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ALS, penned on the reverse of a 5.25 x 3 postcard, February 28, 1889. Addressed from his home in Camden, New Jersey, a handwritten letter to friend and naturalist John Burroughs, in full: “Rather better word from O. VC. to-day – the latest days bring a slight ‘let up’ on his condition – eyes better at intervals but bad enough yet – Dr. Bucks is here very busy with the water meter business & starting it practically – all going fairly considering – Dr B expects to go to W’n briefly – Not well with me a bad trouble of spleen malady it seems – The little German translation is out – shall I send you one?” Whitman has addressed the reverse in his own hand. In fine condition. A desirable letter from Whitman noting the publication of the first German translation of Leaves of Grass, which appears as Grashalme in 1889. This same year, on May 31, 1889, Whitman had a limited pocket-book edition of Leaves of Grass printed in honor of his 70th birthday through special arrangement with German bookbinder Frederick Oldach. Only 300 copies were printed, and Whitman signed the title page of each one. The volume also included the annex Sands at Seventy and his essay A Backward Glance O'er Traveled Roads.
Burroughs first met Whitman in 1864 by chance on the streets of Washington, D.C., when Whitman was making his way to an army hospital to tend to wounded soldiers. The two formed an enduring relationship, with Whitman encouraging Burroughs to develop a literature of nature, to be scientifically precise and at the same time poetic in its praise. Under Whitman's guidance, Burroughs developed as a writer and began to sell pieces to magazines while working as a clerk for the Department of Treasury and, later, as a bank examiner. Burroughs in turn influenced Whitman by sharpening Whitman's eye for precise detail in observing nature.
Born on a farm in the Catskills, Burroughs was an ardent lover of nature whose career of writing and philosophizing on the subject began in 1860 with the publication of his essay Expression in the Atlantic Monthly. Editor James Russell Lowell initially thought it had been plagiarized from Ralph Waldo Emerson who was incorrectly credited as its author in subsequent publications.
Burroughs’ work combined observations of nature with philosophy, religion, and literature and made him a popular figure during his day. Among his fans was Theodore Roosevelt who, after meeting him in 1889, became a close friend for the next three decades. Burroughs’ essays also appeared in such collections as Locusts and Wild Honey, Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers, Songs of Nature, Ways of Nature, and Camping and Tramping with Theodore Roosevelt.
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