[page 248:]

[1838] EARLY 1838. PHILADELPHIA. Poe, his wife Virginia, and his mother-in-law Mrs. Clemm leave New York and move to Philadelphia, where they take up residence in a boardinghouse operated by Mrs. C. Jones at 202 Mulberry (or Arch) Street (Thomas [1978], pp. 825-828).

[1838] EARLY 1838? Poe is intimate with the English-born writer James Pedder, who lives on Twelfth Street above Mulberry. Pedder's daughters Anna and Bessie frequently aid the Poe family, who are “literally suffering for want of food” and forced to live “on bread and molasses for weeks together” (Pedder's 1852 reminiscence quoted in Widener, 2:56).

[1838] SUMMER. BALTIMORE OR PHILADELPHIA. Poe sees Nathan C. Brooks, who solicits his contributions to the forthcoming American Museum. He unsuccessfully attempts to borrow money from his second cousin Neilson Poe, editor of the Baltimore Chronicle (Poe to Brooks, 4 September).

[1838] 19 JULY. PHILADELPHIA. Poe writes James Kirke Paulding, who has been appointed the new Secretary of the Navy. He corrects a mistaken view of his character intimated in a previous letter from Paulding:

[1838] 30 JULY. NEW YORK. Harper & Brothers publish a work with this title:

The “Preface” is signed by “A. G. PYM,” who acknowledges the assistance of “Mr. Poe, lately editor of the Southern Literary Messenger,” in preparing this authentic narrative. A “Note” at the end of the text informs the reader of “the late sudden and distressing death of Mr. Pym,” which has already been widely reported by the press. “It is feared that the few remaining chapters which were to have completed his narrative ... have been irrecoverably lost through the accident by which he perished himself.”

[1838] 30 JULY. Two daily newspapers notice Pym's publication. The Morning Courier reproduces the lengthy title: “There is certainly an array of horrors set forth in the title; but the volume is highly interesting in the story, well written, and to the lovers of marvellous fiction will be quite a treasure.” The New York Gazette observes: “The Messrs. Harper have published a very extraordinary volume purporting to be a narrative of ‘Arthur Gordon Pym,’ who it is said [is] lately deceased in some melancholy way, and his adventures as well as his death are referred to as of perfect notoriety .... It is hinted that Mr. Poe, the accomplished Virginia writer, has something to do about the book. We should be more inclined to think that Mr. Lock[e], the very ingenious author of the Moon Marvel[,] was the author” (Pollin [1978b], pp. 8-9).

[1838] 31 JULY. The New York American carries an advertisement for Israel Post, Bookseller, 89 Bowery, which lists Pym as published on 30 July and now available. The Daily Whig gives the novel's title, “from which the reader will be able to judge somewhat of the nature of the work” (Pollin [1978b], pp. 9-10; [1981], p. 13).

[1838] AUGUST. The Knickerhocker Magazine reviews Pym: “There are a great many tough stories in this book, told in a loose and slip-shod style, seldom chequered by any of the more common graces of composition, beyond a Robinson Crusoe-ish sort of simplicity of narration. The work is one of much interest, with all its defects, not the least of which is, that it is too liberally stuffed with ‘horrid circumstance of blood and battle.’ ” [page 250:]

[1838] 1 AUGUST. Horace Greeley's New-Yorker notices Pym: “This is a work of extraordinary, freezing interest beyond anything we ever read. It is more marvelous than the wildest fiction, yet is presented and supported as sober truth .... Mr. Edgar A. Poe is understood to have assisted in preparing the work for the press.” In the New Era Richard Adams Locke, author of the “Moon Hoax” published in 1835, corrects the New York Gazette of 30 July: “Now this very ingenious person [Locke], duly thanking the editor of the Gazette for his double compliment, begs to say that he had no hand whatever in this new hoax [Pym], and verily believes that the merit of it, be it what it may, is entirely due to Mr. Edgar A. Poe” (Pollin [1974], p. 43; [1978b], pp. 9-10).

[1838] 2 AUGUST. The Gazette replies to Locke's disclaimer: “Of course we were not very serious when we made the ascription, but really, the ‘Man of the Moon’ himself might have been willing to be considered the author. Mr. Gordon Pym's imagination ought to ‘call and see’ its cousin german at the Era Office, for they are as alike as two lumps of chalk, and we believe the one as faithfully as we do the other” (Pollin [1978b], p. 10).

[1838] 2 AUGUST. PHILADELPHIA. The Pennsylvania Inquirer, the Public Ledger, and the United States Gazette notice Pym, quoting the complete title to give their readers an idea of its contents. A fourth daily paper, the Pennsylvanian, comments:

[1838] 3 AUGUST. The Pennsylvania Inquirer mentions Pym again: “We have already noticed this entertaining and exciting narrative at some length, on the faith of paragraphs which have appeared in the columns of our New York contemporaries. The Harpers have favored us with a copy, and the adventures of Pym, though only occupying a small volume, are well calculated to enchain the interest and sympathies of every class of readers.”

[1838] 4 AUGUST. The Saturday Courier reviews Pym: “Here is a book with a title page as long as a table of contents, and as full of ‘incredibles’ as man can desire. The Harpers have given us an affair that throws Munchausen into the shade, and Jack the Giant Killer is a fool to ‘Peters.’ Pym professes to have been close to the South Pole, far beyond the 84th parallel of Southern [page 252:] latitude, and to have undergone all manner of adventures .... When we can find a respectable endorser for Pym's statements, we will think of believing them” (Pollin [1974], p. 42).

[1838] 5 AUGUST. NEW YORK. The Sunday Morning News reproduces the title of Pym, commenting: “We cannot pretend to subscribe to the truth of all the wonders therein related but the lovers of the marvellous will have a fine treat for a summer's day in its perusal” (Pollin [1975b], p. 33).

[1838] 6 AUGUST. HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. The Daily Courant announces Pym by reproducing the title (Pollin [1980], p. 21).

[1838] 7 AUGUST. PHILADELPHIA. Waldie's Select Circulating Library notices Pym, quoting the complete title. “Part or all of this was published in the Southern Literary Messenger, and we are free to say it is a very ingenious affair — between Robinson Crusoe and Sir Edward Seaward. The air of truth is much like old Robinson, and the interest is very deep” (Pollin [1974], pp. 42-43).

[1838] 8 AUGUST. NEW YORK. The Evening Post reviews Pym: “The air of reality in the narrative is assumed with no small skill. It is a fictitious journal of a voyage made in the Southern Ocean, in which Mr. Pym meets with adventures almost as surprising as those of Peter Wilkins, or Sinbad the Sailor” (Pollin [1974], p. 45).

[1838] 10 AUGUST. Mordecai M. Noah's Evening Star summarizes the events described in Pym: “What are we to think of it?” There is “mystification about the author's trip” which the Star will not attempt to explain: “Let every man fathom Mr. Pym's secret for himself, say we. He tells some wonderful things, that's certain” (Pollin [1978b], p. 10).

[1838] 11 AUGUST. The New-York Mirror reviews Pym: “The author would have shown his ingenuity to more purpose, if he had preserved the vraisemblance of his narrative. As it is, the gross improbabilit[i]es and preternatural adventures through which his hero passes, soon destroy the interest of the reader, and revolt the imagination. We are constantly tempted to exclaim: ‘Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude!’ At the same time we must concede to the author, the merit of a fine mastery over language, and powers of description rarely excelled.”

[1838] 11 AUGUST. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Evening Post publishes “Ode XXX. — To Edgar A. Poe” signed “Horace in Philadelphia;” a pseudonym of the Baltimore journalist Lambert A. Wilmer. Apparently alluding to [page 253:] Poe's current poverty, Wilmer observes that “the poet's prayer” does not petition “for houses or extended lands” or for “fair financial prospects in futurity.” The poet seeks only fame:

The “heavenly gifted mind” should not be discouraged by this injustice. The passage of time, “sternly frowning on the base,” will consign inferior poets to oblivion:

[1838] 18 AUGUST. NEW YORK. The Albion reviews Pym: “We are disposed to believe that the author is a second Capt. Lemuel Gulliver as regards authenticity, and think that although he does not deal in political and moral satire he has fabricated a volume which will be extensively read and very pleasing” (Pollin [1974], p. 45).

[1838] 22 AUGUST. PHILADELPHIA. Alexander's Weekly Messenger reproduces Pym's title, commenting:

[1838] SEPTEMBER. William E. Burton castigates Pym in his Gentleman's Magazine:

[1838] SEPTEMBER. NEW YORK. William W. Snowden's Ladies’ Companion reviews Pym: “There seems to be some diversity of opinion as to the real authorship of this work. It should be a matter of perfect indifference to the public, who the author is; the book has been written and is published, and that, certainly, is knowledge enough. It shows but poor taste that the writer of a book must be known before it can be appreciated. Pym's narrative is peculiarly amusing, although it borders on the marvellous” (Pollin [1975b], pp. 33-34).

[1838] SEPTEMBER? NEW YORK, BOSTON, PHILADELPHIA. The Family Magazine praises Pym: “Commend us to Arthur Gordon Pym! He is a genius and his adventures rare and wonderful. If the reader would like to take a voyage of discovery, or go on an exploring expedition to the south pole he has only to take up Arthur Gordon Pym's narrative and if he is not led off to the pole scientifically, he will at least find himself, when he gets there, in a situation where science is no longer useful or necessary, and ready and willing to admit that Arthur Gordon Pym's adventures have been infinitely more astonishing than any before recorded” (Pollin [1974], p. 46). [page 255:]

[1838] CA. SEPTEMBER. LONDON. The English office of the New York firm Wiley and Putnam decides to issue Pym. George P. Putnam recalls: “The late Mr. D. Appleton was sitting in our office in Paternoster Row. ‘Here is an American contribution to geographical science,’ I said to him. ‘This man has reached a higher latitude than any European navigator. Let us reprint this for the benefit of Mr. Bull.’ He assented, and took half share in the venture. The grave particularity of the title and of the narrative misled many of the critics as well as ourselves, and whole columns of these new ‘discoveries,’ including the hieroglyphics (!) found on the rocks, were copied by many of the English country papers as sober historical truth” (Putnam, p. 471).

[1838] 4 SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe writes Nathan C. Brooks in Baltimore, acknowledging a “favor with the $10.” He must decline Brooks's invitation to review Washington Irving's writings for the forthcoming American Museum: “I should be most unwilling not to execute such a task well, and this I would not do at so short notice, at least now. I have two other engagements which it would be ruinous to defer. Besides this, I am just leaving Arch street for a small house, and, of course, somewhat in confusion .... Irving is much overrated, and a nice distinction might be drawn between his just and his surreptitious and adventitious reputation — between what is due to the pioneer solely, and what to the writer.” Since Poe believes that a bold investigation of Irving's merits “would strike home,” he regrets that he cannot write the critique: “Had you spoken decidedly when I first saw you, I would have adventured. If you can delay the ‘Review’ until the second number I would be most happy to do my best.” Poe's financial situation has improved: “I have gotten nearly out of my late embarrassments. Neilson [Poe] would not aid me, being much pushed himself” (L, 1:111-13).

[1838] AFTER 4 SEPTEMBER. The Poe family moves to a small house on Sixteenth Street near Locust (Thomas [1978], pp. 25-27).

[1838] 6 SEPTEMBER. BALTIMORE. The will of Poe's grandmother Elizabeth Caimes Poe, who died on 7 July 1835, is probated. All her belongings are bequeathed to her daughter Mrs. Maria Clemm (Phillips, 1:494).

[1838] OCTOBER. NEW YORK. The New York Review notices Pym, quoting the complete title:

[1838] OCTOBER. LONDON. Wiley and Putnam publish an English edition of Pym with an abridged subtitle (Pollin [1981], p. 51).

[1838] EARLY OCTOBER. BALTIMORE. The first number of the American Museum, dated September, contains Poe's tale “Ligeia.” A satire commencing in this issue, “The Atlantis, a Southern World — or a Wonderful Continent Discovered;” may possibly be his work (“Atlantis” attribution in Quinn, pp, 757-61).

[1838] 10 OCTOBER. The Sun notices the Museum: “Baltimore can at length boast of a monthly literary periodical, which, from the specimen before us, bids fair to rival in excellence those of her sister cities. This work ... is edited by Nathan C. Brooks and Dr. J. E. Snodgrass, two gentlemen well known in the literary world.”

[1838] 13 OCTOBER. LONDON. The Court Gazette notices Wiley and Putnam's edition of Pym: “We apprehend it [Pym] has been produced as a sort of practical exposition and proof of Byron's assertion, that ‘truth is stranger than fiction.’ It is, in fact, a book of wonders, originally published in an American periodical, without any warranty of truth. It now appears that the exciting interest of the story which is told, and the intrinsic evidence of its veracity and general accuracy, have induced the London publishers to present it to the public in an entire form. The style of the narrative is not an indifferent imitation of that adopted by De Foe, in his best novel, ‘Robinson Crusoe’ ” (Vann, p. 43).

[1838] 13 OCTOBER. The Torch reviews Pym at length, disputing its authenticity:

[1838] 20 OCTOBER. The Naval and Military Gazette notices Pym:

[1838] 20 OCTOBER. The Atlas gives a detailed synopsis of Pym, observing that the story “would have been more entertaining, had the writer been a little more careful in subduing his tendency for the marvellous. He has so ridiculously overdone the recital, that the volume cannot impose upon anybody” (Pollin [1974], pp. 50-52).

[1838] 21 OCTOBER. The Era quotes a long passage from Pym. This book “belongs to the species of romance, which, not satisfied with relating probabilities, assumes the outward guise of authentic narrative. Its fault is, that it is too uniformly extravagant; but ... the story is highly exciting, and leads one to regret that an author who has so evident a penchant for fiction should not lie boldly” (Vann, p. 43).

[1838] 27 OCTOBER. The Spectator excerpts several passages from Pym, praising it as “a fiction of no mean skill; displaying much power, much nautical knowledge, and a Defoe-like appearance of reality. Its ease, simplicity, and natural effects, remind one of Marryat.” The incidents described in the early chapters are “not physically impossible, and that is all: the later [page 258:] discoveries are clearly fable: but both the one and the other are told with great appearance of truth .... Interest is also excited in the narrative — that kind of breathless and absorbing interest with which we may suppose our ancestors listened to stories of ‘men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders,’ or with which we in our youth perused fairy tales. The disgusting though fearful scene of the passing vessel of the dead, the horrors of the tempest and the following famine, and the escape of Pym and Peters from the mountain in whose bowels they are entombed, are all examples of this kind” (Pollin [1974], pp. 53-54).

[1838] LATE OCTOBER? The Monthly Review for October recommends Pym to readers who “will have an out and out romance, and the marvels of an unprecedented voyager.” While the Review praises the author's “originality, boldness, and skill,” it observes “that some of the most elaborate scenes, and where no mean power is exhibited, are disgustingly horrible” (Pollin [1974], pp. 49-50).

[1838] NOVEMBER. The Metropolitan Magazine criticizes Pym: “The marvellous story — as we learn from the preface — was first published in an American periodical as a work of fiction. It is a pity it was not left as such. As a romance, some portions of it are sufficiently amusing and exciting; but, when palmed upon the public as a true thing, it cannot appear in any other light than that of a bungling business — an impudent attempt at imposing on the credulity of the ignorant.” The New Monthly Magazine comments: “Arthur Pym is the American Robinson Crusoe, a man all over wonders, who sees nothing but wonders, vanquishes nothing but wonders, would, indeed, evidently, scorn to have anything to do but with wonders.” The Gentleman's Magazine mentions Pym's publication under “Literary and Scientific Intelligence” (Pollin [1974], pp. 47-49; [1980], p. 21).

[1838] NOVEMBER. BALTIMORE. The American Museum contains Poe's tandem stories “The Psyche Zenobia” and “The Scythe of Time” (later entitled “How to Write a Blackwood Article” and “A Predicament”).

[1838] DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. The inside front cover of Burton's carries an announcement: “The Gentleman's Magazine has become the sole property of the Editor, William E. Burton” (Robbins [1947], p. 96).

[1838] 1 DECEMBER. NEW YORK. The New-York Mirror publishes a dispatch from its British correspondent, Nathaniel P. Willis, who comments: “The ‘American Museum’ ... has certainly put out a first number of uncommon [page 259:] cleverness .... It has a paper on the fabulous Atlantis, full of ingenuity and humour; and in a tale called Ligeia, (by Mr. Poe,) there is a fine march of description, which has a touch of D’Israeli's quality, and is worthy of a more intelligible sequel.”

[1838] CA. 25 DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. By making “the most painful sacrifices,” Poe manages to pay Mrs. Jones, landlady of the Arch Street boardinghouse where his family resided earlier in the year (Poe to John C. Cox, 6 December 1839).

[1838] LATE 1838? Professor Thomas Wyatt, an English author and lecturer, engages Poe to assist in preparing The Conchologist's First Book, paying him $50. Poe writes “the Preface and Introduction,” as well as translating “from Cuvier, the accounts of the animals” (Poe to G. W. Eveleth, 16 February 1847).

[The volume bore Poe's name on the title page, but was largely the work of Wyatt, whose Manual of Conchology had been issued by Harper & Brothers earlier in the year. John Gould Anthony of Harvard University explained Poe's role in an 1875 letter to John Parker of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore:

The characterization of Poe as “some irresponsible person” is entirely Anthony's own. Wyatt was Poe's constant admirer and friend, as documented by Thomas (1978), pp. 947-56.]

[1838] LATE 1838? Poe assists Wyatt in preparing the latter's Synopsis of Natural History (implied by Poe's review in the July 1839 Burton's).

[page 260:]

[1839] EARLY 1839. PHILADELPHIA. Poe borrows $50 from John C. Cox, a merchant living at 64 North Eleventh Street (Poe to Cox, 6 December 1839).

[1839] JANUARY. BALTIMORE. The American Museum contains Poe's “Literary Small Talk.”

[1839] 12 JANUARY. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Evening Post announces that its publisher Samuel C. Atkinson has given “the Editorial charge of the paper to GEORGE R. GRAHAM, Esq.”

[1839] FEBRUARY. BALTIMORE. The American Museum contains a second installment of Poe's “Literary Small Talk.”

[1839] 20 FEBRUARY. NEW YORK. Harper & Brothers reply to Poe's 19 February letter of inquiry: “We are inclined to think that ‘Pym’ has not succeeded or been received as well in this country as it has in England. When we published the work, we sent 100 copies of it to London — And we presume they have been sold. In addition to which we understand that an English edition has been printed. We have not seen any review of it in the English papers yet — Should any come to hand, we will preserve and forward them to you. Are you connected with any of the newspapers in Philadelphia? If so, we should be pleased to send you a book for review occasionally” (MB-G).

[1839] BEFORE APRIL. PHILADELPHIA. Poe sends “The Haunted Palace” to the Democratic Review, then published in Washington. The editor John L. O’Sullivan finds the poem “impossible to comprehend” and rejects it (cited in the Aristidean for October 1845 [see BEFORE 8 NOVEMBER 1845]; corroborated by C. E Briggs to J. R. Lowell, 27 January 1845).

[1839] APRIL. BALTIMORE. The American Museum contains “The Haunted Palace.”

[1839] 13 APRIL. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Evening Post carries a prospectus announcing that “GEORGE R. GRAHAM & CO.” have purchased the Casket from Samuel C. Atkinson. The May number of this Philadelphia monthly will be the first issued by the new proprietors.”

[1839] BEFORE 20 APRIL. Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell publish:

In the preface, signed “E. A. P,” Poe acknowledges his “great indebtedness” to the Philadelphia scientist and publisher Isaac Lea and to “Mr. Thomas Wyatt, and his late excellent Manual of Conchology.”

[1839] 20 APRIL. The Saturday Courier notices The Conchologist's First Book:

[1839] 27 APRIL. The Saturday Chronicle notices The Conchologist's First Book (Pollin [1980], p. 22).

[1839] 30 APRIL. The United States Gazette notices the publication of Wyatt's Synopsis of Natural History.

[1839] EARLY MAY? Carey & Hart send the Gift for 1840 to the printers. This annual, which contains Poe's tale “William Wilson,” is prefaced by an advertisement dated 1 May.

[1839] EARLY MAY? Motivated by his continuing financial problems, Poe seeks employment as an assistant editor under William E. Burton.

[1839] 11 MAY. Burton writes Poe: “I have given your proposals a fair consideration. I wish to form some such engagement as that which you have proposed, and know of no one more likely to suit my views than yourself.” He mentions the difficulties his Gentleman's Magazine is encountering as “some slight reason” for his delay in accepting Poe's “indubitably liberal” proposal: “The expenses of the Magazine are already wofully heavy; more so than my circulation warrants. I am certain that my expenditure exceeds that of any publication now extant, including the monthlies which are [page 262:] double in price. Competition is high, — new claimants are daily rising. I am therefore compelled to give expensive plates, thicker paper, and better printing than my antagonists, or allow them to win the goal.” Burton offers Poe $10 a week for the remainder of the year: “Should we remain together, which I see no reason to negative, your proposition shall be in force for 1840 .... Two hours a day, except occasionally, will, I believe, be sufficient for all required, except in the production of any article of your own. At all events, you could easily find time for any other light avocation — supposing that you did not exercise your talents in behalf of any publication interfering with the prospects of the G. M.” Burton will dine at his home, 100 North Ninth Street, today at 3 PM: “If you will cut your mutton with me, good. If not, write or see me at your leisure” (W, 17:45-46; Quinn, p. 278).

[1839] 18 MAY. The Saturday Chronicle contains Poe's tale “The Devil in the Belfry.”

[1839] BEFORE 30 MAY. Poe prepares a scathing critique of the Baltimore poetaster Rufus Dawes for the Gentleman's Magazine. Burton decides not to publish it; Poe then writes him in a state of depression.

[1839] 30 MAY. Burton replies to Poe: “I am sorry that you thought [it] necessary to send me such a letter as your last. The troubles of the world have given a morbid tone to your feelings which it is your duty to discourage.” He advises:

[1839] JUNE. The outside back cover of Burton's carries an announcement: “William E. Burton, Editor and Proprietor, has much pleasure in stating that he has made arrangements with Edgar A. Poe, Esq., late Editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, to devote his abilities and experience to a portion of the Editorial duties of the Gentleman's Magazine.” The inside front cover identifies Poe's position as “Assistant Editor.” This number [page 263:] contains his first contribution, an unsigned review of Frederick Marryat's The Phantom Ship.

[1839] JUNE OR LATER? Burton introduces Poe to the Philadelphia literati at a dinner held at the home of the playwright Richard Penn Smith, 243 North Sixth Street, above Callowhill: “At this supper party were present Louis A. Godey, then owner and editor of Godey's Magazine, which had been started about five years previously; Robert M. Bird; Robert T. Conrad, editor of the Daily Intelligencer; Joseph R. Chandler, editor of the United States Gazette; Joseph C. Neal; Morton McMichael, then an alderman in Spring Garden; Adam Waldie, publisher of Waldie's Circulating Library, and a few others. Owing to the engagements of Mr. Burton at the Chestnut Street Theatre, the supper was not placed upon the table until midnight, at which time Mr. Burton, Mr. Wemyss, Mr. Wood and Mr. John R. Scott made their appearance. Edwin Forrest — who had but lately returned from England with his wife — was also present” (Smith's son, Horace Wemyss Smith, quoted by Rosenbach, p. 296).

[1839] JUNE OR LATER? Thomas Dunn English, a young poet who frequently contributes to Burton's, is introduced to Poe at the magazine's office on Dock Street, near the southeast corner of Walnut and Second:

[1839] JUNE OR LATER? English introduces Poe to the poet Henry B. Hirst (Woodberry, 2:419).

[1839] 1 JUNE. The Saturday Courier notices the first number of the Literary Examiner, dated May: “A new monthly, published at Pittsburg[h], has just commenced, under the auspices of E. Burke Fisher and Wm. H. Burleigh. They are gentlemen who have been several years known as writers for various periodicals in our country.”

[1839] 10 JUNE. PITTSBURGH. Fisher writes Poe, praising his “mode of handling authors,” and soliciting his contributions for the Examiner: “terms of remuneration are $2 per page. And I shall make your case an exception and make the terms $3, or rather than not meet your favorable consideration $4 per page .... I pledge myself to send you the amount due for whatever you may write, immediately on the publication of each article. The quantity is discretionary with yourself. The choice of subjects could not be left in better hands” (Heartman and Canny, pp. 219-20).

[1839] 20 JUNE. PHILADELPHIA. Nathaniel P. Willis’ Tortesa, the Usurer opens at the Walnut Street Theatre, northeast corner of Ninth and Walnut. Poe probably attends the play, which he favorably reviews in the July Examiner and the August Burton's (Quinn, p. 284).

[1839] 26 JUNE. Poe writes Nathan C. Brooks in Baltimore (cited L, 2:578).

[1839] LATE JUNE? PITTSBURGH. In the Examiner for June Fisher announces that Poe has been engaged as a regular contributor (Hull, p. 706).

[1839] JULY. PHILADELPHIA. Burton's contains Poe's poems “To Ianthe in Heaven;” excerpted from his tale “The Visionary,” and “Spirits of the Dead,” formerly entitled “Visit of the Dead.” Poe reviews James Fenimore Cooper's History of the Navy of the United States, Thomas Wyatt's Synopsis of Natural History, and other books. “As the work of Mr. Wyatt professes to be simply a translation of the well-known ‘Tableaux’ of M. Lemmonnier [Louis Ceran Lemonnier], we need say little more in the way of recommendation than [page 265:] that all the useful spirit of the original has been preserved — and this we say from personal knowledge, and the closest inspection and collation.”

[On 21 September Poe wrote Philip Pendleton Cooke: “The critiques ... are all mine in the July No — & all mine in the Aug & Sep. with the exception of the 3 first in each — which are by Burton.”]

[1839] 1 JULY. The Pennsylvania Inquirer reports: “An Ourang Outang. An animal of this species, and of a truly extraordinary character, has just arrived at this port, in the ship Saluda, from Africa. — We are told that it is more perfect in its proportions, and in its resemblance to the human form, than any specimen of the kind, ever seen in this country.”

[Contemporary Philadelphians were captivated by the then unfamiliar animals of Africa and Asia. When Poe wrote “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” he would have been mindful of the popular sensation caused by the exhibition of the ourang outang at the Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, during August and September 1839 (Thomas [1978], pp. 50-51, 57-59).]

[1839] 3 JULY. The Inquirer notices Burton's, reprinting Poe's “To Ianthe in Heaven” as a “specimen” of the “excellent poetry” in this number.

[1839] 4 JULY. NEW YORK. Burton, who is acting at Niblo's Gardens during the summer season, writes Poe about the Gentleman's Magazine:

[1839] 6 JULY. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Courier comments: “We have omitted to name before that Edgar A. Poe has been associated with Mr. Burton, in the editorial control of ‘Burton's Magazine.’ — Mr. Poe was very favorably known as editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in its early days; and he has produced several works, which prove him a man of letters and industry. His accession is very valuable.” [page 266:]

[1839] 9 JULY. PITTSBURGH. E. Burke Fisher replies to Poe's letter of 5 July, which contained a review of Willis’ Tortesa, the Usurer: “I am truly obliged by the receipt of your criticism admirable — scarcely severe enough, but still Willis is a kind of national pet and we must regard his faults as we do those of a spoiled stripling, in the hope that he will amend.” Fisher discusses the prospects of the Literary Examiner: “With you to assist me in the department of reviews, that portion of the Magazine shall become what the Messenger was before you quitted .... You make the terms of compensation too low, but in my experimental stage I cannot do otherwise than accept the favor ... of obliging myself to pay $3 per page” (Heartman and Canny, pp. 220-21).

[1839] 10 JULY. PHILADELPHIA. Alexander's Weekly Messenger reviews Burton's, praising Poe: “he is a gentleman of superior ability and character, and we are glad to see that his name is associated with Mr. Burton in the future direction of the Gentleman's Magazine.”

[1839] 14 JULY. Poe writes George W. Poe, his second cousin: “Owing to my absence from Richmond for some time, I did not receive your letter until a few days ago, it having followed me from place to place, and at last caught me here:” He discusses his own career and the history of the Poe family in America; he encloses a genealogical table listing his relatives. Although he will remain in Philadelphia “perhaps for a year,” he considers Richmond his home (L, 2:682-86).

[1839] LATE JULY? PITTSBURGH. The Literary Examiner for July contains Poe's review of Willis’ Tortesa, the Usurer.

[1839] AUGUST. PHILADELPHIA. Burton's contains Poe's tale “The Man that was Used Up,” as well as his poems (all reprints) “Fairyland,” “To ——” (originally entitled “To Elizabeth”), and “To the River ——.” All the reviews are Poe's, except the first three; the notice of Willis’ Tortesa, the Usurer is a condensation of his critique in the July Examiner. A brief essay, “An Opinion on Dreams,” may be his work.

[1839] 6 AUGUST. BALTIMORE. The Sun notices Burton's, alluding unfavorably to the proprietor's lengthy theatrical engagement in New York: “It is evident that the senior editor [Burton] has been busied elsewhere, and consequently, although this number contains many excellent articles, there is a palpable want of tact in the manner in which it has been gotten up.”

[1839] 8 AUGUST. PHILADELPHIA. Poe replies to the Baltimore journalist John Beauchamp Jones, whose 6 August letter cited the criticism in the Sun: “I [page 267:] presume the ‘Sun’ has expressed the opinion that the August No: of the Mag: is not well edited, because it has been more than usually praised in this respect. No number ever issued from this office has recd 1/4 of the approbation which this has elicited. We are run down with puffs especially from the North — the South has not yet been so entirely heard from. Here lies the true secret of the spleen of the little fish.” Since Poe has not seen the other attacks mentioned in the letter, he would be “much obliged” if Jones would forward them to him: “I intend to put up with nothing that I can put down (excuse the pun) and I am not aware that there is any one in Baltimore whom I have particular reason to fear in a regular set-to .... You speak of ‘enemies’ — could you give me their names? All the literary people in Baltimore, as far as I know them, have at least professed a friendship” (L, 1:113-14, 2:686; Moldenhauer [1973], pp. 45, 47).

[1839] 17 AUGUST. LONDON. Under the heading “Sufferings from Thirst” Franklin's Miscellany excerpts “From Gordon Pym's Narrative,” Chapter XIII, the diary entries for 31 July, 1 and 2 August 1827. This passage is reprinted in the Free Press and Literary Times on 24 August 1839 (Vann, pp. 43-44).

[1839] 22 AUGUST. PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA. In Th’ Time o’ Day Hiram Haines comments: “The lines to ‘Ianthe in Heaven’ from the pen of Edgar A. Poe, Esq., formerly Editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, but now co-Editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, are deeply touching and ‘true to nature's feeling.’ ” Haines reprints this poem from the July Burton's (Ostrom [1942], p. 69).

[1839] LATE AUGUST? PITTSBURGH. The Literary Examiner for August contains Poe's article “American Novel-Writing.”

[1839] SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Burton's features Poe's tale “The Fall of the House of Usher;” which incorporates his poem “The Haunted Palace.” He also contributes the gymnastic article “A Chapter on Field Sports,” a lengthy criticism of Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqués romance Undine, and the other reviews (except the first three).

[1839] 3 SEPTEMBER. In the Pennsylvanian Joseph C. Neal comments:

[1839] 4 SEPTEMBER. Reviewing Burton's in Alexander's Weekly Messenger, John Frost praises Poe's tale as a “finished picture”:

[1839] 4 SEPTEMBER. Joseph R. Chandler reviews Burton's in the United States Gazette:

[1839] 5 SEPTEMBER. The Public Ledger notices Burton's: “Poe's contributions are unusually excellent.”

[1839] 5 SEPTEMBER. Poe sends the September Burton's to the Richmond author James E. Heath, who is assisting Thomas Willis White in editing the [page 269:] Southern Literary Messenger. Although Poe recognizes that White has reason to harbor resentment toward him, he nonetheless hopes that the Messenger will notice Burton's and reprint “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Poe assures Heath that he now abstains from alcohol (Heath's 12 September reply).

[1839] 7 SEPTEMBER. The Saturday Evening Post notices Burton's: “There are some savage reviews in this number, possibly from the pen of Mr. Poe.”

[1839] 7 SEPTEMBER. NEW YORK. Mordecai M. Noah reviews Burton's in his Evening Star: “Mr. Poe's tale of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ would have been considered a chef d’oeuvre if it had appeared in the pages of Blackwood.”

[1839] BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER. BALTIMORE. Joseph Evans Snodgrass sends Poe an issue of the Saint Louis Commercial Bulletin containing a favorable notice of his editorship of Burton's: “there are few writers in this country — take Neal, Irving, & Willis away and we would say none — who can compete successfully, in many respects, with Poe. With an acuteness of observation, a vigorous and effective style, and an independence that defies control, he unites a fervid fancy and a most beautiful enthusiasm. His is a high destiny” (Bulletin quoted in Poe's reply).

[1839] 11 SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe writes Snodgrass, thanking him for the Bulletin. He asks his friend to write a “rigidly just” notice of the September Burton's, which will incorporate the Saint Louis paper's praise: “The critique when written might be handed to Neilson Poe [editor of the Baltimore Chronicle]. If you ask him to insert it editorially, it is possible he may do it — but, in fact, I have no great faith in him. If he refuses — then upon your stating the fact to Mr [Samuel] Harker of the ‘Republican’ — you will secure its insertion there.” Poe is about to publish a collection of his tales; he promises Snodgrass an early copy. “Did you see the ‘Weekly Messenger’ (Alexander's) or Noah's Evening Star? They spoke highly of my tale — ‘The House of Usher’. — as also the Pennsylvanian & The U.S. Gazette of this city” (L, 1:115-17).

[1839] 11 SEPTEMBER. Alexander's Weekly Messenger notices the second edition of Poe's Conchologist's First Book:

[1839] 12 SEPTEMBER. RICHMOND. Heath replies to Poe:

[1839] 14 SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Courier notices The Conchologist's First Book: “This is the second edition of a work from the pen of Edgar A. Poe, Esq., which we had occasion favourably to notice not long ago. That the public have so soon demanded a second issue, is an evidence that the book is properly appreciated.”

[1839] 16 SEPTEMBER. CHARLESTOWN, VIRGINIA. Philip Pendleton Cooke replies to Poe's “friendly letter,” which he received “a long time ago.” He will subscribe to Burton's and contribute to it occasionally, although “a profession & matrimony” have largely cured his “madness of scribbling.” Complying with Poe's request, Cooke gives his opinion of “Ligeia”: [page 271:]

[1839] BEFORE 21 SEPTEMBER. TARRYTOWN, NEW YORK? Washington Irving replies to a letter from Poe, who has sent him the September Burton's: “I am much pleased with a tale called ‘The House of Usher,’ and should think that a collection of tales, equally well written, could not fail of being favorably received .... Its graphic effect is powerful” (quoted in the advertisement bound in the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque; cf. Poe to Irving, 12 October, and Irving to Poe, 6 November).

[1839] 21 SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe replies to Cooke's 16 September letter:

[1839] 21 SEPTEMBER. The Saturday Evening Post observes that the Gift for 1840 is “already published.” The annual contains Poe's “William Wilson.”

[1839] 28 SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. The publishers Lea & Blanchard, southeast corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, write Poe: “As your wish in having your Tales printed is not immediately pecuniary, we will at our own risque & expense print a Small Ed[ition] say 1750 copies. This sum if sold — will pay but a small profit, which if realized is to be ours — The copy right will remain with you, and when ready a few copies for distribution among your friends, will be at your Service.” The tales will make “2 vols. ... say 240 pages each”; the printer Mr. Haswell will be ready to proceed by Tuesday (MB-G).

[1839] OCTOBER. Burton's reprints “William Wilson” from the Gift. “A Chapter on Field Sports” and all the reviews are by Poe. He criticizes Longfellow's Hyperion: A Romance as “a profusion of rich thought” which is “without design, without shape, without beginning, middle, or end.”

[1839] OCTOBER. RICHMOND. James E. Heath notices the September Burton's in the Southern Literary Messenger:

[1839] BEFORE 7 OCTOBER. BALTIMORE. Snodgrass writes Poe that he prepared the critique of the September Burton's, but that Neilson Poe would not print it in the Baltimore Chronicle (Poe's reply; cf. his 11 September request).

[1839] 7 OCTOBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe writes Snodgrass: “I felt that N. Poe, would not insert the article editorially. In your private ear, I believe him to be the bitterest enemy I have in the world. He is the more despicable in this, since he makes loud professions of friendship. Was it ‘relationship &c.’ which prevented him saying any thing at all of the 2 or 3 last Nos. of the Gents’ Mag?” Poe is forwarding the current Burton's: “In the Octo. no: all the criticisms are mine — also the gymnastic article” (L, 1:120-21).

[1839] 12 OCTOBER. Poe replies to Washington Irving's letter written before 21 September. Enclosing the October Burton's, he makes “another request,” which he hopes Irving will not find importunate:

[The Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque contained a four-page advertisement, usually inserted before the title page of the second volume. In it Poe quoted favorable opinions from newspapers and magazines, as well as from letters he had received from Irving and other literati.]

[1839] 16? OCTOBER. John Frost reviews Burton's in Alexander's Weekly Messenger: “ ‘William Wilson,’ by Mr. Poe, reminds us of Godwin and Brockden Brown. The writer is a kindred spirit of theirs in his style of art. He paints with sombre Rembrandt-like tints, and there is great force and vigor of conception in whatever he produces.”

[1839] 16 OCTOBER. JACKSON, TENNESSEE. John Tomlin, a minor poet, sends Poe a contribution for Burton's: “The Manuscript Story of ‘Theodoric of the Amali’ is with diffidence submitted to your better judgement for an opinion. A ‘brither sinners’ [sic] hopes of future celebrity in his yet untrodden paths of Fiction, depends almost entirely on the success of ‘Theodoric of the Amali.’ ” Tomlin “would feel proud in having Edgar A Poe as a correspondent” (MB-G).

[1839] 30 OCTOBER. PHILADELPHIA. Lea & Blanchard reply to Poe: “The printing of a few extra copies of your tales on fine paper would be very troublesome to the printer. But if he is willing we have no objection to six copies being printed at your cost.” They intend to send Poe “20 copies of the edition ... on publication for private distribution” (Woodberry, 2:376).

[1839] NOVEMBER. Burton's reprints Poe's “Morella” from the forthcoming Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque; the story incorporates his poem “Catholic Hymn.” Poe reviews William Gilmore Simms's novel The Damsel of Darien, as well as Shakespeare and His Friends, The Canons of Good Breeding, and the Literary Souvenir for 1840. [page 275:]

[1839] 2 NOVEMBER. The Saturday Courier reviews Burton's, praising “Morella” as “decidedly the most finished [story] in this month's issue.” The weekly's co-editor, Ezra Holden, gives an advance notice:

[1839] 2 NOVEMBER. The Saturday Evening Post reviews Burton's, observing that Poe “is deeply imbued with the spirit of German literature, and as one of that class of writers has few equals.” The Pennsylvanian finds that “the editorial and critical department” of Burton's “is marked with spirit, talent and independence.”

[1839] 6 NOVEMBER. John Frost notices Burton's in Alexander's Weekly Messenger: “Morella, a Tale, by Edgar A. Poe, is worthy of the fame of the assistant editor of this Magazine.”

[1839] 6 NOVEMBER. GREENBURGH, NEW YORK. Washington Irving replies to Poe's 12 October letter: “I have read your little tale of William Wilson with much pleasure. It is managed in a highly picturesque Style and the Singular and Mysterious interest is well sustained throughout — I repeat what I have said in regard to a previous production, which you did me the favor to send me, that I cannot but think a Series of articles of like Style and merit would be extremely well received by the public.” Irving prefers the present story to “The Fall of the House of Usher”: “It is simpler. In your first you have been too anxious to present your pictures vividly to the eye, or too distrustful of your effect, and have laid on too much colouring. It is erring on the best side — the side of luxuriance. That tale might be improved by relieving the Style from some of the epithets” (Irving, 3:24-25). [page 276:]

[1839] 9 NOVEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Evening Post carries a valedictory by its publisher Samuel C. Atkinson, who announces that he has sold the paper to John S. Du Solle and George R. Graham.

[1839] BEFORE 11 NOVEMBER. BALTIMORE. Joseph Evans Snodgrass publishes a critique in the Baltimore Post: “Poe can throw a chain of enchantment around every scene he attempts to describe, and one of his peculiarities consists in the perfect harmony between each locale and the characters introduced. He has certainly written some of the most popular tales of American origin” (quoted in the advertisement bound in the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque) .

[1839] 11 NOVEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe writes Snodgrass, acknowledging “the reception of two letters ... one of which ... has been lying perdu in the P. Office for some 10 days.” Although he has not yet received the copy of the Baltimore Post, he saw Snodgrass’ critique “on file in a friend's office.” The only fault he can find in the article is that it is entirely too favorable:

Poe regrets that he “can say not a word touching compensation for articles” published in Burton's: “The intense pressure has obliged Mr B. with nearly every, if not with every, publisher in the country, to discontinue paying for contributions. Mr B. pays for nothing — and we are forced to fill up as we can” (L, 1:121-22).

[1839] 17 NOVEMBER. MOUNT PLEASANT, PENNSYLVANIA. E. Burke Fisher writes Poe, whose draft on the Literary Examiner has been returned unpaid. Fisher explains that the draft would have been honored, except that he has been absent from the office (Hull, p. 708; L, 2:580).

[1839] 20 NOVEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Lea & Blanchard reply to Poe:

[Because of troubled economic conditions, Lea & Blanchard were to issue an edition of only 750 copies, instead of the “1750 copies” proposed in their 28 September letter to Poe (Thomas [1978], pp. 73-74).]

[1839] 20 NOVEMBER. Alexander's Weekly Messenger carries a large advertisement for volumes six and seven (1840) of Burton's, “WILLIAM E. BURTON & EDGAR A. POE, EDITORS.” Poe's unsigned serial “The Journal of Julius Rodman” is announced in large capitals:

In still larger capitals the advertisement describes an elaborate contest:

[1839] DECEMBER. On its outside back cover Burton's carries the same advertisement announcing “The Journal of Julius Rodman” and “A PREMIUM OF $1,000!” which had appeared in the Weekly Messenger. This number contains Poe's tale “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion,” as well as his reviews of Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby, Joseph R. Chandler's Address, George P. Morris’ National Melodies of America, and James Grant's Walks and Wanderings in the World of Literature.

[1839] 2 DECEMBER. The Public Ledger reports: “BURTON’S GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE for December has come out, and offers a thousand dollars in premiums; which will set some persons to work.”

[1839] CA. 4 DECEMBER. Lea & Blanchard publish Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. The collection of twenty-five stories is dedicated to the prominent Philadelphian Colonel William Drayton “with every Sentiment of Respect, Gratitude, and Esteem.” In a brief preface Poe defends himself against those critics who have charged him “with what they have been pleased to term ‘Germanism’ and gloom. ... If in many of my productions terror has been the thesis, I maintain that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul, — that I have deduced this terror only from its legitimate sources, and urged it only to its legitimate results.”

The first volume contains fourteen stories: “Morella,” “Lionizing;” “William Wilson,” “The Man that was Used Up,” “The Fall of the House of [page 279:] Usher,” “The Duc de L’Omelette,” “MS. Found in a Bottle,” “Bon-Bon,” “Shadow,” “The Devil in the Belfry,” “Ligeia,” “King Pest,” and “The Signora Zenobia” incorporating “The Scythe of Time.”

The second volume contains these eleven: “Epimanes,” “Slope,” “Hans Phaall,” “A Tale of Jerusalem,” “Von Jung,” “Loss of Breath,” “Metzengerstein,” “Berenice,” “Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling,” “The Visionary,” and “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion.”

[1839] AFTER 4 DECEMBER. Poe takes a copy of the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] to Colonel Drayton at his residence, 13 Portico Square; he forwards another copy to Philip Pendleton Cooke in Charlestown, Virginia. The copy presented to Anna and Bessie Pedder, the daughters of James Pedder, is inscribed “from their most sincere friend, The Author” (Thomas [1978], pp. 91-92, 865-66).

[1839] 5 DECEMBER. The Public Ledger lists the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque under “New Publications.” The Pennsylvania Inquirer observes that several stories in the collection “are capital, while all afford agreeable reading. Indeed the subjects are so various, that few persons can peruse both volumes, without finding much to interest and amuse.” In the United States Gazette Joseph R. Chandler comments: “These two volumes, though exceedingly well executed, and admirably explained by their title, rather show the versatility than the character of Mr. Poe's talents and while we read them with hearty pleasure, we feel a gratification in the knowledge, that he can do other things in literature equally as well. He is capable of much — and we trust that time and opportunity will be allowed, and ample encouragement afforded him.”

[1839] AFTER 5? DECEMBER. NEW YORK. The Knickerbocker Magazine for December contains a promise (never fulfilled) to review Poe's Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] in the next number.

[1839] 6 DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Joseph C. Neal comments in the Pennsylvanian:

[1839] 6 DECEMBER. Poe writes the merchant John C. Cox, forwarding a copy of his Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]]. He regrets both that he has not been able to repay $50 which Cox “so kindly lent nearly a year ago,” and that he has not seen him since that time to apologize for this failure. He invites Cox to visit his family: “We are still where we were. I could then speak to you more fully, and convince you that the embarrassments under which I have labored are not exaggerated.” It was “only with the most painful sacrifices” that Poe managed to pay Mrs. Jones, the landlady of his Arch Street boarding-house, “about last Christmas” (L, 1:122-23).

[1839] 7 DECEMBER. The Saturday Evening Post comments: “ ‘TALES OF THE GROTESQUE AND ARABESQUE’ ... These volumes contain the republished magazine articles of Mr. Poe. They are strongly infused with the German spirit, a metaphysical style to which the writer is ardently attached.” In the same column the Post notices the December Burton's: “The reviews of the month, evince the taste, and judgment, and some of them the severity, for which Mr. Poe is distinguished.”

[1839] 9 DECEMBER. Poe writes Edward L. Carey and Abraham Hart, partners in the publishing firm Carey & Hart: “Mr Burton mentioned to me, before going to Charleston, that you were good enough to promise him a Chapter from Marryatt's forthcoming work [Frederick Marryat's Diary in America], for the Jan: No. of our Mag: The Chapter was, I believe, one on ‘Migration & Emigration’. Will you please let me have it, if convenient, by the bearer?” (L, 1:123-24).

[Burton had an acting engagement in Charleston, South Carolina, from 28 November to 9 December (Johnson, p. 129).]

[1839] 10 DECEMBER. The North American notices Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque: “These tales betoken ability on the part of the author to do better. Let him give up his imitation of German mysticism, throw away his extravagance, think and write in good sound sober English, and leave all touches of profanity to the bar room, and he will employ his talents to much better advantage.”

[1839] 11 DECEMBER. BALTIMORE. The Sun reviews the December Burton's: “We perceive that premiums, amounting in all to $1,000, are offered for articles of value written expressly for this Magazine. A rich treat may be expected in the January and February numbers.” [page 281:]

[1839] 12 DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe writes Snodgrass that he is sending him a copy of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. The package, addressed to “the office of the Baltimore American,” also contains a second copy which Poe asks Snodgrass to present to John L. Carey, editor of this paper (L, 1:124-25).

[1839] 12 DECEMBER. NEW YORK. The Evening Star lists Poe's Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] under “New Books.”

[1839] 13 DECEMBER. The Evening Post briefly notices Poe's collection: “a series of tales, grave and merry, in two duodecimo volumes.”

[1839] 14 DECEMBER. BALTIMORE. John L. Carey comments in the American:

[1839] 14 DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Ezra Holden reviews Poe's Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] in the Saturday Courier: “They are generally wildly imaginative in plot; fanciful in description, oftentimes to the full boundaries of the grotesque; but throughout indicating the polished writer, possessed of rare and varied learning. Some of them will bear good comparison with the productions of Coleridge, and it is not surprising that the author has often been compared with that author. The tale of ‘William Wilson, and that of ‘The House of Usher,’ are, to our judgment, the best in the volumes, and may be quoted as examples of the author's powers.”

[1839] 14 DECEMBER. NEW YORK. The Spirit of the Times notices the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]], expressing a hope that “the premonitory encomiums ... in the second volume, were placed there by the publisher, and not by the author” (Pollin [1980], pp. 17, 24). [page 282:]

[1839] 14 DECEMBER. The Albion praises the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]]: “We have read them with great delight and can assure our readers of great satisfaction in their perusal.”

[1839] 14 DECEMBER. BOSTON. The Boston Notion condemns the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]]:

[1839] 17 DECEMBER. The Morning Post castigates the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] (Pollin [1980], p. 23).

[1839] 18 DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. John Frost reviews the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] in Alexander's Weekly Messenger:

This issue of the Messenger contains two contributions by Poe, “Enigmatical and Conundrum-ical” and an untitled article praising James Pedder's plan to produce sugar from beets. In the former article Poe offers to solve any cryptogram his readers submit, “however unusual or arbitrary may be the characters employed” (Brigham, pp. 12-19).

[The Messenger was edited by Frost, Professor of Literature and Belles-Lettres in the Philadelphia High School, and published by Charles W. [page 283:] Alexander, who had owned the Gentleman's Magazine before it was purchased by Burton. The Messenger was friendly to Burton, who would not have objected to the brief articles Poe contributed to it between 18 December 1839 and 6 May 1840.]

[1839] 19 DECEMBER. Poe replies to a 16 December letter from Snodgrass, who inquired about the contest advertised on the covers of the December Burton's: “Touching the Premiums. The Advertisement respecting them was written by Mr. Burton, and is not, I think as explicit as might [be.] I can give you no information about their desig[nation furth]er than is shown in the advertisement itself. The tru[th is,] I object, in toto, to the whole scheme.” He asks Snodgrass to forward any reviews of his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque which appear in the Baltimore newspapers: “The Philadelphians have given me the very highest possible praise — I cd desire nothing further. Have you seen the U. S. Gazette, the Pennsylvanian, or Alexander's Messenger. In the last is a notice by Professor Frost, which I forward you, today, with this. The books have just reached New York. The Star and the Evening Post have both capital notices.” Poe believes “that the edition is already very nearly exhausted” (L, 1:125-26).

[1839] 19 DECEMBER. CHARLESTOWN, VIRGINIA. Philip Pendleton Cooke replies to a letter from Poe, who requested an opinion of several stories collected in the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]]:

[1839] 21 DECEMBER. NEW YORK. Timothy O. Porter reviews Poe's Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] in the [page 284:] Corsair: “We have skimmed over the surface of these volumes and found them possessed of a fair claim upon our admiration. A sparkling dash of fancy, sentiment and wit intermingled, — clothed in rich language, and pink’d off with the latest gloss of transcendentalism, with little regard to definite plot or story-like dènouement, with an occasional burst of the ‘grotesque’ admirably sustained, recommend these Tales to those who hail with avidity a novelty in the literary mart.” The book is also noticed by the New-York American and the New-York Mirror (Pollin [1972b], p. 56; [1980], p. 23).

[1839] 25 DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe replies to a 15 November letter from Joseph B. Boyd, a Cincinnati watchmaker, who requested a manuscript copy of one of his poems. He copies “Silence — A Sonnet” (L, 1:126-27).

[1839] 28 DECEMBER. NEW YORK. An anonymous reviewer, possibly Louis F. Tasistro, lauds the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] in the New-York Mirror:

[1839] CA. 1839. PHILADELPHIA. Poe attends informal social gatherings of artists, actors, and writers held in the Falstaff Hotel, Sixth Street above Chestnut. He becomes acquainted with three of the city's leading artists, Thomas Sully, John Sartain, and George R. Bonfield. Sully paints a portrait of Poe “in the Byron attitude” (Thomas [1978], pp. 805-08).

[1840] JANUARY. PHILADELPHIA. Burton's publishes the first of six installments of Poe's unfinished serial “The Journal of Julius Rodman,” as well as his critique of Thomas Moore's Alciphron: A Poem. This number contains a perfunctory notice of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque; the outside back cover carries the same advertisement announcing “Rodman” and “A PREMIUM OF $1,000!” found on the December 1839 covers and in Alexander's Weekly Messenger for 20 November 1839.

[1840] JANUARY. Morton McMichael reviews the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] in Godey's Lady's Book:

[1840] JANUARY. RICHMOND. James E. Heath reviews the Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] in the Southern Literary Messenger:

[1840] 1 JANUARY. PHILADELPHIA. In Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe notices the New-York Mirror for 28 December 1839, calling attention to its favorable review of his Tales [[of the Grotesque and Arabesque]] (Brigham, pp. 19-20).

[1840] 4 JANUARY. The Saturday Courier publishes Poe's “Silence — A Sonnet.” In reviewing the January Burton's, the Courier remarks: “the most interesting article ... is ... a preliminary chapter of the Journal of Julius Rodman, an account of the first passage ever made by white men across the Rocky Mountains, and an exploring tour through a portion of the wilderness, then, and in fact now, entirely unknown. From what we learn, this Journal is one of the most extraordinary narratives ever penned.”

[1840] 4 JANUARY. NEW YORK. The Madisonian notices the publication of Poe's Tales [[of Grotesque and Arabesque]] (Pollin [1980], p. 23).

[1840] 15 JANUARY. PHILADELPHIA. Alexander's Weekly Messenger contains Poe's articles “The Daguerreotype” and “Enigmatical.” In the latter he deciphers a cryptogram a reader has submitted in response to his challenge in the 18 December 1839 issue (Brigham, pp. 20-24).

[1840] BEFORE 20 JANUARY. BALTIMORE. Snodgrass writes Poe. He apparently blames his former partner Nathan C. Brooks for the failure of their American Museum, which expired with its June 1839 number (Poe's reply; cf. Thomas [1978], pp. 549, 676).

[1840] 20 JANUARY. PHILADELPHIA. During “a temporary lull in a storm of business,” Poe replies to Snodgrass: “I am obliged to decline saying anything of the ‘Museum’ in the Gent's Mag: however much I feel anxious to oblige yourself, and to express my own views. You will understand me when I say that I have no proprietary interest in the Mag: and that Mr Burton is a warm friend of Brooks.” Poe has heard “that an attempt is to be made by Some one of capital in Baltimore, to get up a Magazine”; and he asks Snodgrass to tell him “all about it by return of mail” (L, 1:127-28).

[1840] 22 JANUARY. In Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe deciphers two more cryptograms [page 288:] submitted by readers in “Another Poser” and “Still Another” (Brigham, pp. 24-25).

[1840] 29 JANUARY. Alexander's Weekly Messenger contains Poe's essay “Instinct VS Reason — A Black Cat”; he argues that the instinct of animals is in some ways superior to human reason, offering an example from his daily life:

To this issue Poe also contributes a news item “The Bloodhound Story” and a cryptogram solution “Yet Another Poser;” as well as an advance notice of the February Burton's: “The Journal of Julius Rodman is continued, and a vivid description given of the persons and equipments of the travellers, who proceed up the Missouri as far as the mouth of the Platte. We prophecy that this will prove an intensely interesting narrative.” One of the reviews in Burton's “shows up Professor Longfellow as a plagiarist of the first water” (Brigham, pp. 26-32).

[1840] FEBRUARY. Burton's contains the second installment of Poe's “Rodman” and his satiric tale “Peter Pendulum, the Business Man.” He reviews Longfellow's Voices of the Night, suggesting that this poet's “Midnight Mass for the Dying Year” is a “plagiarism, which is too palpable to be mistaken,” from Alfred Tennyson's “The Death of the Old Year.”

[1840] 1 FEBRUARY. The Saturday Courier reviews Burton's, describing “Rodman” as “A valuable piece of American history,” and “Peter Pendulum” as “Funny and good, like all of Poe's writings.”

[1840] 4 FEBRUARY. In the Philadelphia Gazette Willis Gaylord Clark defends Longfellow against the accusation made in Poe's review of Voices of the Night: [page 289:]

[1840] 5 FEBRUARY. Alexander's Weekly Messenger contains Poe's filler “Still Another,” in which he translates “the ugliest hyeroglyphical puzzle we have yet received” (Brigham, p. 32).

[1840] 10 FEBRUARY. WASHINGTON. Robert Greenhow, Translator and Librarian to the Department of State, mentions “Rodman” in his “Memoir, Historical and Political, on the Northwest Coast of North America,” a document submitted to the United States Senate by its Select Committee on the Oregon Territory:

[1840] 12 FEBRUARY. PHILADELPHIA. In Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe reprints the 4 February defense of Longfellow by the editor of the Philadelphia Gazette. He then comments: [page 290:]

[1840] 18 FEBRUARY. PORTLAND, MAINE. Longfellow writes Samuel Ward in New York: “My brother told me yesterday that some paragraphs had appeared in some New York paper saying I stole the idea of the Midnight Mass from Tennison [sic]. Absurd. I did not even know that he had written a piece on this subject” (Longfellow [1966], 2:215-16).

[1840] 19 FEBRUARY. In Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe translates another cipher under the heading “Our Puzzles — Again!” (Brigham, pp. 38-40).

[1840] 22 FEBRUARY. The Saturday Evening Post notices the February Burton's “ ‘The Journal of Julius Rodman, is a singular thing. ‘Peter Pendulum,’ by E. A. Poe, the junior editor, is highly amusing. We like the reviews, with the exception of that of the ‘Midnight Mass of the Dying Year.’ We cannot agree with the reviewers that the poem alluded to is a plagiarism.”

[1840] 26 FEBRUARY. In Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe translates additional ciphers under the headings “More of the Puzzles” and “Our Puzzles Once More.” Two fillers, “Thomas Paine” and “Advertising Oddities,” may possibly be Poe's work (Brigham, pp. 40-52).

[1840] 29 FEBRUARY. Poe writes the prominent physician Dr. John Kearsley Mitchell, 288 Walnut Street: “It will give me great pleasure to accept your invitation for Feb: 29th — this evening” (L, 1:128). [page 292:]

[1840] MARCH. Burton's contains the third installment of Poe's “Rodman,” his miscellany “A Chapter on Science and Art,” and his reviews of Henry Duncan's Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons and Nathaniel P. Willis’ Romance of Travel. On the inside front cover Burton announces a modification to his premium contest advertised on the December 1839 and January 1840 covers:

[1840] 4 MARCH. In Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe comments briefly on “Revivals,” which are “very much in fashion just at present in Philadelphia,” and translates ciphers in “More of the Puzzles” and in a filler addressed “To T. S. of Boquet, Essex, N. Y.” (Brigham, pp. 52-54).

[1840] 11 MARCH. Poe solves additional ciphers for the Messenger in “Puzzles Again!” (Brigham, pp. 55-56).

[1840] 18 MARCH. The Messenger contains Poe's news report “The Rail-Road War;” as well as his favorable notices of the Young Gardener's Assistant, issued by his friends Henry B. Hirst and Henry A. Dreer “at their Seed store, No. 97 Chesnut street,” and of the Virginia Star, a new paper published at Petersburg, Virginia, by Hiram Haines, “a gentleman of education and of unusually fine talents” (Brigham, pp. 56-60).

[1840] 25 MARCH. The Messenger contains more cipher solutions by Poe under the heading “Puzzles Again!” (Brigham, pp. 60-62).

[1840] 28 MARCH. The Saturday Evening Post announces that John S. Du Solle has [page 293:] disposed of his interest in the paper: “Charles J. Peterson, Esq. will hereafter be associated ... in the management of this paper. ... The business will hereafter be conducted under the firm of G. R. GRAHAM & CO.”

[1840] APRIL. NEW YORK. In the Knickerbocker Magazine Lewis Gaylord Clark reviews the March Burton's: “We observe ... a continuation of the Journal of JULIUS RODMAN, being a minute account of the first passage across the Rocky Mountains ever achieved by civilized man.’ We think we discover the clever hand of the resident editor of the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ Mr. E. A. POE, in these records; the more, perhaps, that the fabulous narrative of ‘Mr. ARTHUR GORDON PYM, of Nantucket, has shown us how deftly he can manage this species of [Robinson] Crusoe matériel.”

[1840] APRIL. PHILADELPHIA. Burton's contains the fourth installment of Poe's “Rodman,” his two miscellanies “A Chapter on Science and Art” and “Omniana,” and his “Silence — A Sonnet” (reprint). On the inside front cover Burton reprints the first four sentences of his statement on the March covers; he then announces the cancellation of his premium contest:

[1840] 1 APRIL. Poe notices the publication of the April Burton's in Alexander's Weekly Messenger: “Mr. Poe has a clever Sonnet .... The ‘Journal of Julius Rodman’ progresses beautifully. The travellers are far on their way, and will soon enter a tract of country hitherto undescribed. A fine engraving illustrates this chapter.” The Messenger also contains Poe's articles “The Trial of James Wood” and “Cabs.” An editorial on “Disinterment” may possibly be his work (Brigham, pp. 63-68).

[1840] 8 APRIL. The Messenger carries Poe's notice headed “Cyphers”: he promises to answer “one or two letters from enigmatical friends” in the next issue (Brigham, p. 68).

[1840] 15 APRIL. The Messenger contains Poe's articles on “Revivals” and “The Worm” (Brigham, pp. 68-70). [page 294:]

[1840] 20 APRIL THROUGH 6 MAY BALTIMORE. Burton has a successful acting engagement at the American Theatre on Front Street (advertisements and reviews in the Sun, 15 April through 6 May).

[1840] 22 APRIL. PHILADELPHIA. The Messenger contains Poe's “Cyphers Again,” in which he translates cryptograms submitted by readers. His other contributions are headed “A Long Leap” and “Changing Seats” (Brigham, pp. 7075).

[1840] 24 APRIL. Poe answers a 24 March letter from Hiram Haines of Petersburg, Virginia, who would like to give a pet fawn to Mrs. Poe: “She desires me to thank you with all her heart — but, unhappily, I cannot point out a mode of conveyance. What can be done? Perhaps some opportunity may offer itself hereafter — some friend from Petersburg may be about to pay us a visit. In the meantime accept our best acknowledgments, precisely as if the little fellow were already nibbling the grass before our windows in Philadelphia.” Poe will do “anything in the world” to promote Haines's Virginia Star (L, 1:128-29).

[1840] 27 APRIL. Poe writes Roland S. Houghton, a fifteen-year-old student at the University of Vermont in Burlington who submitted a story ‘John a’ Combe” in the contest held by Burton's: “By reference to the last number (for April) you will perceive that the Premium scheme has proved a total failure, and that the M.S.S. sent await the commands of their authors. We should be glad, of course, to publish the piece, but are grieved to say that the absurd condition of our present copyright laws will not permit us to offer any compensation. We shall be pleased to hear from you in reply” (PP-G; Ostrom [1974], pp. 518-19).

[1840] 29 APRIL. In Alexander's Weekly Messenger Poe solves a cryptogram in “Cyphers” and debunks the Philadelphia fortuneteller Thomas Hague in “A Charlatan!” (Brigham, pp. 75-80).

[1840] MAY. Burton's contains the fifth installment of Poe's “Rodman,” his sketch “The Philosophy of Furniture;” his two miscellanies “A Chapter on Science and Art” and “Omniana,” and his “Notice of William Cullen Bryant,” as well as his unsigned reviews of the Memoirs and Letters of Madame Malibran, Mrs. Grey's novel The Duke, Nathan C. Brooks's Utility of Classical Studies, Charles West Thomson's Uncertainty of Literary Fame, and James Pedder's Frank; or Dialogues between Father and Son.

[1840] EARLY MAY. Construction begins on William E. Burton's new project, the National Theatre on Chestnut Street near Ninth (Daily Chronicle, 30 May). [page 295:]

[1840] 1 MAY. John S. Du Solle notices Burton's in the Spirit of the Times, praising Poe's article on Bryant. “The interesting Journal of Julius Rodman is continued” (Pollin [1981], p. 510).

[1840] 4 MAY. Burton's is favorably reviewed in the Daily Chronicle, a new paper commenced today by Charles W. Alexander and a young associate, Andrew Scott.

[1840] 4 MAY. A naval court-martial convenes in Philadelphia for the trial of the controversial Commodore Jesse D. Elliott. An important defense witness is Poe's friend Jesse E. Dow, a clerk in the Post Office Department in Washington who had formerly served as Elliott's private secretary.

[Dow's popular “Sketches from the Log of Old Ironsides,” serialized in Burton's from July 1839 through April 1840, were based upon his experiences aboard Elliott's flagship, the frigate Constitution.]

[1840] 4-5 MAY. BALTIMORE. The Whig National Convention ratifies the nomination of William Henry Harrison for President, to oppose the Democratic incumbent Martin Van Buren. One of the delegates is the novelist, lawyer, and journalist Frederick William Thomas, lately of Cincinnati, Ohio, who had been a friend of Poe's brother Henry in 1828.

[1840] AFTER 5 MAY. PHILADELPHIA. Thomas delivers the manuscript of his new novel Howard Pinckney to his publishers Lea & Blanchard. He makes Poe's acquaintance and solicits his opinion of the novel. Poe introduces Thomas to Dow; the three men become frequent companions, discussing literature, politics, and cryptograms at such fashionable resorts as John Sturdivant's Congress Hall Hotel, Chestnut and Third Streets, and Robert Harmer's Cornucopia Restaurant, 44 North Third above High (or Market) Street (Thomas [1978], pp. 125-27).

[In his 3 September 1841 letter to Poe, Thomas recalled: “I was a delegate to the Baltimore May convention in ’40, where I held forth, and after which I made your acquaintance in Philadelphia and got pelted by the people as you remember — or rather by the Locos [Locofocos].” See 19 MAY.]

[1840] 6 MAY. Alexander's Weekly Messenger contains five short articles by Poe: “Changing Seats,” “Credulity,” “The Daguerreotype;” “Bulwer Used Up,” and “Best Conundrum Yet” (Brigham, pp. 80-83).

[1840] AFTER 6 MAY. Burton returns from his engagement at the American Theatre in Baltimore. He instructs his clerk Charles R. Morrell to withhold [page 296:] three dollars each week from Poe's salary, until a debt of $100 is repaid (Poe to Burton, 1 June).

[1840] 9 MAY. The Saturday Courier reviews Burton's: “Rodman's journey ... is thought to bespeak the ready pen of Mr. Poe.”

[1840] 16 MAY. The Spirit of the Times reprints Poe's “Philosophy of Furniture” from Burton's (Mabbott [1978], 2:495).

[1840] 19 MAY. Poe notices Thomas in Alexander's Daily Chronicle:

In another column Poe comments:

[1840] 19 MAY. In the evening Poe attends a large Harrison rally “at the corner of Walnut and Schuylkill Front street,” which is addressed by “Mr. Thomas Fitnam, Dr. Thomas Dunn English, and Mr. Thomas, of Cincinnati.” The proceedings are disrupted “by some Van Buren men,” who “throw brickbats and stones among the people assembled” (United States Gazette, 21 May; see also Thomas [1978], pp. 130-31).

[1840] 21 MAY. Burton advertises his Gentleman's Magazine for sale. In the Daily Chronicle Alexander, the monthly's original publisher, comments: “We have [page 297:] an advertisement in to-day's paper, which presents peculiar advantages to gentlemen of a literary disposition; and from our knowledge of the character of the work, we have no hesitancy in saying, that it is the best speculation in the publishing way, that has been offered to the public for many years.” Burton's advertisement appears on the next page:

The United States Gazette carries the same advertisement, which is repeated in subsequent issues of both papers.

[1840] AFTER 21 MAY. Learning of Burton's advertisement, Poe concludes that his employer intends to devote himself entirely to the National Theatre. Poe now prepares to circulate a prospectus announcing his own journal, the Penn Magazine (Poe to Burton, 1 June; entries for 3, 4 JUNE).

[1840] 23 MAY. The Saturday Courier notices the presence of Thomas and Dow in Philadelphia.

[1840] 30 MAY. The Daily Chronicle describes Burton's National Theatre, which will accommodate an audience of around two thousand: “we rejoice in the positive certainty of having a first-rate theatre of a larger size than any now in the city. ... the workmen have been busily employed these three weeks, and in three months, the new theatre will be in operation.” The report is reprinted in Alexander's other paper, the Weekly Messenger, on 3 June.

[1840] 30 MAY. Burton sends Poe an angry letter of dismissal, rebuking him for attempting to start his own journal (Poe's reply).

[Burton had reason to be incensed: Poe's forthcoming announcement of the Penn Magazine would lessen the market value of the Gentleman's Magazine.]

[1840] 1 JUNE. Poe replies to Burton's “very singular letter of Saturday.” He resents the fact that three dollars have been retained from his salary each week for “the last 3 weeks.” He does not owe Burton $100; he is indebted [page 298:] “in the amount of about $60”; he will refuse to pay a larger sum. Burton's assertion that Poe contributes only “2 or 3 pp. of M.S.” to each issue of the Gentleman's Magazine is also incorrect. He lists the number of pages he has provided each month since last July, claiming “an average of 11 pp per month.” His monthly salary of $50 is not excessive, because he performs many services: “proofreading; general superintendence at the printing-office; reading, alteration, & preparation of M.S.S.” Poe's plans for the Penn Magazine were prompted by Burton's own actions during this past month: “You first ‘enforced’, as you say, a deduction of salary: giving me to understand thereby that you thought of parting company — You next spoke disrespectfully of me behind my back — this as an habitual thing — to those whom you supposed your friends, and who punctually retailed me, as a matter of course, every ill-natured word which you uttered. Lastly you advertised your magazine for sale without saying a word to me about it. ... Had I not firmly believed it your design to give up your Journal, with a view of attending to the [National] Theatre, I should [never] have dreamed of attempting one of my own. The opportunity of doing something for myself seemed a good one — (I was about to be thrown out of business) — and I embraced it.” Poe will not agree to continue “The Journal of Julius Rodman” until he hears from Burton again (L, 1:129-33).

[1840] 2 JUNE. The United States Gazette announces Thomas’ third novel: “HOWARD PINCKNEY, a novel by the author of Clinton Bradshaw, is in the press of Lea & Blanchard and will be published in October next.”

[1840] 3 JUNE. Poe writes John Neal, enclosing a printed prospectus of the Penn Magazine:

[1840] 3? JUNE. Poe sends copies of his prospectus to the Philadelphia newspapers.

[1840] 4 JUNE. The Pennsylvania Inquirer reports: “Edgar A. Poe, Esq. has just issued proposals for a monthly literary journal, to be called the ‘Penn Magazine.’ ” The Inquirer quotes two paragraphs from the prospectus. In the afternoon Willis Gaylord Clark notices Poe's plan in the Philadelphia Gazette, alluding to Burton as a “base” association: [page 299:]

[1840] 5 JUNE. The Daily Chronicle reprints Clark's report. Alexander praises Poe and defends Burton:

[1840] 6 JUNE. In the Saturday Evening Post George R. Graham comments on Poe's project:

The prospectus appears as a paid advertisement on the next page:

[1840] 8 JUNE. PORTLAND, MAINE. John Neal writes Poe: “Yours of June 4 [3], directed to New York, reached me but yesterday. I am glad to hear of your new enterprize and hope it may be all that you desire; but I cannot help you. I have done with the newspapers — have abandoned the journals — and have involved so many of my friends of late by becoming editor, or associate editor of so many different things, for a few months at a time — and always against my will — that I haven’t the face to ask any person to subscribe for anything on earth” (Neat, p. 2).

[1840] 8 JUNE. PHILADELPHIA. The North American comments: “In the Prospectus of the Penn Magazine, now before us, ... Edgar A. Poe, Esq. proposes to commence a work, which ... shall endeavor to unite instruction with amusement. ... Mr. Poe is himself a gentleman of richly imaginative powers.” [page 302:]

[1840] 9 JUNE. The Public Ledger quotes from the prospectus, praising Poe for his promise to be a rigorous but just critic. “As a writer of fiction, Mr. Poe possesses extraordinary powers, and with respect to originality of genius, he has few equals.”

[1840] BEFORE 11 JUNE. Burton's for June contains the sixth and final installment of Poe's unfinished “Rodman,” his plate article “Some Account of Stonehenge,” his “Omniana,” and his reviews of The Youth of Shakspeare and Henry Grattan's High-Ways and By-Ways. The inside front cover carries this announcement by Burton: “Our readers are respectfully informed that in future Edgar A. Poe will not be connected with this Magazine.”

[1840] 11 JUNE. The United States Gazette notices the publication of Burton's. In another column the editor Joseph R. Chandler welcomes the Penn Magazine: “There has been handed round a prospectus for a monthly magazine ... to be published in this city by Edgar A. Poe, Esq., whose contributions to the literature of our country have been abundant and creditable.” Poe is “a sound, and sometimes a severe critic — one who makes the short-coming or over-reaching author feel that he has offended. Wholesome remembrances of this kind are good for the literary prospects of a country.”

[1840] 12 JUNE. The prospectus appears as a paid advertisement in the Spirit of the Times.

[1840] 12 JUNE. BALTIMORE. Joseph Evans Snodgrass writes Poe, requesting his assistance in securing the return of an essay submitted in the Gentleman's Magazine premium contest. Snodgrass had previously contacted Burton, who wrote him that he could not locate the manuscript (Poe's 17 June reply).

[1840] 13 JUNE. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Chronicle and the Saturday Courier favorably notice the forthcoming Penn Magazine, both papers quoting from Poe's prospectus.

[1840] 17 JUNE. Poe replies to Snodgrass: “Touching your Essay. Burton not only lies, but deliberately and wilfully lies; for the last time but one that I saw him I called his attention to the M.S. which was then at the top of a pile of other M.S.S. sent for premiums, in a drawer of the office desk. ... Were I in your place I would take some summary method of dealing with the scoundrel, whose infamous line of conduct in regard to this whole premium scheme merits, and shall receive exposure. I am firmly convinced that it was never his intention to pay one dollar of the money offered.” Poe encloses a prospectus of the Penn Magazine: “I have every hope of success. [page 303:] As yet I have done nothing more than send a few Prospectuses to the Philadelphia editors, and it is rather early to strike — six months in anticipation. My object, at present, is merely to call attention to the contemplated design.” He does not know the “fate” of his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, because he has “never spoken to the publishers concerning them since the day of their issue.” He has “cause to think, however, that the edition was exhausted almost immediately” (L, 1:137-39).

[1840] 20 JUNE. COLUMBIA, PENNSYLVANIA. The Columbia Spy quotes the Penn prospectus (Heartman and Canny, pp. 57, 174).

[1840] 26 JUNE. PHILADELPHIA. The poet Charles West Thomson writes Poe, asking him to suggest some literary “employment” (Poe's reply).

[1840] 27 JUNE. In the evening Poe calls twice at Thomson's residence, 70 North Tenth Street, in relation to his “note of the 26th,” but fails to find him at home (Poe's reply).

[1840] 28 JUNE. Poe replies to Thomson, writing on stationery bearing the Penn prospectus:

[1840] JULY. NEW YORK. Lewis Gaylord Clark comments in the Knickerbocker Magazine:

[1840] JULY. LONDON. Bentley's Miscellany reprints Poe's “Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling” under the heading “The Irish Gentleman and the Little Frenchman.” Neither the author nor the source (Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque) is mentioned.

[1840] 5 JULY. CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. Longfellow writes his friend Willis Gaylord Clark, editor of the Philadelphia Gazette, alluding to Poe's reviews of Hyperion and Voices of the Night: “Pray who is it that is attacking me so furiously in Philadelphia? I have never seen the attacks, but occasionally I receive a newspaper with a defense of [my] writings, from which I learn there has been an attack” (Longfellow [1966] 2:236-38).

[1840] BEFORE 10 JULY. PHILADELPHIA. Burton's for July contains Poe's “Omniana.”

[1840] 10 JULY. John S. Du Solle reviews Burton's in the Spirit of the Times, observing changes occasioned by Poe's departure: “The Review Department is rather of a more good natured, and less spicy character than usual. We have but one serious fault to find with this magazine; it is generally full of typographical errors.”

[1840] 18 JULY. Clark replies to Longfellow, erroneously attributing Poe's reviews to Burton: “You ask me who attacks you here? The only ones I have seen against you, have been in Burton's Magazine — a vagrant from England, who has left a wife and offspring behind him there, and plays the bigamist in ‘this,’ with another wife, and his whore besides; one who cannot write a paragraph in English to save his life. I have answered thoroughly, any attack upon you — and shall continue to do so, whenever they appear” (Clark, pp. 57-59).

[1840] 28 JULY. AUGUSTA, GEORGIA. William Poe writes Poe, inquiring about the Penn Magazine (Poe's 14 August reply).

[William Poe and his two brothers Robert and Washington were the first cousins of Poe's father David Poe, Jr., and his aunt Maria Clemm.]

[1840] AUGUST OR BEFORE. PHILADELPHIA. Poe revises the prospectus of the [page 305:] Penn, adding a passage stating that the journal will be characterized by an “absolutely independent” criticism: “a criticism self-sustained; guiding itself only by the purest rules of Art; analyzing and urging these rules as it applies them; holding itself aloof from all personal bias; acknowledging no fear save that of outraging the right; yielding no point either to the vanity of the author, or to the assumptions of antique prejudice, or to the involute and anonymous cant of the Quarterlies, or to the arrogance of those organised cliques, which, hanging like nightmares upon American literature, manufacture, at the nod of our principal booksellers, a pseudo-public-opinion by wholesale” (Quinn, pp. 306-08; Thomas [1978], pp. 158-61).

[1840] AUGUST. Burton's contains Poe's “Omniana.”

[1840] AUGUST. LONDON. Bentley's Miscellany reprints “The Fall of the House of Usher” from the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, without identifying the author or his book.

[1840] 14 AUGUST. PHILADELPHIA. Poe replies to William Poe's 28 July letter, writing on stationery bearing the Penn prospectus. He discusses this project: “The ambition which actuates me [is] now to be no ordinary nor unworthy sentiment, and, knowing this, I take pride in earnestly soliciting your support, and that of your brothers and friends. If I fully succeed in my purposes I will not fail to produce some lasting effect upon the growing literature of the country, while I establish for myself individually a name which that country ‘will not willingly let die.’ ” Poe will rely chiefly “upon the South ... for aid in the undertaking,” and he has “every hope” that this region will not fail him: “I acknowledge to you that my prospects depend very much upon getting together a subscription list previously to the 1rst of December. If, by this day, I can obtain 500 names, the w[or]k cannot fail to proceed, and I have no fear for the [resu]lt.” He asks William Poe to act as agent for the Penn in Augusta; he is writing “a few lines also by this mail” to William's brothers, Robert and Washington. Mrs. Clemm is still living with him, “but for the last six weeks has been on a visit to a friend in the State of N. Jersey” (L, 1:140-43; 2:691).

[1840] 14? AUGUST. Poe writes Robert Poe of Augusta, Georgia, requesting his support for the Penn (cited Poe to William Poe).

[1840] 15 AUGUST. Poe writes Washington Poe of Macon, Georgia, using stationery bearing the Penn prospectus: “May I ask you to assist me in the present instance? Your brothers in Augusta have kindly offered me every aid in [page 306:] their power .... Upon looking over my Prospectus I trust you will find my purposes, as expressed in it, of a character worthy your support. I am actuated by an ambition which I believe to be an honourable one — the ambition of serving the great cause of truth, while endeavouring to forward the literature of the country. ... I think it very probable that your influence in Macon will procure for me several subscribers” (L, 1:143-44).

[1840] 18 AUGUST. Poe writes Lucian Minor in Charlottesville, Virginia. Recalling that Minor evinced “many instances of good will” toward him during his editorship of the Southern Literary Messenger, Poe requests his assistance for the Penn: “The permanent success of the Magazine depends, chiefly, upon the number of subscribers I may obtain before the first of December. If, through any influence you will be kind enough to exert in my behalf, at Charlottesville, or elsewhere, you can procure me even one or two names, you will render me a service of the greatest importance, and one for which I shall be very grateful” (L, 1:144-45; Moldenhauer [1973], p. 49).

[1840] 20 AUGUST. Poe writes Joseph B. Boyd of Cincinnati, using stationery with the Penn prospectus: “I believe that the purposes set forth in this Prospectus are such as your candor will approve; ... the disadvantages under which I labor are, in some respects, exceedingly great — and, for these reasons, I have no hesitation in earnestly soliciting your assistance, even at the risk of being considered importunate” (L, 1:145-46).

[1840] 27 AUGUST. NEW YORK. The eccentric Georgia poet Thomas Holley Chivers writes Poe: “In answer to your solicitation for my support for the forthcoming Journal, I must say, that I am much pleased with your ‘Prospectus’ — the plan which you have in view — and hope, sincerely, that you may realize all your antisipations. As it regards myself, I will support you as long as you may continue the Editor of the above-named work. In the Paradise of Literature, I do not know one better calculated than yourself, to prune the young scions of their exuberent [sic] thoughts.” Chivers does not specify what form his support will take, but gives Poe a specimen of his own “exuberent thoughts”:

[1840] SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Burton alludes to Poe's drinking in a reply to a Maine subscriber carried on the inside front cover of the Gentleman's Magazine: “Our friend at Portland may rest assured that we were ignorant of the non-transmission of his numbers. His name was erased from our list by the person whose ‘infirmities’ have caused us much annoyance. The back numbers will be forwarded forthwith.”

[1840] 5 SEPTEMBER. BOSTON. The Boston Notion reprints “The Fall of the House of Usher” without naming the author, “From Bentley's Miscellany for August” (Pollin [1970b], p. 25).

[1840] 11 SEPTEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. In the Daily Chronicle Charles W. Alexander calls attention to the Penn Magazine, which “Mr. Edgar A. Poe, a gentleman well known in the literary world, will commence ... on the first of January next. His ability as a writer will make the work interesting to readers and without doubt, cause it to have a large circulation. We wish him success, for he deserves it.” Poe's revised prospectus appears in the advertising columns, followed by this postscript: “Those friends of the Editor who feel willing to give him their support in this enterprise, will aid his cause most essentially by sending in their names before the 1st of December, 1840.”

[The prospectus was repeated in thirty-six subsequent issues of the Chronicle: eight times in September, five in October, and twenty-three in November.]

[1840] 14 SEPTEMBER. The Chronicle reports that “the subscription list” for the Penn “is receiving rapidly a succession of names. A great number are from the Southern States, which is a proof that Mr. Poe's talents are appreciated, and that he gave satisfaction when editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. As a strictly chaste, clear, and vigorous writer, Mr. Poe stands preeminent.”

[1840] 16 SEPTEMBER. Poe replies to John Tomlin of Jackson, Tennessee, thanking him for his “kind letter, with the names of nine subscribers to the Penn Magazine.” Tomlin's tale “The Devil's Visit to St Dunstan,” offered for the Penn, will assuredly merit “a conspicuous place in the opening number” (L, 1:146-47). [page 308:]

[1840] 30 SEPTEMBER. RICHMOND. Dr. Socrates Maupin, headmaster of the Richmond Academy, writes Poe:

[1840] CA. OCTOBER. SAINT LOUIS. The Commercial Bulletin welcomes the proposed Penn Magazine: “From the success of this magazine we anticipate the happiest literary results. Mr. Poe is not only a man of genius and a ripe scholar, but he has an upright, a downright, and an outright honesty and fearlessness of purpose, which will guide his pen in the critical department of his work, without fear or favor. ... Mr. Poe's career in the editorial department of the Messenger, while it made him some enemies among the pretenders to literature, won him the sincere respect of every man of eminence in the country. High testimonials to this effect were crowded upon him. Mr. Poe is, withal, a beautiful poet; and his late work ‘Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque’ shows that his talents are as varied as they are profound” (Daily Chronicle, 8 October).

[1840] OCTOBER. LONDON. Bentley's Miscellany reprints “The Duc de L’Omelette” from the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, without acknowledgment.

[1840] 3 OCTOBER. PHILADELPHIA. The Saturday Courier and the Saturday Evening Post favorably notice the publication of Frederick William Thomas’ novel Howard Pinckney, issued in two volumes by Lea & Blanchard.

[1840] 8 OCTOBER. The Daily Chronicle reprints a notice of the Penn Magazine “from a late number of the St. Louis Commercial Bulletin,” commenting: “If Mr. Poe does not meet with the fullest success in the establishment of his contemplated Journal, it at least will not be the fault of his friends, who evince any thing but lukewarmness in his cause. The manner in which his attempt is spoken of by the southern and western papers especially, must be highly gratifying to himself.”

[1840] 10 OCTOBER. Poe replies to a 2 October letter from Pliny Earle, a physician [page 309:] and poet in Frankford, Pennsylvania: “I hasten to thank you for the interest you have taken in my contemplated Magazine, and for the beautiful lines ‘By an Octogenarian’. They shall certainly appear in the first number. ... Believe me that good poetry is far rarer, and therefore far more acceptable to the publisher of a journal, than even that rara avis money itself.” Poe encloses a Penn prospectus, requesting Earle's aid in enlisting subscribers (L, 1:147; Moldenhauer [1973], pp. 49-50).

[1840] 20 OCTOBER. Burton sells his Gentleman's Magazine for $3,500 to George R. Graham, publisher of the Casket and principal owner of the Saturday Evening Post. At this time the magazine has thirty-five hundred subscribers (November Burton's; Smyth, p. 217).

[1840] NOVEMBER. The inside front cover of the Gentleman's Magazine carries two cards. In the first Burton announces the magazine's sale; in the second Graham announces his intention to unite it with his monthly the Casket “on the 1st of December.” The outside back cover carries a large advertisement for the first volume of Graham's Magazine, “The Casket and the Gentleman's United,” which will commence on 1 January 1841. “The December [1840] number will, however, be a specimen of the New Volume.”

[1840] 6 NOVEMBER. Poe replies to a 10 October letter from Richard Henry Stoddard, a fifteen-year-old admirer in New York. He complies with Stoddard's “very flattering request” for a manuscript poem by transcribing his sonnet “To Zante” (L, 2:692-93 ).

[1840] 6 NOVEMBER. SAINT LOUIS. Thomas writes Poe, promising an article for the Penn Magazine. He is forwarding, under separate cover, a favorable notice of Poe from the Commercial Bulletin. Mr. Bateman, who will soon visit Philadelphia, is to leave a copy of Thomas’ Howard Pinckney for Poe at John Sturdivant's Congress Hall Hotel (Poe's 23 November reply).

[1840] 22 NOVEMBER. JACKSON, TENNESSEE. John Tomlin writes Poe: “As the time will soon be here when the subscribers in this place will have to pay for your Magazine, I must beg of you ... to inform me, if Tennessee money is current in the ordinary business transactions of your city. ... If Virginia, N. Carolina or S. Carolina money is more current in Philadelphia, than Tennessee, I shall certainly obtain the one that you may mention, as preferable.” Tomlin is certain that the Penn will succeed: “For the warm-hearted Southerners, by whom you are known, will not let the Work die for the want of patronage. They are your friends — for they know you well, and will sustain you.” He asks Poe whether William Gilmore Simms [page 310:] of Charleston, South Carolina, is doing anything for the Penn: “He can aid you materially, and I have no doubt but what he will. Some years ago, he was my friend and gave me much good advice.” In two or three months Tomlin will visit Nashville: “While there I shall certainly procure other names to your work” (W, 17:61-62).

[1840] 23 NOVEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe replies to Thomas’ 6 November letter. He has not received the Saint Louis Commercial Bulletin, but has seen this paper's favorable notice at the Merchants’ Exchange: “The ‘Bulletin’ has always been very kind to me, and I am at a loss to know who edits it — will you let me into this secret when you write again? Neither did ‘Howard Pin[c]kney’ come to hand. Upon receipt of your letter, just now, I called at Congress Hall — but no books. Mr Bateman had been there, and gone, forgetting to leave them. I shall get them upon his return.” Poe likes this novel “very well,” but he prefers Thomas’ earlier novel Clinton Bradshaw:

Poe will review Howard Pinckney in the initial number of the Penn Magazine; he would like to have Thomas’ promised article “in the first sheet, which goes to press early in December.” He asks him to have the revised Penn prospectus “inserted once or twice” in several Saint Louis papers. “Mrs Clemm and Virginia unite with me in the kindest remembrances to yourself and sister [Frances Ann] — with whom your conversation (always turning upon the ‘one-loved name’) has already made us all so well acquainted” (L, 1:148-49; Moldenhauer [1973], p. 50).

[1840] BEFORE 28 NOVEMBER. The first number of Graham's Magazine contains Poe's tale “The Man of the Crowd.”

[1840] 28 NOVEMBER. The Saturday Evening Post notices Graham's: “This Magazine for December is already issued in a superior style of elegance, and contains a variety of beautiful embellishments, and articles from the pens of some of the first writers of the country.”

[1840] BEFORE DECEMBER. ANDALUSIA. Poe calls on Nicholas Biddle, President of the United States Bank, at Andalusia, his country estate on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Biddle subscribes to the Penn Magazine, paying “four years in advance,” but does not volunteer additional financial backing. Poe gives him a copy of the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, inscribing it “For Mr. N. Biddle, with the author's respects” (L, 2:695; see 6 JANUARY 1841).

[1840] DECEMBER. LONDON. Bentley's Miscellany reprints “The Visionary” from Poe's Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, without acknowledgment.

[1840] EARLY DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Poe is bedridden by illness and consequently forced to postpone the Penn Magazine until next March (Daily Chronicle, 29 December; Poe to L. J. Cist, 30 December).

[1840] 7 DECEMBER. SAINT LOUIS. Thomas writes Poe:

Thomas thanks Poe for his “good opinion” of Howard Pinckney; he admits that Clinton Bradshaw may be the better novel. He is glad that Poe will issue the Penn Magazine in January: “I went today to have an editorial notice &c taken of it and you, but found my friend out; to-morrow ... I will see to it and duly send you a paper.” Mr. Fowzer, a magazine agent of the firm Fowzer and Woodward, will agree to distribute the Penn in Saint Louis; Thomas transcribes the firm's “Terms of Agency.” He is writing in the room of his sister Frances Ann: “she is indeed gratified at the kind manner in which Mrs. Clemm and your Lady mention her. She sends her regards while I look up from the paper to say that your letter is just as you talk” (W, 17:65-67).

[1840] 19 DECEMBER. PHILADELPHIA. Graham's Saturday Evening Post lauds the second number of his monthly:

[For Graham, as for Burton, Louis A. Godey, and other commercial publishers of the day, “embellishments” were the crux of a magazine, even more important than its literary contents. Poe had nothing but contempt for these adventitious and expensive decorations (cf. his 25 May 1842 letter to Thomas). In his Penn prospectus he declared his intention to use engravings only “in the necessary illustration of the text.”]

[1840] 29 DECEMBER. The Daily Chronicle carries this announcement: “THE PENN MAGAZINE. — Owing to the severe and continued illness of Mr. Poe, the issue of the first number of this journal is postponed until the first of March next.”

[1840] 30 DECEMBER. Poe replies to the Cincinnati poet Lewis J. Cist: “Your letter of the 7th found me labouring under a severe illness, which has [page 313:] confined me to bed for the last month, and from which I am now only slowly recovering.” As the “worst result of this illness” he has been forced to postpone the Penn Magazine until the first of March; he asks Cist to mention this delay to Joseph B. Boyd and to insert a brief announcement of it in one of the Cincinnati papers. Cist's poem “Bachelor Philosophy” will not appear in the Penn until the second number, “as at the time of its reception, all the poetry for the first number was already in type” (L, 1:150).

[1840] 31 DECEMBER. Poe writes John P. Kennedy of Baltimore, soliciting his contributions for the Penn:

[1840] LATE 1840. NEW YORK. George P. Morris reprints Poe's “To Ianthe in Heaven” in his anthology American Melodies, from the July 1839 Burton's (Heartman and Canny, p. 62; Mabbott [1969], 1:214-15, 584).

[1840] CA. 1840? PHILADELPHIA. Silas Weir Mitchell, the future novelist, encounters Poe in the office of his father Dr. John Kearsley Mitchell (A. R. Burr, pp. 21, 298).

[1840] CA. 1840? Henry Herring, who had married Poe's aunt Eliza Poe, settles in Philadelphia with his daughter by a subsequent marriage, Mary Estelle [[Eshter]] Herring. They frequently see the Poe family (Thomas [1978], pp. 802-04).

[1840] CA. 1840? Poe's early Baltimore friend Mary Starr, who is now married to a New York merchant tailor named Jenning, spends “a pleasant evening” with the Poe family while “on a visit to Philadelphia” (Van Cleef, p. 639; Mabbott [1969], 1:232-33).

[1840] CA. 1840? BALTIMORE. Poe visits Baltimore on “legal business” for his wife Virginia, who has inherited a portion of the estate of her grandparents, William Clemm, Sr., and his wife (Phillips, 1:640).