Edgar Allan Poe — “A Descent into the Maelström”

Reading copy:

• “A Descent into the Maelström” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1841, no original manuscript or fragments are known to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02)
• Text-02 — “A Descent into the Maelström” — May 1841 — Graham’s — (Mabbott text A)
• Text-03 — “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1842 — TGAPP (manuscript of title only) — (The tale is listed in Poe’s handwritten table of contents, but the text itself no longer survives. It was probably a modified version of the printed text from Graham’s Magazine, and is presumably recorded, with perhaps a few additional changes made in proof, in Text-04)
• Text-04 — “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1845 — TALES — (Mabbott text B)
• Text-05 — “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1845-1849 — manuscript revisions in “J. L. Graham” copy of TALES — (Mabbott text C)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text)  (For Griswold’s 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)

Reprints:

• “In a Maelström” — about April 1841 (?) — Carpenter’s Penny Book (London) (compiled by Joseph Edwards Carpenter) (This reprint was first noted by P. K. Foley, but without details. H&C record a comment by T. O. Mabbott that it “might be before 1850.”)
• “A Descent into the Maelström” — May 15, 1841 — Portland Transcript (vol. 5, no. 5) (reprinted Text-02)
• “A Descent into the Maelström” — May 26, 1849 — Boston Weekly Museum and Literary Portfolio (Boston, MA)
• “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1850 — WORKS — (Griswold reprints Text-04) (Mabbott text D)
• “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1851 — The Irving Offering, a Token of Affection for 1851 (Reissued in 1851 as The Wintergreen; Aways Remebered: A Token for 1852.)
• “A Descent into the Maelstrom” — 1852 — Tales and Sketches: to which is added The Raven: A Poem, London, George Routledge & Co.
• “A Descent into the Maelstrom” — 1856 — Cyclopedia of American Literature, New York: Charles Scribner
• “A Descent into the Maelstrom” — March 1857 — United States Magazine (reprinted at the end of an article about Poe)
• “A Descent into the Maelstrom” — December 1884 — The Book-Worm (New York), vol I, no. 6. (A typical magazine reprint, almost surely from the Widdleton edition of Poe’s works, or its successor.)
• A Descent into the Maelstrom — 1920 — Paris: Devambez (Printed in English, with wood engravings by Marc Roux, mostly black and white, but a few in color)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “A Descent into the Maelstrom” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (2:237-259)
• “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales I, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (2:225-247, and 2:383-384)  (Harrison claims to have used the J. L. Graham copy of Tales as his copy-text, but does not include Poe’s changes made there. Apparently he used instead an unmarked copy of Tales or Griswold’s text.)
• “A Descent into the Maelström” — February 1934 — Amazing Stories (vol. 8, no. 10)
• “A Descent into the Maelström” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales & Sketches I, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2:574-597)

Instream Comparative Texts:

• None.

Plain Text Files for Juxta:

• None.

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Une Descent Au Maelstrom” — September 1846 — Revue britannique  (French translation signed “O.N.” H&C give this as “O[ld] N[ick]”)
• “Auf dem Maelstrom: Reiseerinnerungen aus Norwegen” — October 14-18 and 20-21, 1846 — “Ethnography,” Frankfurter Konversationsblatt, 284:1134-1135, 285:1138-1139, 286:1142-1143, 287:1146-1147, 288:1150-1151, 289:1154-1155, 290:1158-1159)  (German translation, acknowledged only as “von Edgar Poe”)
• “Une descent au Maelstrom” — September 24-27, 1847 — La Démocratie Pacifique  (French translation signed “Isabelle Meunier”)
  • “Une descent au Maelstrom” — Part I (September 24, 1847)
  • “Une descent au Maelstrom” — Part II (September 27, 1847)
• “Der Mahlstrom” — April 17 and 24, 1852 — Bremischer Beobachter, 185:2-4, 186:4-5  (German translation by A. Malz, acknowledged only as “Nach dem Englischen.”)
• “Eine Hinabwirbelung in den Maalstrom” — 1855 — Deutsche Monatshefte (New York), 6:404-413  (German translation by Adolf Strodtmann, acknowledged only as “Aus dem Englischen.”)
• “Une descente dans le maelström” — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)
  • “Une descente dans le maelström” — February 5-7, 1855 — Le Pays
    • “Une descente dans le maelström” — Part I  (February 5, 1855)
    • “Une descente dans le maelström” — Part II  (February 6, 1855)
    • “Une descente dans le maelström” — Part III  (February 7, 1855)
  • “Une descente dans le maelström” — 1856 — Histoires extraordinaires, Paris: Michel Lévy frères
• “I Malströmmen” — June 30, 1867 and July 7, 1867 — Figaro  (Danish translation by Robert Watt, noted by Carl L. Anderson, Poe in Northlight, 1973, p. 15)
• “I Malströmmen” — 1868 — Phantastiske Fortaellinger [Fantastic Tales], Copenhagen  (Danish translation by Robert Watt, noted by Anderson, p. 15)
• “Una discesa nel Maelstrom” — 1876 — Racconti Incredibili, Milano, Italy: Tipografia Editrice Lombarda  (Italian translation, with several illustrations)
• “[A Descent into the Maelstrom]” — 1881 — Underliga historier, Stockholm  (Swedish translation, noted by Anderson, p. 54)
• “Une descente dans le maëlstrom” — 1885 — Oeuvres Choisies d‘Edgar Pöe, Paris: A. Hennuyer  (French translation by William L. Hughes)
• “Eine Fahrt in den Maelstrom” — 1890 — Seltsame Gesdichten, Stuttgart: Spemann  (Germanh translation by Alfred Mürenberg)
• ”De Neerdaling in den Maalstroom” — about 1930 — Fantastische Vertellingen van Edgar Allan Poe, Haarlem: H. D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon (Dutch translation by Machiel Elias Barentz, with elaborate illustrations by Albert Hahn, somewhat reminiscent of those by Harry Clarke)

• Anderson, Carl L., Poe in Northlight: The Scandanavian Response to His Life and Work, Durham, NC: Duke Unversity Press, 1973.
• Bandy, William T., “A New Light on the Source of Poe’s ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’,” American Literature (January 1953), 24:534-537.
• Egan, Kenneth V., Jr., “Descent to an Ascent: Poe’s Use of Perspective in ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’,” Studies in Short Fiction (1982), 19:157-162.
• Engel, Leonard W., “Edgar Allan Poe’s Use of the Enclosure Device in ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’,” Essays in Art and Sciences (1979), 8:21-26.
• Finbolt, Richard D., “The Vision at the Brink of the Abyss: ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’ in the Light of Poe’s Cosmology,” Georgia Review (1973), 27:356-366.
• Frank, Frederick S., “The Aqua-Gothic Voyage of ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’,” American Transcendentalist Quarterly (1976), 29:85-93.
• Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.
• Murphy, Christina, “The Philosophical Pattern of ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’,” Poe Studies (June 1973), 6:25-26.
• Seaman, Robert E., “Lacan, Poe, and the Descent of the Self,” Texas Studies in Language and Literature (1989), 31:196-214.
• Shuman, R. Baird, “Norway Mile: A Linguistic Note,” Notes & Queries (Sept. 1953), 202:398.
• Sweeney, Gerard M., “ ‘Beauty and Truth‘: Poe’s ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’,” Poe Studies (June 1973), 6:22-25.
• Turner, Arlin, “Sources of Poe’s ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom’,” Journal of English and Germanic Philology (July 1947), 46:298-301.
• Ware, Tracy, “ ‘A Descent into the Maelstrom‘: The Status of Scientific Rhetoric in a Perverse Romance,” Studies in Short Fiction (1992), 29:77-84.
• Weber, Jean-Paul, “Edgar Poe on the Theme of the Clock,” La Nouvelle Revue Francais (August-September 1958), 68:301-311 and 69:498-508.
• Wyllie, John Cooke, “A List of the Texts of Poe’s Tales,” Humanistic Studies in Honor of John Calvin Metcalf, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1941, pp. 322-338.
• Yonce, Margaret, “The Spiritual Descent into the Maelstrom: A Debt to ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’,” Poe Newsletter (April 1969), 2:26-29.