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Walt Whitman

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
Walt Whitman

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Auction Date:2017 Sep 13 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Boldly penned ALS, one page on the reverse of a 5 x 3 French postcard, May 4, 1889. Written from Camden, New Jersey, a letter to the French poet and translator Gabriel Sarrazin, in full: "The book 'Poesie Anglaise' safely rec'd—thanks & thanks again. I am still laid up here lame and paralyzed—kept in for a year but getting along (as we call it) better & gayer heart than you might suppose. Am preparing an ed'n of Leaves of Grass to be put in pocket book binding with fuller text & shall send you one when ready. For this time I send loving wishes & an old fellow's benison." Reverse addressed in Whitman's own hand; readdressed portion done by another. In fine condition, with old mounting remnants and adhesive residue on the address side of the card.

Sarrazin first read Whitman while researching for his upcoming book on the English romantic poets, La Renaissance de le Poesie Anglaise, 1778–1889. Greatly impressed by the work of the American poet, Sarrazin decided to include a chapter entitled ‘Walt Whitman,’ which was published separately in La Nouvelle Revue on May 1, 1888. In January 1889, Sarrazin sent Whitman a copy of the approved article, which, as this letter affirms, was “safely rec'd.” Published in French, Whitman asked two friends, William Sloane Kennedy and Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke, each to translate the article. The satisfying results prompted Whitman to declare Sarrazin's article as one of the ‘strongest pieces of work which Leaves of Grass has drawn out.’ Whitman’s self-diagnosis of “lame and paralyzed” did little to ebb his passion towards his beloved and ever-growing Leaves of Grass; he published an eighth edition in 1889, and then, as the end of 1892 approached, Whitman prepared his famous ‘deathbed’ edition.