
Some while ago I received your kind present of the 2 vols. —Leaves of Grass & Specimen Days: recieved them, I am certain you
will believe, with extreme pleasure, & with a grateful sense of your continuing
to remember me across a somewhat long lapse of years. To be remembered by Walt
Whitman is what
any man shd be proud of, & none is so more than I.
I have read the Specimen Days vol. right thro: finding various new things, & continual pleasure in
reviewing my acquaintance with the old ones. Am extremely pleased to find in this
copy of the book something wh. is absent even from Mrs Gilchrist's copy—the photographs of your mother & father. If you
were blessed with an unsurpassably good mother, I can with truth say the same of
myself. My mother is still with us—aged nearly 85: health & facul ties sound on the
whole, but naturally bowed & stricken with the weight of years.
I have also scanned with a good deal of attention (that of complete re-reading) my old & constant admiration, the Leaves of Grass vol. I observe that some edition (I think the Philadelphia edition is named, but my vol. is not under my hand at the moment for reference) is mentioned as the only final & complete form of Leaves of Grass. The vol. with wh. you favoured me is not the Philadelphia edition, but I am in hopes that it may none the less be regarded as complete.

I am glad to note in this country from time to time symptoms of the increasing appreciation of your works: especially something written by Ruskin, & the Sonata from the Lincoln Dirge.
Accept as heretofore the affectionate respect & regard of
Yours always W M Rossetti
