604. Walt Whitman. Bank check, 6.25 x 2.75, filled out and signed by Whitman, payable to order of WW Bennett for $18.00, May 5, 1888. Three vertical folds, one through a single letter of signature, cancellation cut to center, and some mild toning, otherwise fine condition. Union veteran William W. Bennett is listed as a comrade in the 1886 roster of Camden’s William B. Hatch Post No. 37, Grand Army of the Republic. The same day as writing this check, Whitman had a conversation with Horace Traubel, documented in With Walt Whitman in Cambridge by Traubel in 1906, he spoke of his opinion of Matthew Arnold, John Milton, Dante, and Verdi. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.…(MB $300)
605. John Greenleaf Whittier. ALS signed
“John G. Whittier,” one page, 4.5 x 6.75, March 7, 1888. Letter to an unidentified recipient. In part: “I have no brother living, and of course the story is a myth. I know nothing of the Colonization scheme in N. C.” In fine condition. RRAuction COA.…(MB $100)
606. Tennessee Williams. Book page bear-
ing a printed letter that Williams sent to the cast of his play ‘In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel’, 8.5 x 11.25, signed along the bottom in black ballpoint by Williams, below his printed signature. In fine condition, with light toning and creasing along top edge. RRAuction COA.…(MB $100)
607. William Wordsworth. English poet and author (1770–1850) of ‘Lyrical Ballads,’ a collection inspired by the beauty of the English Lake District. Ink signature and inscription, “Wm. Wordsworth written at the request of Mrs. Fletcher, Rydal Augt 13th—45,” on an off-white 5.5 x 2.5 slip. A central vertical fold passing through a single letter of signature, a couple horizontal creases, some light toning to corners from mounting remnants on reverse, and a couple light ink spots to signature and inscription, otherwise fine condition. RRAuction COA.…(MB $200) Art & Literature 151