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James R. Osgood & Company to Walt Whitman, 21 March 1882

About This Item

  • Title: James R. Osgood & Company to Walt Whitman, 21 March 1882
  • Date: March 21, 1882
  • Creator(s): James R. Osgood & Company
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.05567
  • Source: The Thomas Biggs Harned Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1842–1937, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Stefan Schöberlein Nima Najafi Kianfar Eder Jaramillo Nicole Gray
  • Cite this page: Company, James R. Osgood &. "James R. Osgood & Company to Walt Whitman, 21 March 1882." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 15 February 2026. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.05567.xml (TEI)
 loc_nk.00370_large.jpg C1 JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., Publishers. 211 Tremont St. 
  Boston, March 21 1882 Walt Whitman Esq Dear Sir:

Since our letter of yesterday we have received a memorandum of the passages & lines which are recommended to be expunged. Please look it through (we enclose it in detail) and advise us at your earliest convenience whether the suggestions meet your approval. In case they do we shall then proceed to consider the mechanical difficulties in the way and how far and how easily they may be overcome.

Yours truly James R. Osgood & Co.  loc_nk.00371_large.jpg  loc_nk.00372_large.jpg  loc_nk.00373_large.jpg
 loc_nk.00374_large.jpg D

Passages to be expurgated from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

  • Page. [no handwritten text supplied here]Lines
  • 31. [no handwritten text supplied here]15-16 inclusive
  • 32. [no handwritten text supplied here]19-22 "
  • 37. [no handwritten text supplied here]14-15 "
  • 48. [no handwritten text supplied here]20, 28, 29
  • 49. [no handwritten text supplied here]11, 20
  • 52. [no handwritten text supplied here]The remainder of paragraph 28 beginning at the 12th line.
  • 59. [no handwritten text supplied here]11, 12
  • 66. [no handwritten text supplied here]15-16 inclusive
  • 79. [no handwritten text supplied here]21-22
  • 80. [no handwritten text supplied here]Entire passage from 14th line, ending with the line "And you Stalwart loins" on page 81.
  • 84. [no handwritten text supplied here]1-7 inclusive
  • 87. [no handwritten text supplied here]13, 28
  • 88. [no handwritten text supplied here]"A woman waits for me" entire, on 88th and 89th pages.
  •  loc_nk.00375_large.jpg
  •  loc_nk.00376_large.jpg
  • Page. [no handwritten text supplied here]Lines.
  • 90. [no handwritten text supplied here]The whole of page 90 and the first half of page 91 to line 11 inclusive.
  • 94. [no handwritten text supplied here]The first six lines and the first half of the 7th line to the words "indecent calls" inclusive.
  • 216. [no handwritten text supplied here]The ten lines entitled "The Dalliance of the Eagles."
  • 266. [no handwritten text supplied here]21, 22.
  • 299. [no handwritten text supplied here]The seven lines entitled "To a Common Prostitute" beginning on page 299 and ending on page 300
  • 303. [no handwritten text supplied here]2-3 inclusive.
  • 325. [no handwritten text supplied here]The remainder of the fourth line from the bottom beginning with the words "he with his poem."
  • 331. [no handwritten text supplied here]9, 10.
  • 355. [no handwritten text supplied here]13-17 inclusive
 loc_nk.00377_large.jpg

Notes

  • 1. Whitman renumbered these pages in blue pencil. [back]
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