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Edgar Allan Poe — “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”






Texts and Variant Texts

Reading copy:
  • “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” — reading copy — based on Text 00

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:
  • "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" — 1845, no original manuscript or fragments are known to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text 02) — Text 01  (A comment in Poe's unfinished notes for The Living Writers of America suggests that at least one editor rejected the manuscript prior to it being accepted by G. H. Colton of the American Review.)
  • "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" — December 20, 1845 —  Broadway Journal — Text 03 (Mabbott text B)  (Changes made in this text are so minor that it suggests they were made in typesetting or in proof, so that no intervening form is implied.)
  • "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" — 1848 — manuscript revisions in "Whitman" copy of  Broadway Journal  (the one change is noted at the end of text B.) — Text 04 (Mabbott text C)  (This is Mabbott's copy-text)

Reprints:
  • "Valdemar's Case" — 1845, December 20 — Baltimore Saturday Visiter (Noted in an article by Philip P. Cooke from the SLM, January 1848, no copy of this issue was known for many years. The story appears on the first page. Elsewhere in the same issue, J. E. Snodgrass comments on the December issue of The American Review, and states, "That there is something more and better than mere party politics in this journal, our first page will show. Its literary contents are of a high standard." The date, and the editorial comment are given in The Poe Log, 1987, pp. 605-606.)
  • "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" — about December 16, 1845 — unspecified Boston periodicals (Robert Collyer wrote to Poe on December 16, 1846, noting "Your account of M. Valdemar's case has been universally copied in this city" (letter printed in the Broadway Journal, December 27, 1845). The specific reprints referred to by Mr. Collyer have been identified, but may include the following two items.)
  • "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" — December 12, 1845 — Boston Courier (p. 1) (This reprint noted by K. Ljungquist, from a paper printed in Emersonian Circles, 1997, p. 193.)
  • "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" — December 15, 1845 — Boston Semi-Weekly Courier (p. 4) (This reprint is noted by K. Ljungquist, 1997, p. 193n21.)
  • "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" — December 18, 1845 — Boston Weekly Courier (p. 4) (This reprint is noted by K. Ljungquist, 1997, p. 193n21.)
  • "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" — December 1845 — The Spirit of the Times
    • "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" - Part I  (December 23, 1845)
    • "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" - Part II  (December 24, 1845)
  • "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" — December 24, 1845 — The Daily Advertiser (Rochester, New York) (noted as reprinted "From the American Review for December.")
  • "Mesmerism in America: Astounding and Horrifying Narrative" — January 4, 1846 — The Sunday Times (London)
  • "Mesmerism in America" — January 5, 1846 — The Morning Post (London)
  • "Mesmerism in America. Death of M. Valdemar of New York" — January 10, 1846 — The Popular Record of Modern Science (London)
  • "[Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar]" — February 12, 1846 — in Dagligt Allehanda (noted as by Mr. Poel) (An anonymous translation into Swedish, noted by Lars-Erik Nygren in E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2002, 3:124-125)
  • "The Facts of M. Valdemar's Case" — August 18, 1849 —  Boston Museum
  • "Starling effects of Mesmerism on a Dying Man" — 1852 — Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Humour; and Poems, London: Henry Vizetelly; an undated edition appears about the same time, published by Charles H. Clark (pp. 47-57)  (This version continues the curious British tendency to change the title of this tale.)
  • "Starling effects of Mesmerism on a Dying Man" — 1855 — Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Halifax: Milner and Sowerby (pp. 42-52)
  • “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” — 1894-1895 —  The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (2:322-334)
  • “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 6: Tales V, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (6:154-166, and 6:290-294)
  • “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales & Sketches II, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (3:1228-1244)

Reprints:  (as a separate edition)
  • "Mesmerism; In Articulo Mortis" (1846 [[H&C note "probably January or February"]]. The full title page states, all in capitals except for the price, "Mesmerism [[/]] 'In Articulo Mortis' [[/]] An [[/]] Astounding & Horrifying Narrative, [[/]] Shewing the Extraordiary Power of Mesmerism [[/]] in Arresting the [[/]] Progress of Death. [[/]] By Edgar A. Poe, Esq. [[/]] of New York. [[/]] London: [[/]] Short & Co., 8, King Street, Bloomsbury, [[/]] 1846. [[/]] Price Threepence]")

Associated Material and Special versions:
  • "La vèrité sur le cas de M. Valdemar" — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)
    • "Mort ou vivant? Cas de M. Valdemar" — September 20-26, 1854 — Le Pays
      • "Mort ou vivant? Cas de M. Valdemar" — Part I  (September 20, 1854)
      • "Mort ou vivant? Cas de M. Valdemar" — Part II  (September 26, 1854)
    • "La vèrité sur le cas de M. Valdemar" — 1856 — Histoires extraordinaires, Paris: Michel Lévy frères
  • "La Verita sul Caso del Signor Valdemar" — 1876 — Racconti Incredibili, Milano, Italy: Tipografia Editrice Lombarda  (Italian translation, with several illustrations)
  • "[Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar]" — 1881 — Underliga historier (Stockholm)  (Swedish translation, noted by Anderson, p. 54)
  • "[Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar]" — 1882 — Valda noveller (Stockholm)  (Swedish translation, noted by Anderson, p. 54)
  • "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" — April 1926 — Amazing Stories, vol. 1, no. 1
  • "De Waarheid in 'Het Geval Valdemar' " — 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)
  • "The Strange Case of M. Valdemar" — 1956 — a reading by Nelson Olmsted on Edgar Allan Poe: Tales of Terror, issued on the Vanguard label (VRS-9007, rereleased as VSD-31)
  • "The Mesmerist"— 2001 — a film featuring Howard Hessman and Neil Patrick Harris, directed by Gil Cates, Jr. (released on DVD in 2003 by Roxbury films.) This broadly comic farce is a recasting of Poe's tale, so much so that little remains (and there are a few slight touches from "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Morella"). As an adaptation, the original is scarecly recognizable, and thus it can hardly serve Poe's plot, character, tone or idea. The quirky attempts at humor are generally so overwrought that it only rarely succeeeds even on its own terms.











See also "Mesmeric Revelations," to which the present story is closely related.








Bibliography:
  • Anderson, Carl L., Poe in Northlight: The Scandanavian Response to His Life and Work, Durham, NC: Duke Unversity Press, 1973.
  • Carter, Steve, "A Possible Source for 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," Poe Studies (1979), 12:36.
  • Falk, Doris V. "Poe and the Power of Animal Magnetism," Publications of the Modern Language Association (May 1969), 84:526-546.
  • 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.
  • Lind, Sidney, "Poe and Mesmerism," Publications of the Modern Language Association (Dec. 1947), 62:1077-1094.
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, "English Publication of Poe's 'Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," Notes & Queries (Nov. 21, 1942), 183:311-312.
  • 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.
  • Weissbuch, Ted. N., "Edgar Allan Poe: Hoaxer in the American Tradition," New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin (July 1961), 45:291-309.
  • Ware, Tracy, "The 'Salutary Discomfort' in the Case of M. Valdemar," Studies in Short Fiction (1994), 31:471-480.
  • 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.



 
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