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Four letters of the 18th and 19th of October reached me together as you intended. You may be sure, dear Walt Whitman, that the moment I had them I wrote to Mr. Balestier to make an appointment. He replied promptly that what he was really after was the American copyright—only in a minor  degree the Continental, and not the English at all, which in his opinion does not exist. He said he would appoint a meeting very shortly; & I am daily expecting to hear again. My own impression is that if you revised your works finally in few or many details, and the revision was first published here, the new readings would have English copyright—which a publisher could defend, and so maintain the position of publishing the only  finally correct edition. Anything that I can do to forward your views will be a pleasure to me, be sure; but I expect to get no further with Mr. Balestier than to ascertain just what is the scope and end of his present approach to you. The moment I can see what he is driving at I will write to you again. About American copyright, of course, I have absolutely no instructions from you.

The above I have written 24 hours after receipt of your letter  of the 29th of October, with the enclosure which is too precious to name. Could I have caught the Cunarder-mail of this morning from Queenstown, I should have written yesterday, if only to send my love and thanks for the delicate kindness you have done me. Your intuitive knowledge of men is wonderful: I do not know anything you could have sent that would have touched me as your latest gift has done. But how did you know that, dear Walt Whitman?

H. Buxton Forman   N. Nov. 21 1891