LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President ]. WHITMAN, WALT. Autograph manuscript pocket notebook, comprising about 250 words, [New York, 15 April 1865]. 8 pages, written in pen and ink on 8 rectos of a 42-page notebook (made by Whitman by folding and cutting several sheets of lined stationery, and securing them in the center fold with a thick straight pin), enclosed in a modern custom-made half blue morocco slipcase. WHITMAN'S FIRST-HAND DESCRIPTION OF NEW YORK CITY ON THE DAY OF LINCOLN'S DEATH "THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS HAS RISEN TO ITS CLIMAX" The poet, who had briefly returned to New York from his post in Washington, apparently planned a poem or essay on the outpouring of public grief which he witnessed in the wake of the shooting and death of the President, and scrawled notes on the scene during his walk through the city. "The strange events...between 4 and 5 in the afternoon I cross'd the river from Brooklyn & took a walk up Broadway -- the scene was solemn & most eloquent - I had so often seen Broadway on great gala days, tumultuous overwhelming shows of pride & oceanic profusion of ornamentation & deck'd with rich colors jubilant show crowds & the music of a hundred bands with marches & opera airs - or at night with processions bearing countless torches & transparencies & gay lanterns cover the houses. [This day] The stores were shut, & no business transacted, no pleasure vehicles, & hardly a cart - only the heavy rumbling bass of the heavy Broadway stages incessently rolling..." "In this death the tragedy of the last five years has risen to its climax. The blood of Abraham Lincoln was permitted by the [breaks off]...Spiral windings of black & white around the columns...The mighty crowds at 6'o'clock wending their way home - the crowds around the bul[l]etin boards..." On the last page, Whitman adds: "When a great event happens, or some signal solemn thing spreads out among the people it is curious to go forth and wander awile in the public ways." The death of Abraham Lincoln inspired two well-known poems by Whitman, "O Captain, my Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloomed," as well as a lecture on the significance of Lincoln's death, written in 1879 (see the manuscript in the following lot). Provenance : 1. Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke of Ontario, Canada (sale, AAA/Anderson Galleries, 16 April 1936, lot 563). 2. Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 28 April 1982, lot 355).
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, President ]. WHITMAN, WALT. Autograph manuscript pocket notebook, comprising about 250 words, [New York, 15 April 1865]. 8 pages, written in pen and ink on 8 rectos of a 42-page notebook (made by Whitman by folding and cutting several sheets of lined stationery, and securing them in the center fold with a thick straight pin), enclosed in a modern custom-made half blue morocco slipcase. WHITMAN'S FIRST-HAND DESCRIPTION OF NEW YORK CITY ON THE DAY OF LINCOLN'S DEATH "THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS HAS RISEN TO ITS CLIMAX" The poet, who had briefly returned to New York from his post in Washington, apparently planned a poem or essay on the outpouring of public grief which he witnessed in the wake of the shooting and death of the President, and scrawled notes on the scene during his walk through the city. "The strange events...between 4 and 5 in the afternoon I cross'd the river from Brooklyn & took a walk up Broadway -- the scene was solemn & most eloquent - I had so often seen Broadway on great gala days, tumultuous overwhelming shows of pride & oceanic profusion of ornamentation & deck'd with rich colors jubilant show crowds & the music of a hundred bands with marches & opera airs - or at night with processions bearing countless torches & transparencies & gay lanterns cover the houses. [This day] The stores were shut, & no business transacted, no pleasure vehicles, & hardly a cart - only the heavy rumbling bass of the heavy Broadway stages incessently rolling..." "In this death the tragedy of the last five years has risen to its climax. The blood of Abraham Lincoln was permitted by the [breaks off]...Spiral windings of black & white around the columns...The mighty crowds at 6'o'clock wending their way home - the crowds around the bul[l]etin boards..." On the last page, Whitman adds: "When a great event happens, or some signal solemn thing spreads out among the people it is curious to go forth and wander awile in the public ways." The death of Abraham Lincoln inspired two well-known poems by Whitman, "O Captain, my Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloomed," as well as a lecture on the significance of Lincoln's death, written in 1879 (see the manuscript in the following lot). Provenance : 1. Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke of Ontario, Canada (sale, AAA/Anderson Galleries, 16 April 1936, lot 563). 2. Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 28 April 1982, lot 355).
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
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