Edgar Allan Poe — “Elizabeth”

Reading copy:

• “Elizabeth” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “Elizabeth” — about 1829 — manuscript — (Mabbott text A) (The manuscript was written by Poe in the album of his cousin, Elizabeth Herring; sold at auction by Libbie & Co. of Boston, February 3-5, 1892, item 1156 for $42.50 to William Nelson (1847-1914), of Patterson, NJ (presumably from Elizabeth's family, and not from the collection of Rev. Thomas Raffles, as suggested by the title of the auction); sold by Stan V. Henkles Auctions (Philadelphia, PA) on May 7, 1903, item 959 to George H. Richmond (1849-1904), a bookdealer of New York, NY, for $175 from the collection of William Nelson (1847-1914); George H. Richmond, Sr died suddenly in 1904 in Short Hills, NJ, and the manuscript was presumably inherited by his son, George H. Richmond, Jr. (1874-1911), who died in March 1911 in New Jersey (it was listed for sale by G. H. Richmond in 1904 in a catalog of Autograph Letters, Broadsides, MSS., etc, item 223, for $250); by 1933, it was owned by the bookseller Gabriel Wells (as listed in American Book Collector), from whom it was presumably purchased by H. Bradley Martin. When the Martin collection was sold in 1990, the manuscript was purchased for $18,000 by Holt Edmunds. The manuscript was offered for sale by Remember When Auctions, in Portsmouth, NH, on June 26, 1994 (catalog 32, lot 825), where it was listed with an estimate of $30,000-$40,000.)

Reprints:

• “Elizabeth” — May 5-6, 1903 — Stan V. Henkel's (Philadelphia) sale catalog (Wm. Nelson) (item 959) (the poem is described as “An Unpublished Manuscript Poem, by Poe,” and the first four lines are transcribed)
• “Elizabeth” — May 9, 1903 — Patterson Evening News (Patterson, NJ), vol. LII, no. 34, p. 6 (This entry was provided to the Poe Society by Ton Fafianie in an e-mail dated December 30, 2015)
• “Elizabeth” — May 9, 1903 — New York Herald (New York, NY) (no volume specified), whole no. 24,365 (acknowledged as based on a special dispatch from Philadelphia, dated May 8, 1903) (This entry was provided to the Poe Society by Ton Fafianie in an e-mail dated December 30, 2015)
• “Elizabeth” — May 10, 1903 — Washington Times (Washington, DC) (no volume specified), whole no. 3255, p. 5 (printed as part of an article “Newly-Found Poems Add to Fame of Poe”) (This entry was provided to the Poe Society by Ton Fafianie in an e-mail dated July 17, 2018)
• “Elizabeth” — May 17, 1903 — Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), vol. XXXIV, no. 154, p. 18, col. 4 (printed as part of an article “Poe's Acrostic to Cousin,” reprinted from the New York Herald.)
• “Elizabeth” — May 17, 1903 — Morning Post (Raleigh, NC), vol. XI, no. 142, p. 15 (printed as part of an article “Newly-Found Poems Add to Fame of Poe,” reprinted from the Washington Times) (This entry was provided to the Poe Society by Ton Fafianie in an e-mail dated July 17, 2018)
• “Elizabeth” — May 31, 1903 — The Age-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama), p. 29, col. 3 (printed as part of an article “Newly-Found Poems Add to Fame of Poe,” reprinted from the Washington Times)
• “Elizabeth” — April 1959 — Col. Richard Gimbel, “Quoth the Raven: An Exhibition of the Works of Edgar Allan Poe,” Yale University Library Gazette, vol. 33, no. 4 (facing p. 144) (prints a photographic facsimile, although somewhat indistinct)
• “Elizabeth” — January 30-31, 1990 — Sotheby's (NY) sale catalog (H. B. Martin) (item 2218) (prints a transcript and a photographic facsimile of the manuscript)
• “Elizabeth” — June 26, 1994 — Remember When Auctions, Inc (Portsmouth, NH) sale catalog no. 32 (item 825) (prints a transcript and a small photographic facsimile of the manuscript) (mistakenly noted as being sold from the collection of Harold Peirce in 1903)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Elizabeth” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (p. 140)
• “Elizabeth” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (p. 136, and p. 297)
• “Elizabeth” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 130, and pp. 290-291)
• “Elizabeth” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:147-149)
• “Elizabeth” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (p. 61) (reprints the text from Whitty, 1911)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• None

Plain Text Files for Juxta:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• None.

• Anonymous, “High Prices Paid for Poe Manuscripts,” Black Diamond Express Monthly (Lehigh Valley Railroad), vol. VII, no. 6, June 1903, pp. 17-18
• Heartman, Charles F., “A Remarkable Addition to the Poe Census,” American Book Collector (Metuchen, NJ), vol. III, no. 4, April 1933, p. 246
• 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.