"Baltimore, January 25, 1876.
"My Dear Friend: — Your praise, and your wife's, give me a world of comfort. I really do not believe anything was ever written under an equal number of limitations; and when I first came to know all the conditions of the poem I was for a moment inclined to think that no genuine work could be produced under them.
"As for the friend who was the cause of the compliment, it was, directly,
Mr. Taylor. . . . INDIRECTLY, YOU are largely concerned in it. . . .
I fancy [all] this must have been owing much to the reputation
which you set a-rolling so recently. . . .
"So, God bless you both.
"Your friend, S. L."
[End of original text.]
Differences between the editions of 1891 & 1916 (printings of 1898 & 1918).
Other than errors resulting from corruption of the plates over 20 years, the following differences are the only changes:
1) The 1898 copy was printed by Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, New York. The 1918 copy was printed by The Scribner Press.
2) The dedication of the poem "Sunrise", at the beginning of this volume, is in the 1918 copy, but not in the 1898 copy.