Edgar Allan Poe — “Politian”

Reading copy:

• “Politian” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “Politian” — 1835 — (There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition. There are special problems in listing the texts for this play. At some point, Poe abandoned the play, making the manuscript an incomplete draft. Any presentation is further complicated by the fact that Poe published only portions of the play, and assigned different numbers to the scenes. What Poe published as scenes I-V, Mabbott assigns as I=III, II=IV, III=VI, IV=VII, V=IX.)
• Text-02 — “Politian” — 1835 — “Politian” — undated manuscript — (Mabbott text A — This is Mabbott's copy-text for scenes I, II, V, VIII, X, and XI, in his assignment sequence.) — (This was the faircopy manuscript that Poe prepared as a cleaner draft. It is not precisely clear what Poe's intentions were for the manuscript at this point. After sufficient revision, Poe may have had some ambition for performance, but it was not uncommon at this time for plays to be printed, without ever actually being given life in a theatrical setting. The surviving manuscript is now incomplete. It was first printed in full, with some portions supplemented by the printed texts, by Mabbott, in 1923.)
• Text-03 — “Scenes from an Unpublished Drama” — December 1835 and January 1836
  • Text-03a — “Scenes from an Unpublished Drama” — December 1835 and January 1836 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text B)
    • “Scenes from an unpublished Drama” — [scenes I-III, which are, respectively, Mabbott's scenes IV, VI and VII] — December 1835
    • “Scenes from an unpublished Drama” — [scenes IV-V, which are, respectively, Mabbott's scenes III and IX] — January 1836
  • Text-03b — “Scenes from ‘Politian’” — 1845 — [scenes I-V, which are, respectively, Mabbott's scenes III, IV, VI, VII and IX] — RAOP — (Mabbott text D — This is Mabbott's copy-text for scenes III, VI, VII, and IX, in his assignment sequence.)
  • Text-03c — “Scenes from ‘Politian’” — 1846-1849 — [scenes I-V, which are, respectively, Mabbott's scenes III, IV, VI, VII and IX, but only scene IV has very minor manuscript revisions to the directions at the beginning of the scene III, as it was published, in the “J. L. Graham” copy of RAOP-JLG] — (Mabbott text E — This is Mabbott's copy-text for scene IV, in his assignment sequence.)
• Text-04 — [“Scene from Politian”] — March 29, 1845 — lines from scene I (Mabbott's scene IV), quoted in “Imitation — Plagiarism”— Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text C)

Reprints:

• “Scenes from an Unpublished Drama” — January 17, 1836 — scenes III and V (although marked as I and II) — Newbern Spectator (Newburn, NC) (these scenes are reprinted in a very harsh review of Poe's “Unpublished Drama” as printed in the Southern Literary Messenger.)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’” — 1850 — WORKS — (Mabbott text F) — (Griswold merely reprints Text-03b, from the original stereotype plates.)
• [“Scene from Politian”] (lines quoted in “Mr. Longfellow and Other Plagiarists”) — 1850— WORKS — (Mabbott text G) — (Griswold merely reprints Text-04.)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:36-52)  (Ingram reprints Griswold's text)
• [“Scenes from Politian”] — November 1875 — in “Poe's ‘Politian’ ” by John H. Ingram, two printings of the same article: — (Mabbott text H)
  • [“Scenes from Politian”] — November 1875 — Southern Magazine (10:588-594)
  • [“Scenes from Politian”] — November 1875 — London Magazine of Light Literature vol. I, no. 1, pp. 47-54 — (This printing includes a facsimile of the manuscript for the beginning of scene 2. The facsimile is not included with the printing in the Southern Magazine.)
• “Politian” — 1888 — The Complete Poetical Works and Essays on Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Warne and Co., London and New York, edited by John H. Ingram (pp. 45-64) — (Mabbott text J) — (Ingram reprints the same scenes as from RAOP, with a note that although he had obtained much of the original manuscript “the work is a hasty and unrevised production of its author's earlier days of literary labor” and consequently “it is not considered just to the poet's memory to publish it.” He does offer what he calls a portion of the first scene of Act II, as “a specimen.” Whitty reprints this portion in his 1917 edition. Mabbott gives this portion of the text as scene V.)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:49-74, and pp. 187-188) — [This edition reprints the same scenes included in RAOP.]
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:59-79, and 10:194-197) — [This edition reprints the same scenes included in RAOP.]
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (pp. 40-59, and pp. 226-230) — [This edition reprints the same scenes included in the Southern Literary Messenger, but see the 1917 revised reprint.]
• [“Transcript of a scene from ‘Politian’ ”] — Nov.-Dec. 1912 — The Autograph (features a somewhat innacurate transcript of scene XI) — (Mabbott text L)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — about May 1917 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (pp. 40-59, and pp. 258-262, with additional material pp. 324-327) (second edition) — (Mabbott text M) — [In an addendum of notes, Whitty newly reprints the additional material from Ingram's 1888 text, accepting Ingram's claim that it was a portion of scene II. Mabbott gives this portion of the text as scene V. It is likely that Whitty was made aware of this additional text by reading the reference in Campbell's note to Scene II, at the bottom of p. 230.]
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 80-100, and pp. 227-233) — [This edition reprints the same scenes included in the “J. L. Graham” copy of RAOP, with no additional material from the manuscript.]
• “Politian” — 1923 — Politian — (Mabbott text N) — [This version was edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott. The same order of scenes is retained in his 1969 edition of Poe's poems, below. The first edition, published by the Edgar Allan Poe Shrine in Richmond, was limited to 200 copies. The second edition, published by Collegiate Press in Menasha, Wisconsin, was limited to 150 copies. The second edition is cited as Mabbott's “thesis, submited in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the faculty of Philosophy, Columbia University.” The contents of both editions are identical except that the thesis adds a short vita.]
• “Politian” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (pp. 63-84, and pp. 245-251) — (Mabbott text P) — [This version was edited by Floyd Stovall, and sequences the scenes somewhat differently than does Mabbott. Stovall gives, in his main text, the scenes as Poe published them in 1845, but also the full text in the notes. In the full version, Stovall divides the 11 scenes as parts of 4 acts, with several differences from the order assigned by Mabbott. The correspondence of Stovall to Mabbott, with Stovall's scenes in parentheses after the act, is as follows: I(1)=I, I(2)=II, I(3)=IV, II(1)=III, II(2)=V, II(3)=VI, III(1)=VII, III(2)=IX, IV(1)=VIII, IV(2)=X, IV(3)=XI. Stovall breaks II(3), inserting a fragment that Mabbott gives in a note as “cancelled.”]
• “Politian” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:241-298) — [This version was edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, relying on the various parts to create the “full” text. Mabbott gives 11 scenes or acts, using both words interchangeably. What he provides as scenes I-II, V, VIII, and X-XI are from the manuscript; scenes III-IV, VI-VII, and IX are from RAOP, in the same order as Poe gives them, but with IV from the “J. L. Graham” copy of RAOP with a minor change marked by Poe.]
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (pp. 107-122) (reprints Text-04)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “Scenes from ’Politian’” — Study Text (RAOP-JLG) (scene II only, the only portion to have changes marked by Poe)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Politien” — 1862 — Contes inedts d‘Edgar Poe, Paris: J. Hetzel, pp. 249-281 (French translation by William L. Hughes)
• “Scenes de Politian” — 1908 — Bibliothèque des poètes fraçais et étrangers: Edgar-A. Poë, Paris: Louis-Michaud (French translation by Victor Orban)
• “Politien” — 1926 — Politien: Drame Romantique Inedit Paris: Emile-Paul Freres (French Translation by H. R. Woestyn, presumably based on the English edition prepared by T. O. Mabbott in 1923) (issued in a limited edition of 1,500 copies) (The translator is probably Henri Roger Woestyn, who is noted as one of the partners of publishing firm of Ransom, Woestyn, and Coy in the London Gazette of October 11, 1898. The firm was disolved on Oct. 5, 1898, with Woestyn assuming all financial obligations.)

• Anonymous, “J. P. Morgan buys Rare Manuscripts; Gets Wakeman Collection of Poe, Thoreau, Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, and Bryant,” New York Times, October 27, 1909
• Branam, Amy C., “Gothic Displacements" Poe's South in Politian,” Edgar Allan Poe: Beyond Gothicism, ed. James M. Hutchisson, Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2011, pp. 69-87.
• 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.