[Rarebooks] FS: Original Manuscript of Joaquin Miller's Tribute to Walt Whitman

[Charles Agvent]

MILLER, Joaquin [Walt WHITMAN]. AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT SIGNED (AMS): TO 
WALT WHITMAN. Two 7-3/4" x 11-1/2" ruled sheets written on rectos only 
of an original poem by Miller consisting of 5 nine-line stanzas, 
completely in Miller's hand and SIGNED by him at the conclusion. First 
published in the January 1877 issue of THE GALAXY, the poem begins: "O 
Titan soul, ascend your starry steep/On golden stair to gods and storied 
men!/Ascend! nor care where thy traducers creep,/For what may well be 
said of prophets when/A world that's wicked comes to call them 
good./Ascend and sing! As kings of thought who stood/On stormy heights 
and held far lights to men,/Stand thou and shout above the tumbled 
roar/Lest brave ships drive and break against the shore./What though thy 
sounding song be roughly set?/Parnassus' Self is rough...." One word is 
added and one entire line is crossed out. This poem was found among the 
papers of journalist William Conant Church and has an annotation by him 
on the verso of one page. Church was the publisher of THE GALAXY, and 
this manuscript is likely the one sent for publication. In an entry in 
his journal dated 1 August 1871, John Burroughs recorded Whitman's 
fondness for Miller's poetry (Barrus, Clara: WHITMAN AND BURROUGHS 
--COMRADES, page 60). Whitman met Miller for the first time in 1872, 
writing of a visit with Miller in a letter to Charles W. Eldridge. 
Several small ink stains not affecting the text, a few short tears, the 
second page split along the fold about halfway. Good.
The "Poet of the Sierras," also known as the Buffalo Bill of American 
literature and sometimes considered to be a Western version of Walt 
Whitman, Joaquin Miller (the pen name of Cincinnatus Heine Miller) was 
indeed one of the more colorful authors of the late 19th century, known 
for fabricating many features of life. While still a boy he headed from 
Oregon to California during the early gold rush where he worked in a 
number of mining camps. He survived several battles with Indians as well 
as several altercations with the law. He earned his keep mostly from 
mining and the Pony Express before his writing sustained him. 
(#020596)        $2,000

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