THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, December 27, 1985
21
LITERARY
SHAIVINIOS
BY ALAN ABRAMS
Special to The Jewish News
Charles Feinberg has
devoted a lifetime to the
collection and
preservation of rare books.
"I'm a little crazy," 86-year-old
Charles E. Feinberg tells a visitor
seated in the spacious library of his
Boston Boulevard mansion in De-
troit.
"You've got to be crazy to do the
things I do."
Feinberg, who has spent half his
life collecting rare books and manu-
scripts, and the other half giving
them away to libraries and institu-
tions around the world, can easily
lay claim to the distinction of having
preserved the literary reputation of
Walt Whitman.
Virtually ignored by scholars at
the turn of the century, his memory
fanned only by the efforts of his
three literary executors: Dr. Richard
Bucke, Thomas B. Harned, and the
part-Jewish socialist firebrand
Horace Traubel, the works of Whit-
man were not even taught in
schools. The classic Leaves of Grass
was an unrecognized — and mostly
unread — work of genius written by
a man most thought of only as an
eccentric. Longfellow, Lowell and
Whittier were the "Big Three" of
19th Century American literature.
And it might have remained that
way were it not for the efforts of
Charley Feinberg, a London,
England-born and Peterborough,
Ontario-raised oil salesman who has
•
a fascination with American litera-
ture.
° When I actually started collect-
ing first editions of books in Ameri-
can literature, I picked a period that
was important to me and that I
think is important to most people
who get involved in American litera-
ture," the 86-year-old Detroiter says.
"I picked Emerson, Thoreau, Mel-
ville, Hawthorne — and Whitman."
Later, Feinberg added Mark
Twain and Stephen Crane. And then
some modern authors, especially
Hemingway. But eventually, Whit-
man was to become his overriding
passion.
Today, most of Feinberg's
Whitman collection reposes in the
Library of Congress in Washington,
It has been called a national
treasure trove. It comprises original
drafts and manuscripts of Whitman's
poetry, letters to and from Whitman,
first editions of Whitman's books,
and even books that once were a
part of Whitman's own library — all
of it painstakingly rescued from
their literary diaspora and put in a
repository where scholars from
around the world can study every
word.
Feinberg has never sold a
Whitman item — he has always
Continued on Page 24
Bo b McKeow n
Feinberg in the library-cum-living
room of his Detroit home.