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This is Poe's own copy of volume I of Tales
of the Grotesque and
Arabesque
(1840), renamed and containing manuscript revisions made in 1842 for a
proposed new edition. The revisions were presumably made in the period
of June through about August of 1842. Two tales ("The Oval Portrait"
and "The Mask of the Red Death") appear in the table of contents,
having appeared in Graham's Magazine for, respectively, April
and May
1842. Not present is "The Gold-Bug," which was apparently written about
September - October 1842 (see Savoye). Also present, but crossed out,
are "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Mystery of Marie Roget," both
of which had been sold for publication about July 1842.
Phantasy Pieces (1842)
This unique and significant book was
in
the H. Bradley Martin
collection
until 1990, when it was sold at auction. Mabbott notes that "the title
page and preliminary matter have been removed" from this copy (Mabbott,
Tales, p. 1398). Mabbott further notes that "Poe
made a new
title
page and table of contents in manuscript and in which he indicated
numerous
emendations, some of them abortive. Only the first volume survives; it
was found in Poe's trunk after his death. The second volume has
disappeared.
I suspect that it was broken up and used as copy by Griswold's
printers,
and was the source of the Works texts of 'Metzengerstein' and
'Hans
Pfall' " (Mabbott, Tales, p. xxviii). Slow sales of Tales
of
the Grotesque and Arabesque prevented Poe from convincing a
publisher
to print the revised edition.
A marvelously faithful facsimile of this book was printed about 1928
by George Blumenthal in an edition of 50 copies. (It should be noted,
however, that the overlay of changes apparently shifted on several
pages so that Poe's markings are improperly aligned with the printed
text by one or two lines.)
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