HARNED/WHITMAN Box 4 Folder 15 MISCELLANY Correspondents other than Whitman, Oct. 1896-Nov.1905 (L. C. 214) 214 Group of six letters alluding to Whitman: William S. Kennedy to Thomas B. Harned, W. S. Kennedy to Horace L. Traubel, Karl Knortz to Thomas W. Higginson, two from Samuel S. Maynard to Thomas B. Harned, and Curtis Hidden Page to Thomas B. Harned. Three undated, the others ranging in date from Oct. 25, 1896 to Nov. 7, 1905. 2 Nothing however, so astonishes me as the interest & pleasure given by the book. You know we think pretty well of our things when they are just hot from the anvil, & I remember I did of that book years ago. But -- I had tho't that many of its positions, which I pioneered were now familiar. I, at any rate had the pleasure of seeing my positions & hard-won points re-discovered by others from time to time, while my ms lay perdue. I hope you will pub. that fascinating ms on oratory of W.W. Thanks for yr recent letter, my dear Harned. I am learning to know and value you. W. S. Kennedy [*1829*] Belmont Mass Oct 25 96 Sunday eve. Dear Mr. Harned: Yr good letter gives me great pleasure, for it is from a cool level head, & its praise therefore of value. I am quite weary from overwork last week, but must say a word of cordial friendship. A good way for us to get Gardner to bring out the Supplementary volume will be for you fellows to nag him once in a while & ask when it is coming. Yr analysis is keen. I myself tho't I put my best & most original work into the chap. on style of L of G. [*1828*] Belmont Mch 9 / 08 Traubel I wish you wd tell Harned that somewhere book - from his writings I guess - I got the [?] [?] his charade saw a very beautiful soul peeping forth, & loved him & do now, & regret - any passing misunderstanding we may have had. He is true gold. His loyalty to Walt's memory touches me deeply - like the odor of [an] old rose leaves telling of more than meets the sense. That inner fragrance of the soul I had missed because I never personally knew him long enough. W. S. Kennedy, [*1830*]LAURENS-MAYNARD. PUBLISHER . 287 . CONGRESS STREET . BOSTON . MASS. Boston, June 5th, 1897. [*THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS*] Thomas B. Harned, Esq., 400 Chestnut St. Philadelphia. My dear Mr. Harned: - I have just received a letter from George D. Smith of 4 East 42nd Street, New York, [ a book-seller from whom I purchased a first edition of Whitman last January, and whom I have asked to keep me informed of such Whitman books as he gets hold of] saying that he has a nice copy of the second edition in the original cloth at seventeen dollars net, that being the same price which this edition brought at a recent sale at Libby’s, and that he also has a Washington 1872 edition, a choice copy, for $12.50. I have not the Washington edition myself and Bucks tells me that it is very scarce indeed, but I can’t afford to pay this price for it and must take my chances of running across a copy cheaper. The 1856 edition is said to be a much scarcer than the first edition although, of course, in some ways not as valuable. [*1832*] 540 East 155th Street, New York. Thos. W. Higgenson Esq [*THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS*] Dear Sir; May I ask you for a copy of your book? The Monarch of Leaves? I send you to-day a copy of my lecture on Walt Whitman which, please, accept. Brian Fry Karl Knortz - [*1831*]LAURENS . MAYNARD . PUB- LISHER . 287 . CONGRESS STREET . BOSTON. MASS. [ 3]. on his way back. If it were possible for you to make your proposed trip to London about that time it would be exceedingly convenient for all of us and if you think it would be possible, Small will notify you in advance of his starting, as to the time when he could be in London. Traubel, however, suggested that he thought Bucke might consider this business of sufficient importance to justify a trip to Philadelphia if only for one day, and I told him that if Bucke would come down, Small and I would meet all three of you in Philadelphia at any time conven- ient to you, and I think we could, in this way, go over the matter pretty thoroughly in a day. If a change is to be made it would be very advantageous if it could be decided upon this summer so as to give us time to have the plates thoroughly revised and corrected before the present stock in McKey's hands is exhausted in order that there might be no delay in getting out a new issue. With kindest regards to yourself and your [**1834**] LAURENS . MAYNARD . PUB- LISHER . 287 . CONGRESS STREET . BOSTON. MASS. [ 2]. ble. I don't think you have much chances of getting a copy less than fifteen dollars so that, if this is as represented, it does not strike me to be an ex- cessive price. I have asked Mr. Smith to hold these copied until he hears from you and have told him that you would notify him in either event[s] whether you wanted them or not; so if you will kindly write him at once in regard to it, I shall be obliged to you. I arrived home safely Thursday morning. Met Wiksell on the Fall River boat Wednesday afternoon. We both have very pleasant remembrances of our trip, and none more pleasant than those of your kind hos- pitality. I hope very much that we shall see you soon in Boston, and Small and I will make it a point to spend an evening with you whenever you happen to be here. Small is expecting to go to Milwaukee very soon to attend to some business connected with his property out there and hopes to be able to stop and see Bucke [**1833**]LAURENS . MAYNARD . PUBLISHER . 287 . CONGRESS STREET . BOSTON. MASS. Dear Mr. Harned I enclose a notice of the book from Boston Transcript The Herald also had a notice last Saturday - the main point of which was the statement that "the substance of the whole volume is pretty poor stuff, if considered as literature. It reveals almost exactly the personality that one would expect to find in letters from the author of "Leaves of Grass" and it will probably occasion forth torrents of abuse from his enemies" Etc. Small is planning to [*1836*] LAURENS . MAYNARD . PUBLISHER . 287 . CONGRESS STREET . BOSTON. MASS. [ 41. family, I am Very sincerely yours, Laurens Maynard [Dictated.] [*1835*]go to Milwaukee Saturday night and expects to go to Chicago by way of Philadelphia so you will probably see him there next week. I hope you are well & that I may see you here before long With kindest regards to Mrs. Harned and your children I am Yours [????ly] Samuel MaynardCURTIS HIDDEN PAGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK CITY 235 West 109th Street, New York, November 7, 1905. Thomas B. Harned Esq., West End Trust Building, Philadelphia, Pa. My dear Mr. Harned, Thank you heartily for your kind not of November 2, acknowledging the copy of my Chief American Poets. I am glad that you think that Whitman has here received his rightful place. It is true that the colleges have been very slow in accepting him. I have suggested some of the reasons for this, I think, at the end of my biographical sketch. I hope that the book will do a good dal to compel his acceptance in a great many colleges from which he is even yet shut out. In going over the catalogues of some three or four hundred, a couple of years ago, I found his name then mentioned only twice. This book, however, has already been adopted in some score of colleges, and I have so far had only one or two protests against giving him his full place in it, and those very mild ones. Even colleges do progress. With renewed thanks, Very truly yours, Curtis Hidden Page [**1837**]