Edgar Allan Poe — “Song”

Reading copy:

• “Song” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “To — —” — 1827 — [There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition.]
• Text-02 — “To — —” — 1827
  • Text-02a — “To — —” — 1827 — [Speculated faircopy manuscript Poe prepared for publication. This manuscript has not survived, but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02b.]
  • Text-02b — “To — —” — 1827 — TAOP — (Mabbott text A)
• Text-03 — “To — —” — about 1828  — “Wilmer” manuscript — (Mabbott text B) (one page of this manuscript appears to be missing. The surviving portion is on the back of “To the River ——.”) (Poe to Lambert A. Wilmer in 1828; Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, sold at auction March 20, 1905, item 3481; Oliver Barrett, of Chicago; William Self (purchased through John F. Fleming), sold at auction by Christie's December 4, 2009, item 154, $362,500; Dr. Rodney Swantko, purchased from the Wm. Self auction); Swantko's library was sold by Sotheby's (NY) on June 25, 2024 (item 27), where this manuscript sold to a private collector for $180,000 ($216,000 with buyer's premium).
• Text-04a — “To — —” — 1829 — (speculated revised manuscript made in preparation of ATMP. The changes present in Text-05 are sufficiently significant, including the restoration of one stanza, that they were probably not simply made in the typesetting process or in evaluating proof-sheets. Additional changes may have been made as the publication stages proceeded. Since Poe was living in Baltimore at the time of publication, it is likely that he had the opportunity to see and review proof copy, particularly since he was paying for the publication.)
• Text-04b — “To — —” — 1829 — ATMP — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-04c — “To — —” — 1829 — ATMP-JN, presentation copy to John Neal (with one manuscript note) — (Mabbott text D)
• Text-05a — “To — —” — 1845 — manuscript changes in ATMP-EH (in preparation for RAOP) — (Mabbott text E)
• Text-05b — “Song” — September 20, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text G)
• Text-05c — “Song” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text F)

Reprints:

• “Song” — 1850 — WORKS — Griswold reprints Text-08  (Mabbott text H)
• “Song” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:89)
• “To — —” — 1884 — Tamerlane and Other Poems, ed. Richard Herne Shepherd, London: George Redway (pp. 41-42)  (Having long been thought lost, a copy of the original Tamerlane and Other Poems of 1827 was discovered in the British Museum and printed in this “second edition.” Ingram did not include this poem in his article “The Unknown Poetry of Edgar Poe,” in Belgravia for June 1876, presumably because it was already known from later forms.)
• “Song” — March 15, 1908 — Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), vol. CXLII, no. 120, p. 13, bottom of col. 3 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Song” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:131, and p. 229-230)
• “To —— ——” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:10, and 10:147)
• “Song” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (p. 117, and p. 271)
• “Song” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 21-22, and p. 156)
• “Song” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 12, and pp. 176-177)
• “Song” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:65-67)
• “Song” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (p. 31) (reprints Text-08)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “To — —” — Study Text (ATMP-EH)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Chanson” — dated 2009, but available in late 2008 — Poèmes d‘Edgar Allan Poe, Paris: Publibook (translation by Jean Hautepierre)

• Adkins, N. F., “Poe's Borrowings,” Notes & Queries, July 28, 1934, 167:67-68
• Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.