[page vii, unnumbered:]

In considering this book, will the reader especially note that it is not a “Life” or a “Biography” of Poe, of which too many already exist and to which nothing can be added after the exhaustive works of Woodbury [[Woodberry]] and Prof. Harrison. I have not treated Poe in his character of poet or author, but confined myself to his private home-life, domestic and social, as I have heard it described by Poe's most intimate friends who knew him from infancy — some of them my own relatives — and from my own brief knowledge of him in the last three months of his life. The book may therefore be considered as a supplement to the more complete “Lives and Biographies,” showing Poe in a character as yet wholly unknown to the public, but which should be known in order to enable us to form a correct judgment of his character. I have corrected various misstatements of writers which, repeated by one from another, have come to be received as truth.

I have made no attempt at producing an artistic work, but have treated the subject as it demands, in a plain and practical manner with regard to facts apart from idealism of any kind.

THE AUTHOR.