Edgar Allan Poe — “To F——s S. O——d”

Reading copy:

• “To F——s S. O——d” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “To Elizabeth” — about 1833 — “E. Herring” manuscript — (Mabbott text A — This is Mabbott's copy-text for “To Elizabeth”) (This version was written in the album of Elizabeth Rebecca Herring, Poe's cousin) (The manuscript is currently in the Edgar Allan Poe Collection of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, MD)
• Text-02 — “[To E. W.]” — about August 1835 — manuscript — (Mabbott seems to dismiss the idea that any version was actually written down for Eliza White, commenting in his notes that the tradition was apparently “based merely on the title of the first printed version” (Poems, 1:233, n 2). This comment is apparently itself based on the somewhat equivocal statement by Ingram (1880, 1:130). Mrs. E. O. Smith, however, claimed to have actually seen this version of the poem written “in the delicate chirography of Edgar Poe, with date, etc., in the hands of Lizzie White,” with the title “To. E. W.” Her comment is recorded in “Autobiographic Notes: Edgar Allan Poe,” Beadle's Monthly, February 1867, p. 149. Although Mrs. Smith is not an entirely reliable witness, her comments in this case seem detailed, specific and quite plausible.)
• Text-03 — “Lines Written in an Album” — September 1835 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text B)
• Text-04 — “To —” — August 1839 — Burton's — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-05 — “To —” — about 1841 — “M. E. Herring” manuscript (copied and signed by Virginia Poe) — (Mabbott text D)  (This version was written in the album of Mary Estelle Herring, Elizabeth's younger half-sister)
• Text-06 — “To F—” — September 13, 1845 — Broadway Journal (excerpt, lines 1-4 only) — (Mabbott text E)
• Text-07 — “To F——s S. O——d” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text F)  (This is Mabbott's copy-text for this early version) (For Griswold's 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)
• Text-08 — “To ——” — 1848 — The Lover's Gift; or, Tributes to the Beautiful — (The copyright is 1847, and the preface is dated as September 1847, so this item was probably available in the fall of 1847) (Mabbott text G)
• Text-09 — “To — —” — date uncertain — “Chapin” manuscript — (Mabbott text J — This is Mabbott's copy-text for the final version)

Reprints:

• “To F——s S. O——d” — January 1846 — Knickerbocker (printed as part of a review of RAOP)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1850 — WORKS — (Mabbott text H) (Griswold reprints from stereoplates of RAOP)
• “To ——” — 1852 — The Poetic Gift; or, Tributes to the Beautiful, edited by Mrs. E. O. Smith (Hartford: Wm. Jas. Hamersley), p. 99
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1852 — Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Humour; and Poems, London: Henry Vizetelly (An undated edition appears about the same time, published by Charles H. Clark and Samuel Orchart Beeton, and their name appears as publisher for the second series), second series p. 222. (with no woodcut illustration)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:22)
• “Lines written in an Album” — 1880 — John H. Ingram, Edgar Allan Poe: His Life, Letters and Opinions, London: John Hogg (1:130)
• “Lines written in an Album” — 1882 — Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (ed. Henry Llewellyn Williams), New York: Hurst & Co., p. 194
• “To F——s S. O——d” — January 20, 1918 — New York Tribune (New York, NY), vol. LXXVII, whole no. 25,998, p. 38, col. 1 (printed along with an article about “The Birthday of Unhappy Edgar Allan Poe.”)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:81, and p. 192)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:93, and 10:207-208)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (p. 33, and p. 222)
• “To Elizabeth” — about May 1917 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (p. 324)  (This is the first time this early version was collected, the manuscript having surfaced fairly recently. The manuscript is currently unlocated, and thus Whitty's printing is an important resource, although it contains one clear typographical error.)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (p. 80, and pp. 226-227)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 62, and pp. 244-245)
• “To Frances S. Osgood” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:233-236)  (Mabbott gives three texts, one for “To Elizabeth,” one for “To F——s. S. O——d,” and one for the manuscript of “To — —”)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (p. 73) (reprints Text-07)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “[[To F—s S. O—d]]” — April 17, 2004 — the lines are quoted in a small paid notice of the 50th anniversary of a couple, with no reference to Poe or Mrs. Osgood at all Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada)
• “A F—s S. O—d” — 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.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.