Edgar Allan Poe — “Sonnet — To Zante”

Reading copy:

• “Sonnet — To Zante” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “[Sonnet — To Zante]” — late 1836 — [There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition. Mabbott makes no statements that would assign a date of composition. Poe had been printing material in the Southern Literary Messenger with some regularity up to this point, so we may presume a date of composition fairly close to the date of publication.]
• Text-02 — “Sonnet — To Zante” — 1836-1837
  • Text-02a — “Sonnet — To Zante” — late 1836 — [Speculated faircopy manuscipt that Poe prepared for publication. This manuscript has not survived, but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02b.]
  • Text-02b — “Sonnet — To Zante” — January 1837, text “A” — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text A) — [The Poe Log (p. 241) states that the January 1837 issue was available after January 26, 1837.]
• Text-03 — “To Zante” — November 6, 1840 — “Stoddard” manuscript — (Mabbott text B) — [Poe appears to have simply copied the text from the Southern Literary Messenger.]
• Text-04 — “Sonnet — To Zante” — February 25 and March 4, 1843 — Saturday Museum — (Mabbott text C) — [It is likely that Poe simply used a copy of the printing from the Southern Literary Messenger, with no changes marked. 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 — “Sonnet — To Zante” — February 25, 1843
  • Text-04b — “Sonnet — To Zante” — March 4, 1843 (reprinted from February 25, 1843)
• Text-05 — “Sonnet — To Zante” — July 19, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text D)
• Text-06 — “Sonnet — To Zante” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text E) (for Griswold's 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)
• Text-07 — “ Sonnet — To Zante” — 1849 — in “A Reviewer Reviewed” manscript — (Mabbott text F)
• Text-08 — “To Zante” — late 1849 — Poets and Poetry of America (10th edition, dated 1850) — (Mabbott text G)

Reprints:

• “To Zante” — 1850 — WORKS — (Griswold reprints Text-06 from the stereotype plates, but trims the title, probably editorially)  (Mabbott text H — This is Mabbott's copy-text)
• “To Zante” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:30)
• “To Zante” — 1889 — American Sonnets, ed. William Sharp, London, Walter Scott (p. 178)
• “To Zante” — 1891 — Scribner's February 1891, 9:224 (a facsimile of the manuscript is reproduced as part of Stoddard's article “A Box of Autographs.”)
• “To Zante” — 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 (inserted between pp. 163-164) (prints a photographic facsimile, although somewhat indistinct, as item 41)
• “To Zante” — January 30-31, 1990 — Sotheby's (NY) sale catalog (H. B. Martin) (item 2222) (prints a transcript from the original manuscript of the letter)
• “To Zante” — 2006 — Susan Jaffe Tane, Nevermore: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection of Susan Jaffe Tane, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library (facing p. 15) (prints a photographic facsimile, in color, although somewhat indistinct as the manuscript has faded)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “To Zante” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:24, and pp. 176-177)
• “Sonnet to Zante” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:80, and 10:197-198)
• “Sonnet — To Zante” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (p. 28, and p. 218)
• “Sonnet — To Zante” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (p. 102, and pp. 235-236)
• “Sonnet — To Zante” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 87, and p. 253)
• “To Zante” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:310-312)
• “Sonnet — To Zante” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (p. 75) (reprints Text-06)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “To Zante” — before May 1893 — Punch (a parody of the poem, quoted as “From ‘Punch’ ” as “An Appeal. After E. A. Poe.” in the Yorkshire Herald, May 5, 1893, p. 2)
• “A Zante” — 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.
• Pollin, Burton R., “Poe's 'sonnet — To Zante‘: Sources and Associations,” Comparative Literature Studies, September 1968, 5:303-315