Edgar Allan Poe's Writings in the Southern Literary Messenger

1835 - January 1835 (vol I, no. 5)

• Tale - “The Doom” (rejected)  (pp. 235-240)  (signed as “BENEDICT.”)  (Attributed to Poe by James H. Whitty, Poems, 1911, pp. xxviii-xxix and 286, repeated in the edition of 1917 on pp. xxviii-xxix and 317. Whitty felt that a “memorandum left by Poe in the ‘Duane’ copy of the Messenger ... [a] poem [To Sarah] and an unpublished story [The Doom] were both acknowledged by Poe.” Killis Campbell argued persuasively against the attribution in The Mind of Poe and Other Studies, 1933, pp. 210-211. The “memorandum” Whitty claimed to have seen no longer exists, nor is its exact text known. A personal examination of the two volumes of the Duane copy of the Messenger, in August of 2001, revealed no such note. It may have been on a separate piece of paper.)
• “Original Literary Notices” (Only one of these reviews has been attributed to Poe. All are probably by others)
  • Review - (rejected) - Bulwer's Last Days of Pompeii (pp. 241-250) (Hull (1941, p. 68) states that this review is by N. B. Tucker)
  • Review - (rejected) - Mrs. A. B. Jameson's Visits and Sketches, at Home and Abroad (p. 250) (Hull (1941, p. 68) suggests that this review is by J. E. Heath)
  • Review (rejected) - “Poems. By William Cullen Bryant” (pp. 250-251) (attributed by George E. Woodberry, Works, 1894-1895, VI, p. 324, but generally dismissed by other scholars. James A. Harrison reluctantly reprinted the review in 1902 in his 17-volume edition of Poe's works, noting, “Professor Woodberry ... asserts that Poe wrote the criticsm on Bryant in the Messenger for January, 1835; but there is no evidence for this, nor for Poe's connection with the Messenger at this early date. Still we insert the review — ED” (Harrison, Works, 1902, VIII, p. vii, note 1). W. D. Hull (1941, p. 68) attributes the review to James E. Heath. Woodberry has perhaps confused this review with the later one of Bryant from the SLM for January 1837, which certainly is by Poe.)
  • Review - (rejected) - Littel's Musuem (p. 251) (Hull (1941, p. 68) suggests that this review is by J. E. Heath)
  • Notice - (rejected) - Southern Churchman (p. 251) (Neither Hull not Pollin mention this short item. Pollin includes no items in the SLM prior to the issue for April 1835.)

1835 - February 1835 (vol. I, no. 6)

• Criticism - Original Literary Notices  (only two of the four reviews have been attributed to Poe, although both are probably by others. W. D. Hull considered all but the review of Calavar to be by Nathaniel Beverly Tucker.)
  • Review - Oration of The Life and Character of Gilbert Motier de Lafayette and Eulogy on La Fayette (???) (article, first printing)  (text A) (p. 307) (attributed by H&C as “doubtful”, and generally dismissed. W. D. Hull attributes the notice to N. B. Tucker. James A. Harrison does not reprint or mention the oration.)
  • Review - R. M. Bird - Calavar or, The Knight of the Conquest (???) (review, first printing)  (text A) (p. 315, cols. 1-2) (attributed by H&C and W. D. Hull, but disputed by T. O. Mabbott. James A. Harrison reprints the review, but Pollin and Ridgley do not.)

1835 - March (vol. I, no. 7)

• Tale - “Berenice — A Tale” (first printing)  (text 02) (pp. 333-336)  (signed as “BY EDGAR A. POE.”)

• Poem - “Extract from an Unfinished Poem” (rejected) (first printing) (p. 370) (Tenatively attributed to Poe by Killis Campbell, MLN, May 1917, and The Mind of Poe and Other Studies, 1933, p. 206. Also attributed by H&C, with an question mark, but generally dismissed. T. O. Mabbott specifically rejects the poem, saying “I cannot accept it” (Poems, 1968, p. 506 item 46).)

1835 - April (vol. I, no. 8)

• Tale - “Morella — A Tale” (first printing)  (text B) (pp. 448-450)  (Includes the poem “Catholic Hymn,” here published without title.)

• Criticism - Critical Notices  (All first printings) (pp. 456-460) (All of these items were attributed to Poe by W. D. Hull and were included by Pollin and Ridgely. T. O. Mabbott was uncertain of the first four reviews, but considered all of the remaining reviews “surely or presumptively Poe's.” Only the review of Osborn is mentioned by H&C.)
  • Review - The North American Review
  • Review - The London Quarterly Review
  • Review - Jacob H. Drew - The Life, Character, and Literary Labours of Samuel Drew, A. M.
  • Review - Henry Lee - The Life of the Emperor Napoleon
  • Review - George H. Borrow - Celebrated Trials of All Countries
  • Review - Andrew Reed - No Fiction
  • Review - Laure Saint-Martin Junot - Memoirs of Celebrated Women of All Countries
  • Review - Charlotte Anley - Influence, a Moral Tale
  • Review - Charles Whitehead - Lives and Exploits of English Highwaymen, Pirates and Robbers
  • Review - Laughton Osborn - Confessions of a Poet
  • Review - The Language of Flowers
  • Review - Maria and Richard Lovell Edgeworth - Practical Education
  • Review - James B. Fraser - The Highland Smugglers
  • Review - John G. Lockhart - Valerius
  • Review - An Account of Col. Crockett's Tour to the North and Down East
  • Review - Susanna Warfield - Illoraz de Courcy
  • Review - of Charles Fenno Hoffman - A Winter in the West

1835 - May (vol. I, no. 9)

• Tale - “Lion-izing. A Tale” (first printing)  (text A) (pp. 515-516)  (Signed, “BY EDGAR A. POE.”)

• Misc. - Swimming  (first printing)  (text A)  (p. 468, col. 2)

• Criticism - Literary Notices  (pp. 520-531)
  • Review - Mrs. Frances Anne Butler (Fanny Kemble) - Journal  (attributed to Poe by H&C and Hull, but rejected by T. O. Mabbott and Pollin & Ridgely)
  • Review - John P. Kennedy - Horse-Shoe Robinson

1835 - June (vol. I, no. 10)

• Tale - “Hans Phaal — A Tale” (first printing)  (text A) (pp. 565-580)   (Signed, “BY EDGAR A. POE.”)

• Criticism - Literary Notices  (pp. 582-596)
  • Review - R. M. Bird - The Infidel  (attributed to Poe by H&C and Hull, but rejected by T. O. Mabbott and Pollin & Ridgely)
  • Review - George Bancroft - A History of the United States   (attributed to Poe by H&C as “Doubtful.” Rejected by T. O. Mabbott)
  • Review - Blackbeard   (attributed to Poe by H&C as “Doubtful.” Accepted by T. O. Mabbott)

1835 - July (vol. I, no. 11)

• Poem - “To Mary” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 636, col. 2)   (Signed, “E. A. P.”)  (This poem was later revised and printed as “To Frances.”)

• Tale - “The Visionary — A Tale” (reprint)  (text A) (p. 637)

• Criticism - Literary Notices  (pp. 646-652)  (According to White's letter of August 18, 1835 to Lucian Minor, all of the reviews in the issue of July 1835 are by Sparhawk. At least three have been mistakenly attributed to Poe, and are therefore listed here.)
  • Review - Washington Irving - The Crayon Miscellany   (rejected) (erroneously printed by Harrison as Poe's)
  • Review - Theodore Irving - The Conquest of Florida    (rejected)  (erroneously printed by Harrison as Poe's)
  • Review - American Republication of Foreign Quarterlies    (rejected) (erroneously attributed by Harrison as Poe's)

1835 - August (vol. I, no. 12)

• Poem - “To Sarah” (rejected)  (p. 692)  (signed as “Sylvio.”)  (Attributed to Poe by James H. Whitty, Poems, 1911, p. 286, repeated in the edition of 1917 on p. 317. Whitty felt that a “memorandum left by Poe in the ‘Duane’ copy of the Messenger . . . [this] poem and an unpublished story [The Doom] were both acknowledged by Poe.” In 1928, T. O. Mabbott included the poem in his edition of Selected Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (New York: Macmillian Co., 1928, p. 101), with the following note: “This poem was never acknowledged by Poe in print, but Mr. J. H. Whitty claims he found a MS. note directing attention to it in a copy of the Southern Literary Messenger once used by Poe. The note is lost, nor has its exact wording been published — but I believe for various reasons that the poem is Poe's” (p. 130).Mabbott, however, in his final edition of Poe's Poems, 1968, rejects the poem, stating, “He [Whitty] admitted to me that a memorandum he found in a copy of the magazine that was once in Poe's hands did not specifically acknowledge authorship” (p. 506, item 48).)

• Tale - “Bon-Bon — A Tale” (reprint)  (text A) (pp. 693-698)  (Signed, “BY EDGAR A. POE.”)

• Misc. - “The Unities” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 698, col. 1)  (This is a very short filler item.)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 699, col. 2)  (This is a very short filler item.)

• Poem - “The Coliseum. A Prize Poem” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 706, cols. 1-2)  (Signed, “BY EDGAR A. POE” and noted as “From the Baltimore Visiter.”)

• Critical Notices and Literary Intelligence  (pp. 714-716)  (According to White's letter of September 8, 1835 to Lucian Minor, all of the reviews in the issue of August 1835 are by Poe.) (This long section of short comments includes references to The Black Watch, Theodore Hook’ Magpie Castle, B. Silliman's American Journal of Science and the Arts, etc.)

• Misc. - “To Readers and Correspondents” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 716)  (Attributed to Poe by H&C.)

1835 - September (vol. I, no. 13)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 734, col. 2)  (This is a very short, one-sentence filler item about Milton and Paradise Lost.)

• Tale - “Loss of Breath. A Tale a la Blackwood” (reprint)  (text?) (pp. 735-740)  (signed, “BY EDGAR A. POE” and noted as “For the Southern Literary Messenger.”)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 740, col. 2)  (This is a very short, one-sentence filler item about the “Acajou et Zirphile” of Du Clos.)

• Poem - “Lines Written in an Album” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 748, col. 2)  (signed, “E. A. P.” and noted as “For the Southern Literary Messenger.”)

• Tale - “King Pest the First. A Tale Containing an Allegory” (first printing)  (text?) (pp. 757-761)  (signed, “BY ——— ” and noted as “For the Southern Literary Messenger.”)

• Tale - “Shadow. A Fable” (first printing)  (text?) (pp. 762-763)  (signed, “BY ——— ” and noted as “For the Southern Literary Messenger.”)

• Criticism - Critical Notices (pp. 776-780)  (According to White's letter of October 20, 1835 to Lucian Minor, all of the reviews in the issue of September 1835 are by Poe.)
  • Review - Robert F. Williams - Mephistopheles in England
  • Review - J. Orville Taylor - The District School, or National Education
  • Review - The New England Magazine for September
  • Review - Daniel Drake, editor - The Western Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences
  • Review - Euripides, translated by the Reverend R. Potter - The Classical Family Library, Nos. XV, XVI and XVII.
  • Review - Robert Southey - The Early Naval History of England
  • Review Miss Leslie, editor - The Gift for 1836

1835 - December (vol. II, no. 1)

• Poem - “Scenes from an Unpublished Drama [Politian]” (excerpts from play, first printing)  (text?) (pp. 13-16)  (Signed, “BY EDGAR A. POE.”)  (This is the first of two installments)  (The table of contents from the original paper wrappers lists this as “Scenes from Politian, an unpublished Drama. By Edgar A. Poe.”)

• Misc. - “Logic” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 16, col. 2)  (This is a very short filler item about a comment made by “a celebrated Abbe.”)

• Misc. - “Le Brun” (first printing)  (text A) (p. 27, col. 1)  (This is a very short filler item about a two works by a Jesuit named Le Brun.)

• Tale - “MS. Found in a Bottle” (reprint)  (text?) (pp. 33-37)  (Signed, “BY EDGAR A. POE” and noted as “From ‘The Gift,’ edited by Miss Leslie.”)  (The table of contents from the original paper wrappers lists this as “M.S. Found in a Bottle. By Edgar A. Poe. (From the Gift, an Annual).”)

• Critical Notices  (pp. 41-68)
  • Review - Eaton Stannard Barrett - The Heroine: or Adventures of Cherubina
  • Review of Robert M. Bird - The Hawks of Hawk-Hollow
  • Review - Lady Dacre, editor - Peerage and Peasantry
  • Review - The Edinburgh Review
  • Review - Nuts to Crack
  • Review - “Robinson's Practice” - Review of Conway Robinson - The Practice in Courts of Law and Equity in Virginia   (rejected) (This review is surely by Lucian Minor, as noted in a October 24, 1835 letter by White to Minor, in which White says, “I thank you most sincerely for the notice you have been pleased to prepare of C. R.'s new book. It shall appear in my next . . .”)
  • Review - “A Memoir of Dr. Rice” - Review of William Maxwell - A Memoir of the Reverend John H. Rice, D. D. First Professor of  Christian Theology in Union Theological Seminary, Virginia
  • Review - “Life of Dr. Caldwell”
  • Review - Francis Glass - “Washingtonii Vita”
  • Review - Theodore S. Fay - “Norman Leslie”
  • Review - “The Linwoods”
  • Review - “Westminster Review”
  • Review - “London Quarterly Review”
  • Review - “North American Review”
  • Review - “Crayon Miscellany”
  • Review - “Godwin's Necromancy”
  • Review - “Rev. D. L. Carroll's Address”
  • Review - “Eulogies on Marshall” (This item is attributed to T. W. White by Hull and in the Poe Log, although TOM at least implies that it is by Poe. Pollin and Ridgely include the item, with a mixed discussion, suggesting that White wrote it but that Poe may have edited the text and prepared it for publication.)
  • Review - “Minor's Address”
  • Review - “Legends of a Log Cabin”
  • Review - “Traits of American Life”
  • Review - “Western Sketches”
  • Review - “American Almanac”
  • Review - “Clinton Bradshaw”
  • Review - “English Annuals”

1836 - January (vol. II, no. 2)

• Poem - “A Paean” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 71)  (Signed “E. A. P.”)  (The table of contents from the original paper wrappers lists this only as “A Pæan,” with no author noted.)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (reprinted)  (text?) (p. 96)

• Tale - “Metzengerstein” (reprint)  (text?) (pp. 97-100)  (The table of contents from the original paper wrappers lists this as “Metzengerstein — A Tale in Imitation of the German. By Edgar A. Poe.”)

• Poem - “Scenes From an Unpublished Drama [Politian]” (first printing) (text?)  (pp. 106-108)  (This is the second of two installments)  (The table of contents from the original paper wrappers lists this as “Scenes from Politian, an unpublished Drama. By Edgar A. Poe.”)

• Critical Notices  (pp. 41-68)
  • Review - Mrs. Sigourney, Miss Gould and Mrs. Ellet - Zinzendorff and Other Poems, etc.
  • Review - William G. Simms - The Partisan
  • Review - Charles Joseph Latrobe - The Rambler in North America
  • Review - Joseph Holt Ingraham - The South-West
  • Review - Sarah Stickney - The Poetry of Life
  • Review - Catharine M. Sedgwick - Tales and Sketches
  • Review - Francis Lieber - Reminiscences of Mr. Niebuhr
  • Review - The Young Wife's Book
  • Review - Daniel Defoe - The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
  • Review - The Christian Florist

1836 - February (vol. II, no. 3)

• Tale - “The Duc de L’Omelette”  (text?) (pp. 150-151)

• Misc. - “Palaestine” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 152)

• Poem - “The Valley Nis” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 154)

• Critical Notices (pp. 173-204)
  • Review of Morris Mattson - Paul Ulric
  • Review - Joseph Martin - A New and Comprehensive Gazetteer of Virginia
  • Review - Rose Hill
  • Review - Chief Justice John Marshall [[not by Poe]]
  • Review - Lambert A. Wilmer - The Confessions of Emilia Harrington
  • Review - Alexander Sliddell - The American in England
  • Review - Henry F. Chorley - Conti the Discarded
  • Review - Jessie Clement (?) - Noble Deeds of Women
  • Review - Bulwer - Rienzi, The Last of the Tribunes
  • Review - Peter Mark Roget - Animal and Vegetable Physiology
  • Review - Mathew Carey - Autobiography

• Misc. - “Autography” (first printing)  (text?) (pp. 205-212)

1836 - March (vol. II, no. 4)

• Misc - “Bai” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 220, bottom of col. 2)

• Tale - “Epimanes” (first printing)  (text?) (pp. 235-238)   (signed “BY E. A. POE”)

• Poem - “To Helen” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 238, col. 1)

• Misc - “Authors” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 259, bottom of col. 2)

• Critical Notices (pp. 282-292)  (All five reviews are attributed to Poe in a notice from the Baltimore Patriot, reprinted in the supplement to SLM for April 1836.)
  • Review - Francis Lister Hawks - Episcopal Church in Virginia
  • Review - Mrs. L. Miles - Phrenology and the Moral Influence of Phrenology
  • Review - David Porter - Mahmoud (Constantinople and Its Environs)
  • Review - Augustus Baldwin Longstreet - Georgia Scenes
  • Review - Benjamin B. Thatcher - Traits of the Tea Party

1836 - April (vol. II, no. 5)

• Misc. - “[footnote to the article on MSS. of Benj. Franklin]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 293, bottom of col. 1)

• Misc. - “[footnote to the article on Genius]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 300, bottom of col. 2)

• Article - “Some Ancient Greek Authors (Chronologically Arranged)” (???) (first printing) (text?) (pp. 301-302)  (signed “P”)  (Attributed to Poe by David K. Jackson and W. D. Hull, but disputed by Pollin and Ridgely.)

• Tale - “A Tale of Jerusalem” (reprint) (text?) (pp. 313-314)  (Signed as “BY EDGAR A. POE.”)

• Misc. - “[footnote about Lucian]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 314, bottom of col. 1)

• Editorial (pp. 317-318)
  • Misc. - “The Loyalty of Virginia”
  • Misc. - “Chief Justice Marshall”

• Article - “Maelzel's Chess-Player”  (first printing)  (text?)  (pp. 318-326)

• Critical Notices (pp. 326-340)
  • Review - Joseph Rodman Drake - The Culprit Fay and Fitz-Greene Halleck - Alnwick Castle
  • Review - [rejected] J. K. Paulding - Slavery in the United States and William Drayton - The South Vindicated From the Treason and Fanaticism of the Northern Abolitionists (rejected) (These two slavery reviews have been erroneously attributed to Poe by Harrison and others. Both are almost certainly by Nathaniel Beverly Tucker. See note by J. V. Ridgely.)
  • Review - Sir Francis Bond Head - Bubbles From Brunnens of Nassau

• Misc. - “[brief comment about Theodore Fay]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 340, bottom of col. 2): “Mr. Fay wishes us to believe that the sale of a book is the proper test of its merit. To save time and trouble we will believe it, and are prepared to acknowledge, as a consequence of the theory, that the novel of Norman Leslie is not at all comparable to the Memoirs of Davy Crockett, or the popular lyric of Jim Crow.”

• Misc. - “[Introduction to ‘Supplement’]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 341, col. 1)

1836 - May (vol. II, no. 6)

• Misc. - “[footnote to the article on MSS. of Benj. Franklin]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 349, bottom of col. 1)

• Poem - “Sonnet [to Science]” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 366, col. 2)

• Misc. - “The Corpus Juris” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 372, bottom of col. 2)

• Misc. - “Alliteration” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 380, bottom of col. 2)

• Poem - “Irene” (revised reprint)  (text?) (p. 387-388) (Signed “E. A. P.”) (This was later retitled “The Sleeper.”)

• Editorial
  • Misc. - “Lynch's Law” (p. 389)

• Critical Notices (pp. 389-404)
  • Review - Alexander Slidell - Spain Revisted
  • Review - Charles Anthon - Sallust's Jurgurthine War
  • Review - Frances Trollope - Paris and the Parisians
  • Review - James Kirke Paulding - A Life of Washington
  • Review - Robert Walsh - Didactics
  • Review - James Fenimore Cooper - Sketches of Switzerland

• Misc. - “[footnote to a Review of Mellen's Poems]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 404, col. 1)  (This footnote introduces a reprint of one of Mellon's poems, called “Stanzas.” The same footnote clearly shows that the review of Mellon's Poems is not by Poe.)

1836 - June (vol. II, no. 7)

• Misc. - “[footnote to the article on Right of Instruction]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 405, bottom of col. 1)  (The article itself is signed “H” and has been attributed to Joseph Hopkinson.)

• Misc. - “[footnote to the article on MSS. of Benj. Franklin]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 411, bottom of col. 2)

• Misc. - “Otto Venisu” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 427)

• Editorial (p. 445)
  • “Right of Instruction”  (This editorial is not the same item as the article of the same title from page 405.)

• Critical Notices (pp. 445-460)
  • Review - Philip H. Nicklin - A Pleasant Peregrination through the Prettiest Parts of Pennsylvania
  • Review - John Armstrong - Notices of the War of 1812
  • Review - Thomas Allsop - Letters, Conversations and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge
  • Review - Calvin Colton - Thoughts on the Religious State of the Country
  • Review - Matthew Fontaine Maury - A New Theoretical and Practical Treastise on Navigation
  • Review - William Leete Stone - Ups and Downs in the Life of a Distressed Gentleman
  • Review - Charles Dickens - Watkins Tottle
  • Review - Flora and Thalia

• Comment on notice by Southern Literary Journal (first printing)  (text?) (p. 460)

1836 - July (vol. II, no. 8)

• Misc. - “[footnote to the article on MSS. of John Randolph]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 461, bottom of col. 1)

• Article - “Erostratus” (rejected) (pp.467-469)  (Attributed by David K. Jackson and H&C, not mentioned by Pollin and Ridgely. W. T. Bandy (Bandy, 1982, p. 85) identified the author as William J. Duane, Jr. (1808-1882). Duane reprinted this item, as well as several others from the SLM, in Ligan: A Collection of Tales and Essays (1857).)

• Misc. - “Paradise Lost” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 500)

• Essay - “Letter to B——” (reprint)  (text?) (pp. 501-503) (The footnote is also attributed to Poe.)

• Critical Notices (pp. 326-340)
  • Review - James Grant - Random Reflections on the House of Lords
  • Review - Lydia H. Sigourney - Letters to Young Ladies
  • Review - Robert Southey - The Doctor
  • Review - Frederick Von Raumer - England in 1835
  • Review - Anne Grant - Memoirs of an American Lady
  • Review - Mary Griffith - Camperdown
  • Review - William Davis Gallagher - Erato
  • Review - Charles Robbins Gilman - Life on the Lakes
  • Review - Leitch Ritchie - Russia and the Russians

• Misc. - “[Introduction to ‘Supplement’]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 517, col. 1)

• Misc. - “[two footnotes to further notices]” (first printing)  (text?) (rear paper wrappers)

1836 - August (vol. II, no. 9)

• Misc. - “[In ‘Dodsley's Collection’ is an old play . . .]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 535, bottom of col. 1)

• Poem - “Israfel” (reprint)  (text?)  (p. 539)   (Signed as “BY E. A. POE.”)

• Misc. - “[footnote to Alexander Slidell's ‘Scenes in Campillo’]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 540, bottom of col.?)

• Misc. - “[footnote to Major Henry Lee's ‘The Battle of Lodi’]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 541, bottom of col.?)

• Poem - “The City of Sin” (reprint)  (text?)  (p. 552)  (Signed as “BY E. A. POE.”)   (Reprint of “The City in the Sea.”)

• Misc. - “[Wherever the Inquisition had power . . .]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 557, bottom of col. 1)

• Misc. - “[footnote to the article on MSS. of John Randolph]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 568, bottom of col. 2)

• Misc. - “[Swift's ‘Liliputian Ode’ is an imitation . . .]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 572, bottom of col. 2)

• Misc. - “[Introduction to ‘Right of Instruction’]” (first printing)  (text?) (pp. 573-582) (Most of this “Editorial” quotes Edmund Burke. The Editorial should not be confused with Judge Hopkinson's article of the same name, on page 530.)

• Misc. - “Pinakidia” (first printing) (pp. 573-582)

• Critical Notices (pp. 582-600)  (In an August 19, 1836 letter to Hiram Haines, Poe says “All after the word Editorial is my own,” which includes all of the critical notices.)
  • Review - Orville Dewey - The Old World and the New
  • Review - Charles Richardson - A New Dictionary of the English Language
  • Review - Samuel Carter Hall, editor - The Book of Gems
  • Review - Report of the Committee on Naval Affairs
  • Review - James S. French - Elkswatawa
  • Review - Philip H. Nicklin - Letters Descriptive of the Virginia Springs
  • Review - Alexander Slidell - A Year in Spain
  • Review - Sir George Stephen - The Adventures of a Gentleman in Search of a Horse
  • Review - Joseph H. Ingraham - Lafitte
  • Review - John W. Draper - Introductory Lecture to a Course of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy
  • Review - Memorial of Francis Lieber
  • Review - David B. Edward - The History of Texas
  • Review - Nathaniel P. Willis - Inklings of Adventure

• Misc. - “Autography [Part II]” (first printing)  (text?) (pp. 601-604)

1836 - September (vol. II, no. 10)

• Misc. - “[footnote to Bulwer's tragedy ‘Cromwell’]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 605, col. 1)

• Misc. - “[footnote to ‘Memoirs of Mrs. Hemans’]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 611. col.?)

• Misc. - “The Rainbow”  (???)  (p. 622)   (Attributed by David K. Jackson, AL, Nov. 1933, p. 242, but disputed by Pollin, Brevities, pp. 440-441.)

• Misc. - “Editorial [on the Right of Instruction]” (first printing) (text?) (pp. 658-659) (This editorial begins with a letter to the editor from “Q. V. Z.” and concludes with a reply by Poe.]

• Critical Notices (pp. 659-668)
  • Review - Lydia Maria Child - Philothea: A Romance
  • Review - Robert Montgomery Bird - Sheppard Lee
  • Review - W. C. Hazlitt, E. L. Bulwer and Sergeant Talfourd, editors - The Literary Remains of the Late William Hazlitt
• [Editorial Note]: “The illness of both Publisher and Editor will, we hope, prove a sufficient apology for the delay in the issue of the present number, and for the omission of many promised notices of new books.”

1836 - October (vol. II, no. 11)

(The October issue was not published until about November 8, 1836)

• Misc. - “[Editorial notice explaining and apologizing for the delay in publication” (first printing)  (text?) (This item appears as an advertisement)

• Misc. - “To the Friends of the Messenger” (first printing)  (text?) (covers)   (This annoucement is signed by T. W. White, although as Pollin and Ridgely note, may have been written as a whole or in part by Poe. The Poe Log gives no indication that the notice may be by Poe.)
• Misc. - “[Footnote to Lindley Murray's ‘To My Wife’]” (first printing)  (text?)  (p. 669, bottom of col. 1)

• Misc. - “Noms de Guerre” and “Bibles”  (first printings) (text?) (p. 767, respectively bottom of cols. 1 and 2.)  (These are filler items)

• Critical Notices (pp. 715-732)
  • Review - Susan Rigby Morgan - The Swiss Heiress
  • Review - S. A. Roszel - Address Delivered at the Annual Commencement of Dickinson College
  • Review - Sir Nathaniel W. Wraxall - Posthumous Memoirs of his Own Time
  • Review - The American Almanac
  • Review - James F. Cooper - Sketches of Switzerland
  • Review - Thomas R. Dew - An Address Delivered before the Students of William and Mary
  • Review - Henry F. Chorley - Memorials of Mrs. Hemans
  • Review - Robert W. Haxall - A Dissertation on the Importance of Physical Signs
  • Review - Basil Hall - Skimmings; or, A Winter at Schloss Hainfield
  • Review - James F. Dalton - Peter Snook
  • Review - G. P. R. James - Lives of the Cardinal Richelieu, Count Oxenstiern, Count Olivares and Cardinal Mazarin
  • Review - Bayard R. Hall - A New and Compendium Latin Grammar
  • Review - Theodorick Bland - Report of Cases Decided in the High Court of Chancery in Maryland
  • Review - Lucien Bonaparte - Memoirs of Lucien Bonaparte
  • Review - Madrid in 1835

1836 - November (vol. II, no. 12)

• Misc. - “To the Patrons of the Messenger, and the Public Generally” (???)  (text?)  (cover)  (This announcement is signed by T. W. White, but as  Pollin and Ridgely note, probably composed as a whole or in part by Poe. The Poe Log says that it “may have been written by Poe,” p. 235.)

• Misc. - “[Footnote to ‘Friendship, an Essay’]”  (first printing)  (p. 735)

• Misc. - “[Footnote to Thomas Dew's ‘Address’]”  (first printing)  (p. 760)

• Article - “The Character of Coriolanus” (???)  (text?) (pp. 737-738)  (Attributed to Poe by H&C, but apparently not generally accepted. Not mentioned by Pollin and Ridgely.)

• Misc. - “Walladmor” (first printing)  (text?)  (p. 773, bottom of col. 1)  (This is a filler item.)

• Article - “Tragedies of Silvia Pellico” (rejected  (text?) (pp. 773-779)  (Erroneously attributed to Poe by H&C, although at least noted as “doubtful.” The item is clearly by Mrs. Elizabeth F. Ellet as stated in the byline and in the index to the volume. Mrs. Ellet is reviewing the tragic plays by Silvio Pellico (1789-1854). Mrs. Ellet translated Pellico's “Euphemio of Messina,” which was published in New York by Monson Bancroft in 1834. Mrs. Ellet contributed several items to the Southern Literary Messenger in 1836.)

• Misc. - “[Comment on John Hill]” (first printing)  (text?)  (p. 779, bottom of col. 2)  (This is a filler item.)

• Critical Notices (pp. 784-788)
  • Review - John Forbes and John Connoly, editors - The British and Foreign Medical Review
  • Review - Zacheus Collins Lee - Address Delievered before the Baltimore Lyceum
  • Review - Charles Dickens - The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club
• Editorial Note: “A press of business connected with some necessary arrangements for Volume the Third, has prevented us from paying, in this Messenger, the usual attention to our Critical Department. We have many books now lying by us which we propose to notice fully in our next. With this number we close Volume the Second.”
• “Erratum”: “ERRATUM. — The Essay on Friendship, in the present number, and to which a foot-note of some length is appended, should have been embraced under the general head of the Essays of Gilchrist, also in this number. The mistake occurred by our supposing the Essay on Friendship to have appeared in the last Messenger.”

1837 - January (vol. III, no. 1)

• Poem - “Ballad” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 5)  (Signed as “BY E. A. POE.”)

• Tale - “[The Narrative of] Arthur Gordon Pym, No. I.”  (first printing)  (text?)  (pp. 13-16)  (This is the first of two installments for Pym which appeared in the SLM)

• Poem - “Sonnet. To Zante” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 32)  (Signed as “BY E. A. POE.”)

• Critical Notices  (pp. 41-72)
  • Review of William C. Bryant - Poems  (pp. 41-49)
  • Review of Nathaniel B. Tucker - George Balcombe  (pp. 49-58)
  • Review of Washington Irving - Astoria  (pp. 59-68)
  • Review of Jeremiah N. Reynolds - South-Sea Expedition  (pp. 68-72)
  • Review of Charles Anthon - Select Orations of Cicero  (p. 72)
  • [This section ends with a note: “Mr. Poe's attention being called in another direction, he will decline, with the present number, the Editorial duties of the Messenger. His Critical Notices for this month end with Professor Anthon's Cicero — what follows is from another hand. With the best wishes to the Magazine, and to its few foes as well as many friends, he is now desirous of bidding all parties a peaceable farewell” (p. 72, col. 2).]

1837 - February (vol. III, no. 2)

• Tale - “[The Narrative of] Arthur Gordon Pym, No. II.”  (first printing)  (text?)  (pp. 109-116)  (This is the second of two installments for Pym which appeared in the SLM)

1837 - May (vol. III, no. 5)

• Review - Miss Sedgwick - The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man  (???) (first printing)  (text?)  (pp. 331-334)  (attributed to Poe by W. D. Hull, but disputed by Pollin and Ridgely.)

1837 - June (vol. III, no. 6)

• Review Sarah Hall - Conversations of the Bible (???) (first printing)  (text?)  (pp. 399-400)  (attributed to Poe by W. D. Hull, but disputed by Pollin and Ridgely.)

• Critical Notice (There is only one “Critical Notice” in this issue.)  (p. 400)
  • Review - North American Review, No. XCV. April, 1837  (???) (first printing)  (text?)  (p.400, col. 2)  (attributed to Poe by W. D. Hull, but disputed by Pollin and Ridgely.)

1838 - January (vol. IV, no. 1)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (reprinted)  (text?) (p. 24)  (A two-sentence filler item about Milton's Paradise Lost, reprinted from SLM, July 1836.)

1844 - December (vol. X, no. 12)

• Tale - “The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq.” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 719-727)

1845 - March (vol. XI, no. 3)

• Poem - “The Raven” (reprint)  (text?) (pp. 186-188)  (Signed as, “BY EDGAR A. POE.”)

1845 - May (vol. XIV, no. 5)

• Notices of New Works
  • Review - Charles Anthon - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (First printing)  (text?) (p. 326)
  • Review - Francis Fauval-Gouraud - Phreno-Mnemotechny (First printing) (text?) (pp. 326-328)

1848 - January (vol. XIV, no. 1)

• Misc. - “Edgar A. Poe”  (text?) (pp. 34-36) (This long notice by Philip P. Cooke reprints “The Raven” and excerpts from several of Poe's poems. Poe apparently intended to include this notice, along with the article by James R. Lowell from Graham's, as introductory material for his book on Literary America.)

1848 - February (vol. XIV, no. 2)

• Misc. - “Excerpta” (First printing, with some reprinted material)  (text?) (p. 96) (One paragraph is reprinted from Pinakidia.)

1848 - April (vol. XIV, no. 4)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (First printing)  (text?) (p. 228)  (A short item on “In the bull of the canonization . . . “ continuing an item from Pinakidia.)

1848 - May (vol. XIV, no. 5)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 319)  (A short item on “An unshaped kind of something first appeared . . . “ repeating an item from Pinakidia.)

1848 - June (vol. XIV, no. 6)

• Misc. - “Excerpta” (First printing, with some reprinted material)  (text?) (p. 376)  (A few paragraphs are reprinted from Pinakidia.)

1848 - September (vol. XIV, no. 9)

• Review of Mrs. Lewis - “Mrs. Lewis's Poems” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 569-571) (review of “The Child of the Sea.”)

1848 - October (vol. XIV, no. 10)

• Essay - “The Rationale of Verse [Part I]” (revised reprint)  (text?) (pp. 577-585) (This is essentially a substantial revision of “Notes Upon English Verse.”)

1848 - November (vol. XIV, no. 11)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 671, col. 2)  (two short items repeated from Pinakidia: “The heathen poets are mentioned three times in the New Testament. Aratus in the seventeenth chapter of Acts — Menander in the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians — also Epimenides” and “The Vulgar Christian era is te invention of Dionysius Exiguus.”)

• Essay - “The Rationale of Verse [Part II]” (revised reprint)  (text?) (pp. 673-682)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 698)  (two short items.)

1848 - December (vol. XIV, no. 12)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 726, col. 2)  (a short item on “The Magnificent edition of Camoen's . . .”)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (first printing)  (text?) (p. 752, col. 2)  (a short item on “Congora, inone of his odes . . .”)

• Misc. - “[Untitled]” (reprint)  (text?) (p. 760, col. 2)  (a short item repeated from Pinakidia on “The following inscription intended for the Louvre . . .”)

1849 - February (vol. XV, no. 2)

• Review - “Griswold's The Female Poets of America” (First printing)  (text?) (pp.??-??)

1849 - March (vol. XV, no. 3)

• Review - “J. R. Lowell's Fable for Critics” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 189-??)

1849 - April (vol. XV, no. 4)

• Misc. - “Marginalia” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 217-??)

1849 - May (vol. XV, no. 5)

• Misc. - “Marginalia” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 292-??)

1849 - June (vol. XV, no. 6)

• Misc. - “Marginalia” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 336-??)

1849 - July (vol. XV, no. 7)

• Misc. - “Marginalia” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 414-??)

1849 - August (vol. XV, no. 8)

• Review - “Poems by Frances S. Osgood” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 509-515)

1849 - September and October (vol. XV, nos. 9 & 10)

• Misc. - “Marginalia” (First printing)  (text?) (pp. 600-601)

1849 - November (vol. XV, no. 11)

• “The Late Edgar Allan Poe” (pp. 694-697)
  • poem - “The Bells” (acknowledged as reprinted from Sartain's Union Magazine)  (text?) (p. 695-696)
  • poem - “Annabel Lee” (printed from Thompson's manuscript)  (text?) (p. 697)

1850 - October (vol. XVI, no. 10)

• Misc. - “Poe on Headley and Channing”  (pp. 608-612)  (taken from advance sheets of The Literati, 1850)
  • “Joel T. Headley” [Review of Headley - “The Sacred Mountains”] (first printing)  (text?)
  • “William Ellery Channing”  (reprint)

1863 - July (vol. XXXVII, no. 7)

• Poem - “The Fire Legend — a nightmare” (pp. 397-398) (rejected) (This poem is noted as “from an unpublished ms. of the late Edgar A. Poe.” It was first printed in the New York Saturday Press for November 19, 1859. It is now known to be the work of Charles D. Gardette, who admitted the entire affair in The Whole Truth in the Question of “The Fire Fiend” (Philadelphia, 1864). A few individuals have refused to accept Gardette's authorship and the matter was still being argued as late as 1901, when William Fearing Gill wrote to James A. Harrison that he thought the poem was by Poe. See Mabbott, Poems, 1969, pp. 512, rejected item 91.)