Feinberg/Whitman
Box 17 Folder 7
General Correspondence
Stedman, Edmund Clarence 
Oct. 1888  - May 1890grateful for your remembrance, & touched
by its writer.  In many respects this
collection (so strikingly & fittingly
put up) is one of the most significant 
— as it is the most various — of the
enduring works. Rest tranquil, as you
ever are, in the ripeness of your
harvest & fame, - well assured that,
whether your pilgrimage is still to be
long or brief, you "shall not wholly
die". - I am always more and
more your reader, and
     Your attached friend,
Edmund C. Stedman -

44 East 26th St.
New York, Oct. 25th, 1888

Dear Walt,
Your seasons outlast mine.
Your book, a gift always to be
handed down & treasured by my
clan, reached me on my 55th
birthday, and made me wonder
that your November Boughs still
hang so rich with color - while
my October leaves are already
pale and wilted. — I am very"A LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE."
OFFICE OF
CHARLES L. WEBSTER & CO., PUBLISHERS
EDITORS
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN
ELLEN MACKAY HUTCHINSON
3 EAST 14th STREET
New York City, March 27th 1889

Dear Walt Whitman =
I was profoundly touched and
greatly enriched and honored, by your
unexpected gift. From every point of
view, I don't see that anything of more
worth could be added to the hoard of—
1. An American, 2. A book-lover, 3. 
a devotee of the great, the broad, the
original, the imagination, in poetry
and humane literature, 4. of one whose

good fortune it is to be your friend, your
contemporary, your appreciative student and
reader.
     You have indeed done well, in this
bringing together, under one cover & in
this striking and unique shape, all
your life-work. There is no book just
like this, & there never will be. The
personal note is everywhere. Moreover,
as a book merely, the most famous bibliophile
-- with the famous binders & printers, & a
mine of wealth, to aid him -- could
not get up a volume so notable &
so sure of ever-growing value. This 
would be my notion of the volume, as3
a book, if I knew nothing of its author
of its "only begetter." Moreover, it impresses
me as the result of a growth:
of something not made, off-hand, but
the final outcome of a certain saecular
evolution.
     For the regards, the affection, which
convoyed your noble argosy to this
my haven -- believe me, my dear &
honored old Bard, they are returned 
to you four-fold.
     I have delayed this letter a
few days, because it was on my
mind to send you a return-gage:
a more dimensional, but

otherwise inadequate, symbol of our
common nationalism & outlook.  To-day,
then, I forward to you by express
the first seven volumes of the "Library 
of American Literature" (the seventh
enriched by your own poetry and portrait)
-- which you will accept, I trust, & which
surely will seem of more significance
to Walt Whitman than any other gift
which I could send him. The
succeeding volumes will reach you
as they come from the press. -- If
you live to read them all. --
well, I needn't wish you any"A LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE"
OFFICE OF
CHARLES L. WEBSTER & CO., PUBLISHERS,
EDITORS
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN,
ELLEN MACKAY HUTCHINSON

3 EAST 14TH STREET,
NEW YORK CITY, ..................188

[*58}
greater length of years! To edit
them, we have served as many years
as Jacob served for Rachel, and I
fear our practical returns will be as 
disappointing as he found the gift 
of Leah.
However, - you of all men
will take in, comprehend, the
purpose, the meaning, of this
long compilation.  You will justly

[*6*]
estimate its significance, & [?]
quite irrespectively of its literary or
artistic qualities.  There are
masterpieces in it. But it is not
a collection of masterpieces: it is
something of more moment to you
& me.  It is America.  It is 
the symbolic, the essential, America 
from her infancy to the second century
of her great Republic.  It is the
diary, the year-book, the century-book
of [the] her progress from Colonialism
to nationality.  All her health &7
disease are here: her teething, measles,
mumps, ivy, delirium, nuptials,
conflicts, dreams, delusions,
her meanness & her nobility.  We
purposely make the work inclusive
-- trying to show every facet of 
this our huge, as yet half-cut
rose-diamond.
    So I know that, in turning
these pages, from the early
"allventure", from the early
theology & superstition, from the 
early heroism and grit, down to

8
the later moment of our wondrous development, 
- I know that you will be seeing, in your
chamber, what you have so observed &
thought upon for years -- as you went to &
fro, among the people, through the land
& under the canopy. In that, I send
you an American "cosmorama" for
your own room: hoping it may lighten
some of the hours of your retirement there,
& that it may now & then remind you of
its designer.
Nothing [more] better becomes this 
compilation than the portion
covering selections from your"A LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE"
OFFICE OF
CHARLES L. WEBSTER & CO. PUBLISHERS
EDITORS
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN,                       3 EAST 14th STREET
ELLEN MACKAY HUTCHINSON
NEW YORK CITY,     __________188

9
own work. Fine as it is, I said
to Miss Hutchinson that I could
readily obtain half-a-dozen counterparts
equally imaginative and noble, from
your "Leaves of Grass," etc. - It is my hope
that you see, from the manner in which
that précis is  made up that I do
measurably comprehend your genius &
philosophy; that I have understood your
purposes in life & in art. A chef
was here, 'tother day, who had
been visiting you. He reported you10
as saying that I wouldn't take off my
hat to Apollo, if [he & I] we happen to 
meet. That pleased me immensely, & I 
laughed consumedly " as the old Comedies
say.  - Well: there is too much taking off
of hats, but I certainly should doff my
own to the Sun God. On the other hand,
if it should prove cold in his neighborhood,
I should speedily clap it on
again. - Nor have I ever essayed
serious & prolonged criticism of any
man, unless i deemed him worthy of 
it - i.e. great. For the small-fry, a
few passing words & kindly phrases are
quite enough. This is my longest letter
of the year - rambling enough, but
may you have plenty of time to read
a thousand such! And so always
think of me as one of your most faithful lovers - for such indeed is
Edmund C. Stedman:28th
P.S.
We are in mourning for
John Bright to-day. You 
must read Smalley's letter
in to-days Tribune (28th) on
Bright and Whittier &c.
     If you ever write any one,
by hand or proxy, it would be
a great delight to hear from
you some time — & I should
specially like to know how
the big "Library Amer. Lit". strikes
Walt Whitman — of all men
the best judge of it. Pray
give my kind regards to Mr. Traubel.[* Copied, see notes May 22, 1890. *]
137 West 78th, Street, New York,
May 21st. 1890.

My Dear Walt Whitman-

I have got up very early this morning, expressly 
to write you, knowing I should have no other chance to-day; but the 
getting-up of itself, is unusually remunerative-- for, if the sun of 
America & righteousness streams into your window at this moment, as it 
does into mine, you will feel glad that you have lived to see another 
May. The papers tell me more or less about you, and I often think of 
you-- be sure--& most certainly about lilac- and Lincoln-time. However, 
you have not been off my perturbed mind for many months, nor has the
treasured book of "Camden's Compliments" been off my table. Traubel 
sent it to me; I know I know I have not thanked him-- you must do it for me, 
most heartily. Moreover, the Brinton-Davidson "Bruno" came, and 
nothing is ever more grateful to me than to receive a bit of your 
strong handwriting, like that on its wrapper, -- a "personally remembered," 
as it were. The truth, at last, is that I had purposed to go down to 
Camden (for the first time) & see you last winter, & so have not 
written you. ('Tis a trip I shall yet make, D.V.-- to use the Protestant 
adjuration). But I have had a bad time, with much trouble 
about money-- owing to neglect to earn it while engrossed with driving 
through the "Lib. Amer. Literature", and then with my beautiful mother's 
death, my reckless son's divorce, and other Orestean cumulations 
of trouble. At last the clouds are lifting, & I am trying to get into 
routine and self-poise.
Everything is all right in the world, of course, for both you 
and me. What particularly draws me to you, as we grow older and more 
general, is that your optimism strengthens my own, Your later poems 
on life, death, immortality, are of the highest worth to me. I read 
them often, and intend to refer considerably to them in my Johns Hopkins 
lectures on poetry-- which I am now beginning to prepare. In 
tone, rhythm, feeling, breadth & depth of thought, they seem to me at 
the apex of your life-works-- they reach into the empyrean. 
You know I am one of those who have the the privilege of sharing 
my scrip with you, my dear elder bard, when there is anything in it, 
and now, for the first time in months I have paid up my borrowed money, 
& have something that is my own to share. I wish the little enclosure 
were more-- and I want to say [this,] that,  the very next time you find your own 
scrip empty, Traubel must again give me a chance with the rest of your 
devoted friends. 
Pray don't feel moved to acknowledge this tardy letter. I 
should feel miserable to add the grasshopper that is a burden to one's 
afternoon of life. My table is covered with letters I can't get time 
& strength to answer. When telepathy can take the place of manual 
writing, we shall be blessed indeed. -- I miss O'Connor. Was fortunate 
in having an evening with him, in Washington, before he passed away. 
His widow is thinking of a memoir, or memorial volume. Forgive this 
long, yet hasty, letter. Vol. XI (& last!) of the "library" will soon be 
out; & I am, with increased honor and affection
Your devoted friend,
[|SIGNER|.]   Edmund C. StedmanTo Walt Whitman
Poet
Camden 
New Jersey

[*See Notes Oct 26 1888*]

NEW YORK 
OCT 25
1 PM
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