind,

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

1867 letter, Wilson acknowledged Walt 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

As to me & my fortunes I am in pretty good health, thank God—& I am working in the Attorney General's

I send you my love, dear friend & soldier, & I hope this will find you well in health & in good spirits

next to Lewis Brown's in Armory Square Hospital in 1862 and 1863, and recalled Walt Whitman's visits: "My

In reply to your note of some days since, in reference to acting as my agent, for sale of "Leaves of

Y. on a visit to my mother, but I am now back here again, and am well as usual, and working in the same

There is nothing very new in my affairs.

—it is quite pleasant—mostly young people, full of life & gayety—then I go to my work at 9, & leave at

I wish you to give my love to your father & mother. They do not seem at all like strangers to me.

And now Alfred I must bid you farewell for the present, my loving boy & comrade.

My address is at the Attorney General's office here. (New York house, please forward this to Mr.

See John Townsend Trowbridge, My Own Story (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1903), 265–67.

My dear Sir: I send the article on Democracy. If satisfactory I should like $100 for it.

My dear Hiram Ramsdell: Mr.

—In respect to Judge Kelly, & his matter, I had already formed my opinion & made out my Report several

I hope it may happen one day that I may have him near at hand, that we get to be friends—such is in my

—There is nothing new in my affrairs—all goes on as usual in the office. I am well.

My dear Sir: Your note has been received. —Accept—for yourself, the Citizen , & Gen.

Halpine —My sincere thanks for your kindness. I fully appreciate it.

As I have not at my control, at this moment, any bound copies of Leaves of Grass , would you allow me

that the authorization in my letter of November 1st to Mr.

of the full volume of my poems.

I cannot & will not consent of my own volition, to countenance an expurgated edition of my pieces.

I feel it due to myself to write you explicitly thus, my dear Mr.

But I guess you will pick out my meaning. Perhaps, indeed, Mr.

written on November 17, 1867: "I shall always hold it one of the truest & most prized distinctions of my

offer of "friendship": "To be honoured by your friendship is as great a satisfaction & distinction as my

Dear friend, My feeling and attitude about a volume of selections from my Leaves by Mr.

since that seems to be the pivotal affair, & since he has the kindness to shape his action so much by my

The recherché or ethereal sense of the term, as used in my book, arises probably from the actual Calamus

My dear Mr. Rosetti Rossetti : I suppose Mr.

weeks since, assenting to the substitution of other words, &c. as proposed by you, in your reprint of my

When I have my next edition brought out here, I shall change the title of the piece "When lilacs last

It is quite certain that I shall add to my next edition (carrying out my plan from the first,) a brief

Very likely some of my suggestions have been anticipated.

propose would of course be adopted by me with thanks & without a moment's debate, were it not that my

Rossetti agreed to this change on December 8, 1867: "I had previously given it a title of my own, 'Nocturn

Tracy, My dear Sir: Your note has been received.

There is nothing important or new in my affairs here—I am still in the same Office—find my work mild

Y., & remained home quite a long time—one of my brothers, (who had been a soldier & all through the war

My Mother, & the rest of the folks, are all well. I have had good health since I last wrote to you.

I send them my love, & a full share to you, dearest comrade.

My address is the same as you directed your former letters. Well, I must draw to a close.

Farewell, my darling boy, & God bless you, & bless the dear parents also. Walt Whitman.

My dear friend, Will some of you, the first time you go down town, stop at office (or shop) of E.

Arnold—& the last from Arthur, & every thing— So good bye for this time—I send you my love, dear friend

March 27, 1867 My dear friend, Although your letter I see has the N.

My impression is, there is little or no chance of getting Congress to pass, at this time, a special resolution

thing does — Still, I will try what I can do—I will see a few of the members, forthwith—I have one in my

My dear sirs: I shall be in New York, & will call upon you, 2d of January.