Poe's Finances
(This page is under construction.)
The majority of Poe's income came from his magazine and editorial duties.
Poe's letters are full of requests for money, an unpleasant habit he
seems to have picked up from Mrs. Clemm, herself a well-experienced
practioner of the art. Exactly how much Poe may have acquired by this means,
and how much he actually repaid, is uncertain.
One must remember, of course, that in Poe's day, there was no public
welfare system.
Ostrom estimates Poe's total income at approximately $6,200. (Ostrom
further notes that a dollar in 1840 was worth about nine times more than
today.)
Southern Literary Messenger - editorial pay
$520.00 (Poe to Kennedy, Jan. 22, 1836) (Including
contributions, Poe estimates nearly $800.00)
$624.00 (Poe to Kennedy, Feb, 1836) (Poe notes that White has
raised his salary by $104.00)
(Poe to Kennedy, June 7, 1836 notes his salary of $15.00 per week,
expecting $20.00 per week in November.)
Fiction:
"The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) $24.00
"Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) $56.00
"The Masque of the Red Death" (1842) $12.00
"The Pit and the Pendulum" (1843) $38.00
"The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843) $10.00
"The Black Cat" (1843) $20.00
"The Gold-Bug" (1843) $100.00 (prize award)
"The Purloined Letter" (1844) $12.00
Eureka (1848), Putnam paid Poe $14.00
Poetry:
"The Raven" (1845) $9.00 (Ostron's estimate) (Mabbott states
that family tradition held that Poe received $15.00, Mabbott, Poems, 1969,
p. 360. R. H. Stoddard says in 1877 that Poe received $10.00, supposedly
based on the recollection of the publisher. In The Independent for
Nov. 5, 1896, Dr. Thomas Dunn English stated that Poe received $30.00.)
"Annabel Lee" (1849) $10.00
Other Sources of Income:
Lectures (1843) $100.00 (estimate)
Libel suit award (1847) $225.00
Lectures (1849) $75.00
Bibliography:
-
Ostrom, John Ward, "Edgar A. Poe: His Income as Literay Entrepreneur,"
Poe Studies, XV, No. 1, June 1982, pp. 1-7. (includes a list of
the standard rates of pay for magazines in Poe's day.)
-
Ostrom, John Ward, "Poe's Literary Labors and Rewards - Part I," in Myths
and Reality: The Mysterious Mr. Poe, Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe
Society, 1987, pp. 37-42 (This book is long out of print.)
-
Weiner, Bruce I., The Most Noble of Professions: Poe and the Poverty
of Authorship, Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society, 1987.
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