Walt Whitman's copy of Poems Songs and Letters, Being the Complete Works of Robert Burns...

id
11940
origination
Burns, Robert, 1759-1796
date statement
1879-1902 [bulk 1883-1890]
key date
1879
identifier (local_mss)
188326
org unit
Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
call number
Berg Coll MSS 188326
b-number
b23755787
total components
0
total series
0
max depth
N/A
boost queries
(none)
component layout
Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields
false
Extended Navigation
false
created
2025-10-27 16:25:34 UTC
updated
2025-10-27 16:30:59 UTC
status note
(missing)
Display Aeon link
true

Description data TOP

unitid
{"value"=>"188326", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Berg Coll MSS 188326", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23755787", "type"=>"local_b"}
unitdate
{"value"=>"1879-1902", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1879/1902"}
{"value"=>"1883-1890", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1883/1890"}
unittitle
{"value"=>"Walt Whitman's copy of <span class=\"title\">Poems Songs and Letters, Being the Complete Works of Robert Burns...</span>"}
physdesc
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1 volume", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"0.19 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
repository
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature</span>"}
abstract
{"value"=>"Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was a 19th-century American poet, essayist, and journalist. His copy of <span class=\"title\">Poems Songs and Letters, Being the Complete Works of Robert Burns...</span> edited by Alexander Smith (London: Macmillan, 1879), contains annotations and material dating from 1879 to 1902, including Whitman's holograph annotations of the text; annotated newspaper clippings about Burns; a tear sheet copy of Whitman's \"Robert Burns as Poet and Person\" from the <span class=\"title\">North American Review</span> with Whitman's corrections; a silk ribbon; and a letter from John H. Johnston to Andrew Carnegie."}
langmaterial
{"value"=>"English"}
origination
{"value"=>"Burns, Robert, 1759-1796", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist
{"value"=>"<p>Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He grew up and spent much of his career in Brooklyn, New York. Whitman's famous poetry collection, <span class=\"title\">Leaves of Grass</span> (1855, 1891-1892), was continuously expanded, revised, and republished during his lifetime. The collection celebrated the body, soul, nature, and democracy.</p> <p>During the Civil War, Whitman worked as a government clerk in Washington, D. C., and nursed wounded soldiers. Those experiences influenced his poetry collection, <span class=\"title\">Drum-Taps</span> (1865). Whitman's widely recognized poems, \"O Captain! My Captain!\" (1865) and \"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd\" (1865), addressed the death of President Lincoln.</p> <p>Whitman published an essay about the Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns titled \"A Modern Poet on the Scotch Bard\" in the newspaper <span class=\"title\">Our Land and Time</span> in 1875. He revised and retitled the essay \"Robert Burns as Poet and Person\" and published it in the <span class=\"title\">New York Critic</span> in 1882. Whitman made some minor textual edits and published the essay with the same title in the <span class=\"title\">North American Review</span> in 1886.</p> <p>Whitman died in Camden, New Jersey in 1892.</p> <p>John H. Johnston (1837-1919) was an American jeweler based in New York City and a close friend of Walt Whitman. He created fundraising events for Whitman as he aged.</p> <p>Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie donated money to Walt Whitman after he heard the poet lecture on President Lincoln. He also admired the poetry of Robert Burns.</p>"}
custodhist
{"value"=>"<p>The volume, originally held by Walt Whitman, was given by him to John H. Johnston in 1892, by descent. Johnston gave the book to Andrew Carnegie in 1902. The volume, then, passed down by direct descent to Linda Mills, Carnegie's great-granddaughter.</p>"}
scopecontent
{"value"=>"<p>Walt Whitman's copy of <span class=\"title\">Poems Songs and Letters, Being the Complete Works of Robert Burns...</span> edited by Alexander Smith (London: Macmillan, 1879), contains annotations and additional material dating from 1879 to 1902, including: Whitman's textual annotations and inscriptions, his annotated newspaper clippings about Burns, a corrected tear sheet copy of Whitman's essay on Burns, a silk ribbon, and a letter from John H. Johnston to Andrew Carnegie.</p> <p>The 1879 volume holds Whitman's printed address label pasted into the inside front cover of the book, as well as his signature, holograph textual annotations, and inscriptions. It also includes Whitman's pasted and pinned newspaper article clippings, dating from 1883 to 1890, about Burns. Some of the clippings are dated and labeled in Whitman's hand. There are three additional newspaper clippings, dated and labeled by Whitman, laid into the book.</p> <p>Present is a laid-in tear sheet copy of \"Robert Burns as Poet and Person\" from the November 1886 issue of the <span class=\"title\">North American Review</span>. The tear sheet bears Whitman's holograph corrections and additions.</p> <p>The book includes a laid-in yellow silk commemorative ribbon from the Tam O'Shanter Club of Philadelphia, 1888, with a portrait of Burns.</p> <p>The volume also features a laid-in letter from John H. Johnston to Andrew Carnegie, dated 1902. In the letter, Johnston presents the volume to Carnegie for his library at Skibo Castle in Scotland.</p>"}
acqinfo
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Susan Jaffe Tane, 2022.</p>"}
processinfo
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Amy Lau</span> in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
date_start
1879
keydate
1879
date_end
1902
date_inclusive_start
1879
date_inclusive_end
1902
date_bulk_start
1883
date_bulk_end
1890
prefercite
{"value"=>"Walt Whitman's copy of <span class=\"title\">Poems Songs and Letters, Being the Complete Works of Robert Burns...</span>, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library"}

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