Phantasy Pieces (1842)

This is Poe's own copy of volume I of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840), renamed and containing manuscript revisions made in 1842 for a proposed new edition. The revisions were presumably made in the period of June through about August of 1842. Two tales (“The Oval Portrait” and “The Mask of the Red Death”) appear in the table of contents, having appeared in Graham's Magazine for, respectively, April and May 1842. Not present is “The Gold-Bug,” which was apparently written about September - October 1842 (see Savoye). Also present, but crossed out, are “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” both of which had been sold for publication about July 1842. One tale, “A Succession of Sundays,” appears under its original title in Poe's table of contents, but was listed under its new title of “Three Sundays in a Week” in a foonote in the biographical sketch of Poe printed in the Philadelphia Saturday Museum of February 28, 1843.

Phantasy Pieces (1842)

• Title page and contents

This unique and significant book was in the H. Bradley Martin collection until 1990, when it was sold at auction. Mabbott notes that “the title page and preliminary matter have been removed” from this copy (Mabbott, Tales, p. 1398). Mabbott further notes that “Poe made a new title page and table of contents in manuscript and in which he indicated numerous emendations, some of them abortive. Only the first volume survives; it was found in Poe's trunk after his death. The second volume has disappeared. I suspect that it was broken up and used as copy by Griswold's printers, and was the source of the Works texts of ‘Metzengerstein’ and ‘Hans Pfall’ ” (Mabbott, Taless, p. xxviii). It is also possible that the second volume was already at least partially broken up when several of the tales in it were reprinted in the Broadway Journal. Slow sales of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque prevented Poe from convincing a publisher to print the revised edition.

A marvelously faithful facsimile of this book was printed about 1928 by George Blumenthal in an edition of 50 copies. (It should be noted, however, that the overlay of changes apparently shifted on several pages so that Poe's markings are improperly aligned with the printed text by one or two lines.)