Noting that Charles E. Feinberg's name will forever be associated with Walt Whitman, University of Paris-Sorbonne Professor Emeritus Roger Asselineau was once moved to remark that "for nearly half a century Feinberg was in a way Whitman's representative on earth." During the course of his life Feinberg became the foremost collector and one of the most knowledgeable scholars of Whitman's work, and he was known for his benefactions to libraries, research projects, and charitable organizations. Feinberg was fabled for his generosity with his collection, and virtually everyone who wrote seriously about Whitman since the 1950s consulted Feinberg and used his material.

The son of Russian immigrants, Charles Evan Feinberg was born in London, England, on 27 September 1899. Soon after, the family moved to Canada and settled in Toronto. Feinberg liked to tell the story of his first literary awakening--and brush with Walt Whitman--while in the sixth grade at Ogden...