Edgar Allan Poe — “Israfel”

Reading copy:

• “Israfel” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “Israfel” — 1831, no original manuscript or fragments are known to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02)
• Text-02 — “Israfel” — 1831 — POEMS — (Mabbott text A — This is Mabbott's copy-text for this early version)
• Text-03 — “Israfel” — August 1836 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text B)
• Text-04 — “Israfel” — October 1841 — Graham's — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-05 — “Israfel” — 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-05a — “Israfel” — February 25, 1843
  • Text-05b — “Israfel” — March 4, 1843 (reprinted from February 25, 1843)
• Text-06 — “Israfel” — July 26, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text E)
• Text-07 — “Israfel” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text F)  (for Griswold's 1850 printing of this text, see reprints, below)
• Text-08 — “Israfel” — 1845-1848 — minor manuscript revision of punctuation in the J. L. Graham copy of RAOP — (Mabbott text G)  (This is Mabbott's copy-text for the final version)
• Text-09 — “Israfel” — about September 1849 — Richmond Examiner proof sheets (the text given by Whitty matches Text-08 exactly. It may be surmised that the Examiner text was set from Poe's copy of RAOP. Strangely, Whitty does not list the J. L. Graham copy of RAOP in his versions of this poem, although he does include references to this voume in the variants for other poems.)
• Text-10 — “Israfel” — late 1849 — Poets and Poetry of America (10th edition, dated 1850) — (Mabbott text H)

Reprints:

• “Israfel” — September 2, 1836 — Newbern Spectator (Newbern, NC), col. IX, no. 418, p. 3, cols. 3-4 (acknowledged as by “E. A. Poe,” and printed as part of a short review of the Southern Literary Messenger for August, noting the poem as being “exquisite,” and with the suggestion that “passionately” should be made to read “childishly.”)
• “Israfel” — November 1841 — Lady's Pearl (Lowell, MA)  (noted as “BY EDGAR A. POE” and “From Graham's Magazine“)
• “Israfel” — November 26, 1845 — New-York Daily Tribune (New York, NY), vol. V, no. 197, p. 1, col. 5 (printed as part of a review of The Raven and Other Poems
• “Israfel” — November 29, 1845 — New-York Weekly Tribune
• “Israfel” — 1850 — WORKS — Griswold merely reprints Text-07  (Mabbott text J)
• “Israfel” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:59-60)
• “Israfel” — October 13, 1900 — Pittsburg Press (Pittsburgh, PA), vol. 17, no. 283, p. 4, col. 5 (printed as part of a series of “Famous Short Poems,” and acknowledged only as by “Poe.”)
• “Israfel” — April 21, 1901 — St. Louis Republic (St. Louis, Missouri), vol. 4, no. 26, p. 44, col. 2 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “Israfel” — December 10, 1901 — Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, IN), vol. XXXIII, (no issue number), p. 4, col. 6 (printed following a short biographical article on Poe, entry XXVI in the series of “One Hundred American Poets.”)
• “Israfel” — March 1, 1902 — Every Evening (Wilmington, DE), vol. XXXVI, no. 52, p. 6, col. 4 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “Israfel” — October 8, 1903 — Asheville Citizen (Asheville, NC), vol. XIX, no. 104, p. 4, col. 2 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe,” under the general heading: “An Old Favorite.”)
• “Israfel” — December 8, 1903 — El Paso Herald (El Paso, TX), vol. 23, (no issue number), p. 4, across cols. 3-4 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe,” under the general heading: “An Old Favorite.”)
• “Israfel” — February 29, 1904 — Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, IL), vol. LXIII, no. 51, p. 6, across cols. 6-7 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe,” under the general heading: “Poems You Ought to Know.”)
• “Israfel” — October 29, 1904 — Nashville American (Nashville, TN), vol. XXVIII, whole no. 10,043, p. 4, col. 4 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe,” under the general heading: “Poems You Ought to Know.”)
• “Israfel” — February 28, 1905 — Progressive Farmer and the Cotton Plant (Raleigh, NC), vol. XX, no. 2, p. 6, col. 1 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “Israfel” — June 14, 1908 — The State (Columbia, SC) (p. 23) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161.)
• “Israfel” — January 19, 1909 — Morning Oregonian (p. 8) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161.)
• “Israfel” — April 24, 1909 — Outlook (p. 955) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161.)
• “Israfel” — February 7, 1920 — Buffalo Commercial (Buffalo, NY), p. 4, col. 5 (acknowledged as from “ ‘The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe,’ published by Charles Scribner's Sons.”)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Israfel” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:29-30, and pp. 178-181)
• “Israfel” — 1897 — The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Poems and Tales, ed. William P. Trent (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company), pp. 22-24
• “Israfel” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:47-48, and 10:172-174)
• “Israfel” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (pp. 24-25, and pp. 215-217)
• “Israfel” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 57-59, and pp. 203-207)
• “Israfel” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (pp. 48-49, and pp. 213-215)
• “Israfel” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:171-179)
• “Israfel” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (pp. 62-64) (reprints the text from Mabbott, 1969)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “Israfel” — Study Text (RAOP-JLG)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “The Saunterer” — February 12, 1880 — Burlington Free Press & Times (Burlington, VT), vol. 34, no. 198, p. 4, col. 1 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allen [[Allan]] Poe,” but using only the first and final stanzas.)
• “Israfel” — dated 2009, but available in late 2008 — Poèmes d‘Edgar Allan Poe, Paris: Publibook (translation by Jean Hautepierre)

• Campbell, Killis, “Poe, Stevenson, and Beranger,” Dial, November 16, 1909, 47:374-375
• Davidson, Gustav, “Poe's ‘Israfel’,” Literary Review (Fairleigh Dickinson), 1968, 22:86-91
• Friesner, Donald Neil, “Ellis Bell and ‘Israfel’,” Bronte Society Transactions, 1964, 14:11-18
• 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, “Poe's ‘Israfel’,” Explicator, June 1944, vol. 2, item 57
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.
• Mabie, Hamilton Wright, “ ‘To Helen’ and ‘Israfel,” Outlook, April 24, 1907, 91:955-957
• St. Armand, Barton Levi, “Poe's Unnecessary Angel: ‘Israfel’ Reconsidered,” in Ruined Eden of the Present: Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, ed. G. R. Thompson, Virgil L. Lokke, and Chester E. Eisinger, West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1981, 283-302
• V., K. N., “Israfel,” Explicator, October 1943, vol. 2. (a query)
• Werner, W. L., “Poe's ‘Israfel’,” Explicator, April 1944, vol. 2, item 44