[AUTOGRAPH POSTCARD, SIGNED WITH INITIALS]

Camden [NJ]. One page, on verso of penny postcard (7.5 x 13 cm), ca. 50 words, in ink, addressed by Whitman on the verso. Small spot on right edge, touching slightly a couple of letters, otherwise very good. Addressed to [William] Sloane Kennedy, early on a staff writer for the Philadelphia AMERICAN, a literary biographer for the DAB, and one of Whitman's closest friends and caregivers in his later years. Whitman writes Kennedy, then in Belmont Mass: "Nothing very new or different - keep up - go out in the wheel chair - a bad spell the last week & now - (gradually declining) - a letter from Mrs O'C[onnor] Wash'n. She is gloomily, poorly left without means. The little dinner book is being put in type WW." Ellen M. O'Connor and William D. O'Connor were close Washington friends of Whitman. William published a defense of Whitman (THE GOOD GRAY POET: A VINDICATION), and prior to her marriage, Ellen was active in the anti-slavery and women's rights movements, and contributed to LIBERATOR and UNA. William died shortly before Whitman wrote this letter, as implied by his report of her circumstances. The referenced "dinner book" was published as CAMDEN'S COMPLIMENT TO WALT WHITMAN. WHITMAN ARCHIVE (ONLINE) med.00880.