Edgar Allan Poe — “Romance”

Reading copy:

• “Romance” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings (full text):

• Text-01 — “Preface” — late 1827 - early 1829 — [There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition. Mabbott does not offer any speculations concerning a precise date of composition, although it was likely written before November 1829, when the book was published, and after June or July 1827, when Tamerlane and Other Poems was printed.]
• Text-02 — “Preface” — 1828 - 1829
  • Text-02a — “Preface” — 1829 — [This entry is a speculated fair copy manuscript intended for publication in ATMP. Although a copy of the poem was presumably part of the Wilmer manuscript collection, that version no longer survives. The manuscript has never been described, but based on the other suviving pages of the Wilmer collection, it was written on off-white sheets of paper, using dark brown ink and a careful script. As for other poems in the collection, it would have been written across a series of separate pages, with odd pages numbered in the upper right corner and even ones in the upper left corner. At this point, Poe had not yet adopted the style of printing in imitation of type, nor the practice of connecting pages by using wax to form a roll. This manuscript no longer survives, but the text is presumably reflected in Text-02b.]
  • Text-02b — “Preface” — 1829 — ATMP — (Mabbott text A)
• Text-03 — “Introduction” — 1831
  • Text-03a — “Introduction” — 1831 — [This entry is a speculated new manuscript of the far longer poem, in anticipation of publication in the 1831 POEMS. This manuscript has not survived, but the text is presumably reflected in Text-03b.]
  • Text-03b — “Introduction” — 1831 — POEMS — (Mabbott text C — This is Mabbott's copy-text for this early version) — [The substantial new lines would be abandoned after this publication of the poem.]
• Text-04 — “[Romance]” — February 25 and March 4, 1843 — Saturday Museum — (Mabbott text D) (Poe sent two copies of this article to J. R. Lowell, one on October 19, 1843 and a second on May 28, 1844. In both cases, he appears to have done so for the purpose of providing Lowell with some biographical material to use for his article on Poe for Graham's Magazine. There is no indication that any of the poems in these copies had modifications made by Poe.)
  • Text-04a — “[Romance]” — before February 25, 1843 — [Speculated new manuscript, prepared for publication in the Saturday Museum. This manuscript largely reflects Text-02b, and ignores the extensive changes in Text-03b. This manuscript no longer survives, but the text is presumably reflected in Text-04b.]
  • Text-04b — “[Romance]” — February 25, 1843
  • Text-04c — “[Romance]” — March 4, 1843 (from February 25, 1843)
• Text-05 — “Introduction” — 1845
  • Text-05a — “Romance” — 1845 — manuscript changes in ATMP-EH in preparation for RAOP) — (Mabbott text E)
  • Text-05b — “Romance” — August 30, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text F)
  • Text-05c — “Romance” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text G — This is Mabbott's copy-text for the final version) — (For Griswold's 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings (extracts):

• “Preface” — December 29, 1829 — lines 11-15 only, manuscript letter — (Mabbott text B)

Reprints:

• “Romance” — September 3, 1845 — Boston Post, p. 1, reprinted anonymously from the Broadway Journal)  (This reprint noted by K. Ljungquist, 1997, p. 195 n. 24.)
• “Romance” — 1850 — WORKS — Griswold merely reprints Text-07  (Mabbott text H)
• “[Untitled]” — April 26, 1850 — lines 11-15, printed from Text-03, Portland Daily Advertiser) — (Mabbott text J)
• “Romance” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:85-86)
• “Romance” — October 9, 1879 — Waukesha Freeman (Waukesha, WI), vol. XXI, no. 41, p. 7 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “Romance” — October 9, 1879 — Osage City Free Press (Osage City, KS), vol. 8, no. 239, p. 8, col. 3 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “Introduction” — 1882 — Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (ed. Henry Llewellyn Williams), New York: Hurst & Co., pp. 191-192 (the editor gives thirty of the sixty lines of this version, with the comment that the lines are “rich in autobiographical references.”)
• “Romance” — February 9, 1908 — Greenville Times (Greenville, Mississippi), vol. I, no. 125, p. 12, col. 3 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allen [[Allan]] Poe.”)
• “Romance” — August 12, 1908 — Decatur Herald (Decatur, IL), vol. 49, (no issue number), p. 6, col. 2 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “Romance” — October 9, 1932 — Fresno Bee (Fresno, CA), vol. 20, whole no. 3559, p. 18, cols. 6-7 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe,” and printed in a section with the generaly title “Poetry Old and New.”)
• “Romance” — February 23, 1966 — Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), vol. 98, no. 145, p. 26, across cols. 7-8 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Romance” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:135, and pp. 231-234)
• “Romance” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:40, and 10:163-165)
• “Romance” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (p. 116, and pp. 268-270)
• “Romance” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 49-50, and pp. 192-193)
• “Romance” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 41, and pp. 202-205)
• “Romance” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:127-129)
• “Introduction” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:156-159)
• “Romance” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (pp. 53-54) (reprints Text-07)
• “Introduction” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (pp. 54-56) (reprints Text-03)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “Romance” — Study Text (ATMP-EH)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

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

• 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.
• Lavin, Audrey, “A Birder's Re-Reading of Poe's ‘Romance’,” University of Mississippi Studies in English, 1991, 9:199-204
• Ljungquist, Kent. P., “ ‘Valdemar’ and the ‘Frogpondians‘: The Aftermath of Poe's Boston Lyceum Appearance,” in Emersonian Circles: Essays in Honor of Joel Myerson, ed. Wesley T. Mott, Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1997, pp. 181-206.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.
• Rein, David, “Poe's Introduction,” Explicator, September 1961, vol. 20, item 35