Sought-after ALS, one page both sides, 7.5 x 9.25, May 5th [1876]. Addressed from his brother’s residence at “431 Stevens Street, Camden, N. Jersey,” a boldly penned handwritten letter from Walt Whitman to John Swinton, managing editor of the New York Times and the scribe’s close friend, in full: “Nothing very notable to write about, but I thought I would send you a line – This is one of my comfortable days – good nights' sleep last night – breakfast & dinner today with appetite – still get out a little most every day as formerly – my book business, & a little writing & reading give me three hours or so occupation (lazily) every day when I am not too ill – and then the baby, my brother's 6 mo's infant boy, very fine & bright (of course) is an unfailing delight & diversion to me, the young one knows me so well, & is never so happy as when I am tending him. I adopted your suggestion of 3 or 4 weeks since – wrote with result as follows to Wm. Swinton – no answer / to E. C. Stedman, sent an order at once enc’g $30 / ˝ J. Q. A. Ward, kind answer, will order presently / ˝ Dr. Seeger, answer, order 1 set & money enc / ˝ Joaquin Miller, ordered a copy set & sent the money / Mr. Jardine, answered a few days ago / I did not write either to G. A. Townsend or to W. C. Church – have not sent the set to J. Russell Young, nor yours, as in your last requested – but will do so forthwith – rec'd the slip from Cincinnati Com. (Conway's letter) you sent – Don't know what 'vile' paragraph in the Graphic you allude to in your letter of April 7 – Best remembrances to Mrs. Smith – Are you coming on to the Exposition opening next Wednesday?” In very good to fine condition, with toning, a small edge chip, and a repair to the central horizontal fold split.
After suffering a paralytic stroke in early 1873, Whitman was induced to move from Washington to the home of his brother—George Washington Whitman, an engineer—at 431 Stevens Street in Camden, New Jersey, where he resided for 11 years (1873-1884). During this period he published several of his collections of prose and poetry, which included three editions of Leaves of Grass (1876, 1881-1882, and 1882), Memoranda During the War (1875), Two Rivulets (1878), and Specimen Days and Collect (1882-1883).
Although Whitman continued to observe and comment on American life, in addition to entertaining noted guests and friends like Oscar Wilde and Thomas Eakins, Whitman’s time on Stevens Street was met with consistent struggle, a situation exacerbated by the death of his mother. ‘His illness and his bereavement were two blows from which he never recovered, and henceforth his life ran gradually downhill… (he was) dependent for his living upon his brother, upon friends, and upon the sale of his books, which he conducted partly from his own quarters, receiving orders and filling them with his own hand.’ (DAB X, 150).
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