The Miscellaneous Documents and Manuscript Material of Edgar Allan Poe

Within these selections, all original punctuation, abbreviations and spellings have been retained. Where these spellings differ greatly from modern spellings, the most current form is noted in brackets immediately following the word. A number of obvious variants, such as “colour” for “color,” reflect conventions to which we no longer adhere, but which were considered acceptable during Poe's lifetime and are left to stand without additional commentary. For manuscript material, including Poe's own corrections to printed sources, text contained within angle brackets “<. . .>” shows annotations made by Poe himself for the main text given. Reversed double-angle brackets “>>. . .<<” show text that Poe has canceled by striking or scratching out. Text contained within square brackets “[. . .]” is not part of the original. This text is intended as notes or corrections of typographical errors. In the original printings, some text occasionally appears within square brackets “[. . .].” In such cases, these have been changed to standard parentheses to avoid confusion. (Note: Over time, we will be changing our previously stated policy concerning square brackets to retain Poe's usage and distinguish our own editorial notes by enclosing these in double-square brackets “[[. . .]]”.)

At the end of each selection, beyond the “End of Text” tag, is a code, such as “[S:1]”. This code is intended as an internal marker for keeping track of verification of the text.  In general, a value of “[S:0]” or the total absence of the code notes that the text has been entered, but not yet verified. Anyone who has ever tried to proofread a large volume of text will appreciate the inherent difficulties.

These items are arranged alphabetically by the type of item. Within each type, the items are listed chronologically. The categorization is, of course, somewhat arbitrary and subject to change as this list evolves.