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This pamphlet was probably issued about July 20, 1843, as the earliest known advertisements are from the Philadelphia Public Ledger of that date. Another advertisement appears in Godey's Lady's Book for September of 1843 and a third in the New-York New Mirror for September 9, 1843.
The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe (1843)
The number of copies printed is uncertain. Only about 14 copies survive, 5 with the title page and rest in an incomplete state. Many of the original copies may have been destroyed by a fire which apparently consumed William Graham's offices at 98 Chestnut Street in 1845.
There is at least one known presentation copy: Poe to Francis J. Grund, “Francis J. Grund Esqre [/] with Mr Poe's respects [/] U. S. Hotel” (the last two lines being underlined with one single stroke each). Poe also appears to have sent a copy to Rufus W. Griswold on February 24, 1845. Poe's letter to Griswold states, “In the tale line I send you ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgues’ and ‘The Man that was Used Up’ ” coincidentally the two items included in this pamphlet. Poe's own copy seems not to have survived. The 1845 text for “Murders in the Rue Morgue” printed in Tales includes many of the changes first given in this version, along with numerous other changes presumably made by Poe in manuscript on the printed text, as was commonly his habit. His own copy, then, was quite possibly cut up, separated and used in preparation of the 1845 Tales.
(Francis J. Grund, who was the recipient of the only know surviving presentation copy, contributed a series in 1843 on “The History, Politics, Literature, and Manners of the Germans” to a periodical called the New World. The first of these letters appeared on Jan. 21, 1843, and the eighth on June 24, 1843.)
One of the earliest known advertisements, from the Public Ledger (Philadelphia, PA), July 20, 1843, p. 3, col. 1:
A NEW BOOK FOR THE PEOPLE.
Just Published and for sale, Wholesale or Retail, by
WM. H. GRAHAM,
No. 98 CHESTNUT Street.
THE PROSE ROMANCES OF EDGAR A. POE,
Author of “THE GOLD-BUG,” “Gordon Pym,”
“Tales of the
Grotesque and Arabesque,” &c.
UNIFORM SERIAL EDITION ,
Each Number complete in itself.
NO.
I,
Containing the
MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE,
And
THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP.
Price only 12 1/2
Cents.
All orders for the above work to be addressed to
WM. H. GRAHAM,
No. 98 CHESTNUT Street.
Two other notices appear in Philadelphia newspapers dated July 19, 1843.
The printer for the book was Edward G. Dorsey, at 12 Library Street. (His middle name may have been Greenbury or Greenberry, and he appears to have died about 1857.) Library Street no longer exists in modern Philadelphia. It was in the block between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, running between Fourth and Fifth Streets, right past the Philadelphia Library. It was absorbed into the Independence National Historic Park in 1959, although a driveway paved with cobblestones may mark its approximate location. Dorsey also printed the text for J. J. Audobon's folio edition of The Birds of America in 1840.
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8vo (8 7/8 in x 5 3/4 in or 226mm x 144 mm, BAL gives 9 1/16 in x 5 13/16 in). Pages [9]- 48. Paper wrappers, described as “pale tan.”
Charles P. Everitt (p. 14) describes this pamphlet as “an offprint from a magazine, made up as a salesmen's sample in an edition of possibly fifty or sixty, and the salesmen had not been able to get any orders.” It is clearly not an “offprint,” however, since the layout (a single column across the entire page) does not match that used in Graham's (in which the text is divided into two columns). It also contains a number of minor changes from the Graham's text, indicating that it was newly set in type, specifically for this edition. Everitt's speculation about the surviving copies being from salesmen's samples does not appear to be supported by any other documentation or bibliographical evidence. Although the edition does not seem to have sold well, it was reviewed and was presumably available for purchase through the normal channel of book sellers. In a brief note added to a 1968 facsimile edition, Thomas Ollive Mabbott comments that, “A good deal of nonsense has been printed about Prose Romances, largely by people who never saw a copy of the original” (p. vi).
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This census is believed to record all known surviving copies of The Prose Romances by Edgar A. Poe. The provenance of
each entry is established as authoritatively as possible, given the sketchy and often convoluted bits of information available. In
nearly all cases, the chain of owners has gaps, especially among the early owners, whose names are generally known only if the
owner left an inscription.
Copies with paper cover intact:
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[S:0 - JAS] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Editions - Prose Romances (1843)