Edgar Allan Poe — “Eulalie”

Reading copy:

• “Eulalie” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “Eulalie” — about January-February 1843  — “Hirst” manuscript — (Mabbott texts A and Z)  (U. of TX) (Mabbott dates this manuscript as 1844, but a study of the text suggests that it precedes Text-02, which is probably authentic and clearly dates from early in February 1843.)
• Text-02 — “Eulalie” — about February 16, 1843 — “Carter” manuscript — (Mabbott text Y)  (Lilly Library, Indiana U.) [Mabbott questioned the authenticity of this manuscript, but his argument seems based chiefly on the fact that it predates what he considered the material that inspired Poe to write the poem. According to Harry Stone, the bookdealer who sold the manuscript in August 1930 to J. K. Lilly for $9,500, the manuscript was “for many years in the collection of the late Honorable John Boyd Thatcher (1847-1909) of Albany from whence it passed into the hands of W. H. Lauderdale a New York Collector who consigned it to the dealer from whom we bought it and from whom this information comes” (see Randall, p. 21). The manuscript was present in the auction of the autograph collection of Edward Henry Leffingwell (1803-1888), of New Haven, CT. (Leffingwell was a graduate of Yale and a professor of chemistry at the University of Missouri, but was forced by ill health to retire in 1853 and return to his home town, where he was an active member of the historical society. His collection was given to his neice, who had been adopted as his legal heir.) The Libbie & Co. catalog is dated January 6, 1891, and the letter is listed as item 116 (with the poem identified and the first stanza quoted). An article in Indianapolis Journal (reprinted from the Boston Transcript), notes that the letter was the highlight of the sale and that it sold for $255, being purchased by William E. Benjamin. A clear reference to the mansucript in 1891 would date it several decades prior to the active period of Joseph Cosey, the most likely forger capable of creating such a skillful fake. Thatcher (a politician, author and prominent collector of autographs) very likely acquired the manuscript from a dealer following Robert Carter's death in 1879. The letter that accompanied the manuscript is endorsed as having been received on February 16, 1843, so Poe obviously wrote it prior to this date.]
• Text-03 — “Eulalie” — probably about late 1843 - March 1844 — “Stuart” manuscript — (Mabbott text F)  (New York Public Library)  (This is Mabbott's copy-text) (This manuscript is written on pale blue paper. Pasted on the lower right corner of the page is a strip of white paper, apparently clipped from an unidentified letter, bearing the salutation and signature “Respt. Yr. Ob. St. Edgar A. Poe.” It was donated to the New York Public Library in 1892 as part of the library of Robert L. Stuart (1806-1882). Stuart was a very prominent businessman in New York City, owner of one of the largest sugar refineries in the US. At his death, his estate was valued at $5,000,000-6,000,000. He appears to have been an avid collector of autographs. The fact that the manuscript of “Eulalie” is signed by Poe indicates that it was presented by the author as an autograph, and it may be that Stuart obtained it directly from Poe. If so, it would have been after February 1847 as the back of the manuscript includes the text of the lines now titled “Deep in Earth,” which is presumably about the death of Virginia. It is not clear whether Poe wrote these lines on the back of the existing manuscript for “Eulalie” or the manuscript was written as an autograph on what Poe thought was a blank page. Because “Deep in Earth” is written in pencil, Poe may not have noticed it. Mabbott (1969, 1:348) dates the manuscript as 1846, without explanation.)
• Text-04 — “Eulalie — A Song” — about March-May 1845 — “Colton” manuscript — (Mabbott text D)  (private collection) (This manuscript originally belonged to George Hooker Colton (1818-1847), the editor and publisher of the American Review. After his death, the manuscript passed to his brother, Isaac Cowles Colton (1812-about 1900), who served as the executor of his estate, and ultimately to his nephew, Arthur Willis Colton (1868-1943), one of the seven children of Rev. Willis S. Colton (1819-1887). Arthur Willis Colton was a graduate of Yale, obtaining his Ph.D in 1893, and a published writer. A. W. Colton gave the manuscript to the Graduate Club about 1894, which eventually put it up for sale. It was purchased in 1993 by Susan Jaffe Tane, the present owner. Cullen B. Colton noted in 1938 (p. 328, n23) that of the various manuscripts submitted to the Review, only the one for “Eulalie” could be located after G. H. Colton's death.)
• Text-05 — “Eulalie — A Song” — July 1845 — American Review — (Mabbott text B)
• Text-06 — “Eulalie — A Song” — before August 9, 1845 — (speculated copy of the American Review with minor manuscript changes in preparation for reprinting in the Broadway Journal. This copy has not survived, but is presumably recorded in Text-07. Because the changes made are minor, it is possible that they were made in proof to the newly set type for the Broadway Journal, but it seems unlikely that Poe would have given the typesetter copy with the error of “morn-tint” for “moon-tint.”)
• Text-07 — “Eulalie — A Song” — August 9, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-08 — “Eulalie — A Song” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text E) (RAOP was published on November 19, 1845) (This version is essentially a reprint of Text-06, carrying the exclamation point added to line 8) (For Griswold's 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)
• Text-09 — “Eulalie — A Song” — 1846-1849 — one manuscript revision in Graham copy of RAOP (Poe marks the “u” in “vapour” for deletion, replacing the English spelling with the American one) — (Mabbott text G)

Reprints:

• “Eulalie” — 1850 — WORKS — Griswold merely reprints Text-08, from the stereoplates of RAOP, retaining the spelling of “vapour”)   (Mabbott text H)
• “Eulalie” — 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), first series pp. 251-252. (with no woodcut illustration) (this poem was omitted in some later printings)
• “Eulalie” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:30-31)
• “Eulalie” — June 3, 1893 — Morning News (Savannah, GA), no volume or issue number, p. 4, col. 5 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”
• “Eulalie” — December 31, 1893 — Philadelphia Times (Philadelphia, PA), (no volume number), whole no. 6672, p. 13, col. 7 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe,” but omitting the title and the first stanza)
• “Eulalie” — February 14, 1904 — Pittsburg Post (Pittsburg, PA), vol. 62 (no issue number), p. 38, col. 7 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”
• “Eulalie” — September 20, 1910 — Star-Independent (Harrisburg, PA), vol. 68, no. 92, p. 6, col. 6
• “Eulalie” — December 1914 — Victor H[ugo]. Paltsits (1867-1952), “Two Manuscripts in The New York Public Library — Part I: The Manuscript of Poe's ‘Eulalie’,” Bulletin of the New York Public Library (18:1461-1463) (a facsimile of the manuscript is provided as a frontispiece to the issue) (Paltsits was an archivist for the library, designated as the Keeper of Manuscripts.)
• “Eulalie” — 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 (facing p. 158) (prints a photographic facsimile, as item 50) (The manuscript is reproduced from the copy Yale University Library, deposited by the Graduate Club, a gift of Arthur Willis Colton)
• “Eulalie” — 2006 — Susan Jaffe Tane, Nevermore: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection of Susan Jaffe Tane, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library (facing p. 17) (prints a photographic facsimile, in color)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Eulalie” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:36, and 10:182)
• “Eulalie” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:91, and 10:206)
• “Eulalie — A Song” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (p. 32, and p. 222)
• “Eulalie — A Song” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (p. 114, and pp. 259-261)
• “Eulalie” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 100, and pp. 266-267)
• “Eulalie” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:347-350)
• “Eulalie” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (pp. 80-81) (reprints Text-06)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “Eulalie — A Song” — Study Text (RAOP-JLG)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

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

• Colton, Cullen B., “George Hooker Colton and the Publication of ‘The Raven’,” American Literature, vol. X, no. 3, November 1938, pp. 319-330 (footnote 23, on p. 328 provides some details about the manuscript of “Eulalie.”)
• 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.
• Paltsits, Victor Hugo, “Two Manuscripts in The New York Public Library — Part I: The Manuscript of Poe's ‘Eulalie’,” Bulletin of the New York Public Library (18:1461-1463) (The first manuscript is “Eulalie,” and the second a notebook by Wm. Makepeace Thackeray)
• Randall, David A., The J. K. Lilly Collection of Edgar Allan Poe: An Account of Its Formation, published for the Bookmen of Indiana by the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Christmas, 1964.
• Savoye, Jeffrey A., “Dating ‘Eulalie’: A Reevaluation of Poe's Manuscripts,” Edgar Allan Poe Review, vol. 18, no. 1 (Spring 2017), pp. 1-14
• Tane, Susan J., Nevermore: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection of Susan Jaffe Tane, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library, 2006, pp. 16-17.