Edgar Allan Poe — “Four Beasts in One”

Reading copy:

• “Four Beasts in One” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “Epimanes” — early 1833 — (There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition. Further evidence that Poe had such documents may be surmised that Poe must have retained a manuscript as the Buckinghams appear never to have returned Poe's letter, and Poe would need to have a copy of the text, which was later printed in the Southern Literary Messenger. This manuscript is lost, but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02.)
• Text-02 — “Epimanes” — May 4, 1833 — “Buckingham” manuscript — (Mabbott text A) (Sent by Poe to John Tinker Buckingham; John Stieler (moved back to Germany); Florence and George Blumenthal; A. W. S. Rosenbach (attempting to sell for the Blumenthals); Gabriel Wells (sold through Chaucer Head Bookshop to H. B. Martin); H. Bradley Martin (sold in 1990); Stephan Lowentheill (19th Century Bookshop); Susan Jaffe Tane
• Text-03 — “Epimanes” — about June 1835 — lost “Carey” manuscript (In a letter of September 11, 1835, written to John P. Kennedy, Poe stated that he had sent Henry Carey a manuscript for a tale to replace “MS. found in a Bottle,” specifically naming the new tale as “Epimanes.” On May 18, 1835, H. Carey wrote to J. P. Kennedy, noting that Poe had told him that “MS. found in a Bottle” had already been published, and saying that he had asked Poe to send him “something good in its stead.” Poe apparently responded by sending the “Epimanes” manuscript. On November 29, 1835, Carey and Lea wrote to Poe that they were unable to find the manuscript for which he had requested a return. Although the name is not specified, it was presumably the manuscript of “Epimanes” that Poe had sent to H. Carey. This manuscript is lost, but this version is presumably recorded in Text-04.)
• Text-04 — “Epimanes” — early 1836
  • Text-04a — “Epimanes” — before March 1836 — (Speculated new manuscript prepared for publication in the Southern Literary Messenger. By this time, Poe was in Richmond and actively fulfilling his role as an editor of the magazine. Consequently, Poe did not need to appeal to another editor, and he had direct contact with the typesetters. Under such circumstances, it is possible that Poe was able to make use of his original draft manuscript, perhaps making some additional changes on proof pages.)
  • Text-04b — “Epimanes” — March 1836 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text B)
• Text-05 — “Epimanes” — about 1839
  • Text-05a — “Epimanes” — about 1839 — (although these pages in the Duane copy of the Southern Literary Messenger show no sign of changes, the version published in TGA shows verbal modifications, which suggests an intermediary form. It is likely, therefore, that Poe made changes in copies other than those which were ultimately owned by Duane, and that those copies have not been located and possibly have not survived. Poe appears to have attempted to erase his changes in the Duane copies, and it is possible that a copy exists in which these erased changes have been overlooked. This missing text is presumably reflected in text-06.)
  • Text-05b — “Epimanes” — 1840 — TGA — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-06 — “The Homocameleopard/Four Beasts in One” — 1842-1845
  • Text-06a — “The Homocameleopard” — 1842 — manuscript title revision in TGAPP (volume II, which seems to have had revisions by Poe, is lost, but this version is presumably recorded in Text-06b)
  • Text-06b — “Four Beasts in One” — December 6, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text D)
• Text-07 — “Four Beasts in One” — 1845-1849
  • Text-07a — “Four Beasts in One” — 1845-1849 (speculated copy of Text-08 with manuscript revisions made by Poe. This copy has apparently not survived, but is presumably reflected in Text-10.)
  • Text-07b — “Four Beasts in One” — 1850 — WORKS (Mabbott text E — This is Mabbott's copy-text. Mabbott selects this text based on “one superior reading,” which he does not specify. In addition to a number of corrections, which might be editorial in nature, the fussy changes to indentation in the poems suggests that they were made by Poe and not Griswold or his typesetters.)

Reprints:

• “Four Beasts in One” — 1867 — Prose Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, second series (New York: W. J. Widdleton), pp. 169-176 (This collection is extracted from the 1850-1856 edition of Poe's Works. It was reprinted several times.)
• “Four Beasts in One” — 1874 — Works of Edgar A. Poe, edited by J. H. Ingram (vol. II, pp. 385-393) (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Four Beasts in One” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 4: Tales, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (4:92-102) (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)
• “Four Beasts in One; the Homo-Cameleopard” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales I, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (2:203-213, and 2:375-377)
• “Epimanes (Four Beasts in One)” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales & Sketches I, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (2:117-130)
• “Four Beasts in One— The Homo-Cameleopard” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America), pp. 181-188

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “Epimanes” — Study Text (Buckingham MS) (only one change was made in manuscript)
• “Epimanes” — Comparative Text (Buckingham MS and SLM)
• “Epimanes” — Comparative Text (SLM and TGA)
• “Epimanes” — Comparative Text (TGA and BJ)
• “Four Beasts in One (Epimanes)” — Comparative Text (BJ and WORKS)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Quatre bêtes en une” — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)
  • “L‘Homme caméléopard ou Quatre bêtes en une” — July 28, 1854 — Le Pays
  • “Quatre bêtes en une” — 1857 — Nouvelles histoires par Edgar Poe, Paris: Michel Lévy frères

• Heartman, Charles F., “A Remarkable Addition to the Poe Census,” American Book Collector (Metuchen, NJ), vol. III, no. 4, April 1933, p. 246
• 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.
• Itoh, Shoko, “Urbanity in Poe,” Chu-Shikoku Studies in American Literature (1986), 22:5-13.
• Lecompte, C. “ ‘The Homeo-Cameleopard’ ou la mort de Dieu,” Delta: Revue de Centre d‘Edtdes et le Recherche sur les Ecrivains du Sud aux Etats-Units (1975), 1:83-94.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.
• Whipple, William, “Poe's Political Satire,” University of Texas Studies in English (1956), 35:81-95.
• Wyllie, John Cooke, “A List of the Texts of Poe's Tales,” Humanistic Studies in Honor of John Calvin Metcalf, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1941, pp. 322-338.