Edgar Allan Poe — “The Black Cat”

Reading copy:

• “The Black Cat” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “The Black Cat” — late 1842 or early 1843 (There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition. Based largely on the recollection of F. O. C. Darley, Mabbott (T&S, 3:848) assigns the date as “written late in 1842.” It seems likely that the story, along with “The Gold Bug,” was written with the intention of being first published in Poe's own proposed magazine. Once Poe abandoned his plans, in part due a need for immediate cash, he sold both stories to existing periodicals.)
• Text-02 — “The Black Cat” — late 1842 or early 1843
  • Text-02a — “The Black Cat” — late 1842 or early 1843 — roll MS, not seen since 1843, and almost surely lost after the printing, although this version is presumably recorded in Text-02b. F. O. C. Darley wrote to G. E. Woodberry on February 26, 1884 that he could still “remember his reading his ‘Gold Bug’ and ‘Black Cat’ to me before they were published. The form of his manuscript was peculiar: he wrote on half sheets of note paper, which he pasted together at the ends, making one continuous piece, which he rolled up tightly. As he read he dropped it upon the floor. It was very neatly written, and without corrections, apparently” (Woodberry, 1885, p. 181, and repeated, 1909, 2:2-3). In a letter to Ezra Holden of August 26, 1843, Poe comments that “Patterson, of the ‘Post,’ gave me, some weeks ago, for ‘The Black Cat,’ 20$.” That letter only shows when Poe sold the story, presumably some time after it has actually been written. As was typical, the manuscript was probably destroyed in setting type for Text-02.)
  • Text-02b — “The Black Cat” — August 19, 1843 — United States Saturday Post  — (Mabbott text A)
• Text-03 — “The Black Cat” — 1843-1845
  • Text-03a — “The Black Cat” — 1843-1845 — (speculated copy of United States Saturday Post with manuscript changes made by Poe. This copy has not survived, but is presumably recorded in Text-04)
  • Text-03b — “The Black Cat” — 1845 — TALES — (Mabbott text B — This is Mabbott's copy-text) (Poe made no changes to this tale in his personal copy of the book, the J. L. Graham copy) (For Griswold's 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)
• Text-04 — “The Black Cat” — 1845-1848
  • Text-04a — “The Black Cat” — 1845-1848 — (speculated copy of the 1845 TALES with minor manuscript changes made by Poe. This copy has not survived, but is presumably recorded in Text-06. The existence of such a copy presumes that Poe authorized the reprint of the three year old tale, which had not been widely copied.)
  • Text-04b — “The Black Cat” — November 1848 — Pictorial National Library — (Mabbott text C)  (Mabbott suggests that the changes in this version are “unauthorized,” but “just short of absolute certainty” and thus he records the variants)

Reprints:

• “The Black Cat” — August 25, 1843 — Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), vol. XIII, no. 76, p. 1, cols. 3-5 (acknowledged as reprinted from Text-02)
• “The Black Cat” — September 16, 1843 — Pensacola Gazette (Pensacola, FL), p. 1 (acknowledged as by Edgar A. Poe) (Information for this entry was provided to the Poe Society by Ton Fafianie in an e-mail dated May 5, 2019)
• “The Black Cat” — 1850 — WORKS — Griswold reprints Text-04 (from stereotype plates, and thus with no opportunity for revisions)  — (Mabbott text D)
• “The Black Cat” — 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 pp. 94-105. (with 1 woodcut illustration)
• “The Black Cat: A Murderer's Confession” — September 28, 1861 — Hamilton Spectator (Hamilton, Victoria, Austrailia), no. 115, p. 4, cols. 5-6 (without any acknowledgment of the source or author.)
• “The Black Cat” — August 2, 1866 — the Stirling Observer (Stirling, Scotland, UK), p. 6, possibly cols. 3-6
• “The Black Cat” — 1867 — Prose Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, first series (New York: W. J. Widdleton), pp. 281-290 (This collection is extracted from the 1850-1856 edition of Poe's Works. It was reprinted several times.)
• “The Black Cat” — June 3, 1870 — Columbian (Bloomsburg, PA), vol. 34, no. 15, cols. 4-8, front page (Poe is not mentioned as the author)
• “The Black Cat” — 1874 — Works of Edgar A. Poe, edited by J. H. Ingram, vol. 1, pp. 168-178 (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)
• “The Black Cat” — January 4, 1874 — Brooklyn Sunday Sun (Brooklyn, NY), vol. I, no. 7, p. 2, cols. 1-4 (without any acknowledgment of the source or author.)
• “The Black Cat” — December 4, 1875 — Albany Evening Times (Albany, NY), vol. XIX (no issue number), p. 1, cols. 3-5
• “The Black Cat” — December 7, 1875 — Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY), vol. 5 No. 42, whole no. 1279, front page, col. 7, continued on p. 4
• “The Black Cat” — January 7, 1876 — Cortland County Democrat (Cortland, NY), vol. 12 No. 39, front page, cols. 4-7
• “The Black Cat” — April 2, 1877 — Lancaster Intelligencer (Lancaster, PA), vol. XIII, no. 177, p. 1, cols. 4-7 (acknowledged being written by “Edgar A. Poe”)
• “The Black Cat” — April 8, 1880 — Union Republican (Winston, NC), vol. 9, no. 15, p. 1, cols. 1-5 (acknowledged being written by “Edgar A. Poe”)
• “The Black Cat” — November 6, 1883 — Staunton Spectator (Staunton, VA), vol. 61 No. 8, cols. 4-6, front page
• “The Black Cat” — November 18, 1887 — Evening Chronicle (Newcastle upon Tyne, England), no. 639, p. 2, cols. 5-6 (acknowledged being written by “Edgar Allan Poe” and under the heading “Tales of the Mysterious”)
• “The Black Cat” — October 7, 1888 — Daily American (Nashville, TN), vol. XIV, whole no. 4,411, p. 12, cols. 1-4 (acknowledged being written by “Edgar A. Poe” and with two somewhat crude woodcut illustrations, one just being the head of a one-eyed cat. Somewhat ironically, the story is accompanied by a short story written for the newspaper, with the title “The Thin Kitten” by Alice Archer)
• “The Black Cat” — January 2, 1890 — Palmyra Spectator (Palmyra, Missouri), vol. XXVIII, no. 39, p. 1, cols. 3-6 (acknowledged being written by “Edgar Allan Poe”)
• “The Black Cat” — June 20, 1891 — Democratic Advocate (Westminster, MD), vol. 26, No. 33, cols. 5-8, front page
• “The Black Cat” — August 17, 1892 — Elmira Star and Free Press (Elmira, NY), vol. LXVIII, no. 194, p. 3, cols. 3-4 (acknowledged as from “Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories”)
• “The Black Cat” — August 20, 1892 — Sunny South (Atlanta, GA), vol. XIX, no. 865, p. 4, cols. 1-2 (acknowledged as by “Edgar A. Poe”)
• “The Black Cat” — April 19, 1893 — North Platte Tribune (North Platte, NE), vol. 9, No. 15, p. 1, cols. 5-8 and p. 4, col. 4 (with three woodcut illustrations) (reprinted in the same issue is Poe's “The Purloined Letter,” both acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — April 25-26, 1893 — Cortland Evening Standard (Cortland, NY),
  • “The Black Cat” — April 25, 1893 — Cortland Evening Standard (Cortland, NY), whole no. 350, p. 6, cols. 2-4 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe” and with two woodcut illustrations)
  • “The Black Cat” — April 26, 1893 — Cortland Evening Standard (Cortland, NY), whole no. 351, p. 6, cols. 2-3 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe” and with one woodcut illustration)
• “The Black Cat” — May 6, 1893 — Meriden Daily Journal (Meriden, CN), vol. XI, no. 327, p. 14, cols. 2-5 (with three woodcut illustrations) (reprinted in the same issue as several of of Poe's short stories, all acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — May 6, 1893 — True Citizen (Waynesboro, GA), vol. 12, No. 2, p. 2, cols. 1-4 (with three woodcut illustrations, and acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — May 7, 1893 — Morning Star (Wilmington, NC), vol. LII, no. 34, whole no. 8,130, p. 3, cols. 2-3 (with one woodcut illustration) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — May 13, 1893 — Vermont Journal (Winsor, VT), vol. XLVIII, no. 19, p. 2, cols. 1-4 (with three woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — May 19, 1893 — Weekly Star (Wilmington, NC), vol. XXIV, no. 27, p. 3, cols. 1-4 (with three woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — May 31, 1893 — Wellsboro Agitator (Wellsboro, PA), vol. XL, no. 22, whole no. 2,053, p. 1, cols. 4-7 (with three woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allen [[Allan]] Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — June 3, 1893 — Cayuga Chief (Weedsport, NY), vol. XVII, No. 1, p. 1, cols. 3-7 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe,” and with three woodcut illustrations)
• “The Black Cat” — June 13, 1893 — Redwood Gazette (Redwood Falls, MN), vol. 24, No. 47, p. 1, cols. 2-3 and p. 8, cols. 2-4 (with three woodcut illustrations, and acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — July 1, 1893 — Lancaster Intelligencer (Wellsboro, PA), vol. 96, no. 27, p. 3, cols. 1-4 (with three woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — July 6, 1893 — Ontario Repository-Messenger (Canadaigua, NY), vol. 92, No. 27, p. 2, cols. 1-4 (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe”)
• “The Black Cat” — July 13, 1893 — Redwood Gazette (Redwood Falls, Minnesota), vol. XXIV, no. 47, p. 1, cols. 2-3 (with one woodcut illustration) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — August 19, 1893 — Fairbury Gazette (Fairbgury, NE), vol. XXIII, no. 47, p. 2, cols. 1-4 (with three woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — September 9, 1893 — Daily Journal (Freeport, IL), vol. 15, no. 209, p. 3, cols. 1-3 (with four woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — September 15, 1893 — Clinton Public (Clinton, IL), vol. XXXVII, no. 37, p. 2, cols. 2-5 (with four woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — September 29, 1893 — Star and Kansan (Independence Lancaster, KS), p. 4, cols. 2-4 (acknowledged being written by “Edgar Allan Poe” and with 4 somewhat rough woodcut illustrations)
• “The Black Cat” — October 6, 1893 — Cambridge Transcript (Cambridge, VT), vol. VII, no. 19, whole no. 333, p. 7, cols. 2-3 (with four woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — October 6, 1893 — Burlington Clipper (Burlington, VT), vol. XX, no. 31, p. 7, cols. 2-5 (with four woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — November 8, 1893 — Reading Times (Reading, PA), vol. 73, no. 31, p. 3, cols. 2-5 (with four woodcut illustrations) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe.”)
• “The Black Cat” — December 15-16, 1893 — Racine Daily Journal (Racine, WI) (acknowledged as by “Edgar Allan Poe”)
  • “The Black Cat” — December 15, 1893 — vol. XXVI, no. 295, p. 2, cols. 3-4 (with two illustrations)
  • “The Black Cat” — December 16, 1893 — Racine Journal-Times (Racine, WI), vol. XXVI, no. 296, p. 2, cols. 3-4 (with two illustrations) (printed along side “The Cask of Amontillado.”)
• “The Black Cat” — 1893 — The Encore Reciter; Humorous, Serious and Dramatic Selections, compiled and edited by F. E. Marshall Steele (London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co.), pp. 232-235 (noted at the end as abridged, and by Edgar Allan Poe. Also includes four other tales by Poe.)
• “The Black Cat” — 1911 — Sunday American's Summer Library of Gems of Short Fiction, No. 3 — (printed by and distributed free to subscribers of the New York American Journal Examiner, this thin pamphlet is printed on very bad, pulp paper. It features an illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. This number also includes “Mliss” by Bret Harte.)
• “The Black Cat” — October 19, 1914 — New York: Winthrop Press (edited by John H. Eggers) (miniature edition, illustrated, in black and white, and color) (copyrighted October 8, 1914)
• “The Black Cat” — 1945 — “Come Not, Lucifer!” A Romantic Anthology, London: John Westhouse (this general anthology of short stories includes three selections from Poe, the present tale, “The Case of M. Valdemar,” and “King Pest.” It is illustrated by Rolf A. Brandt (1906-1986), best known as a surrealist. The editor is listed as Gerald Verner, which is actually one of the pseudonyms used by John Robert Stuart Pringle (1897-1980). In addition to being an editor, he wrote a number of stories generally categorized as thrillers.)
• “The Black Cat” — 1947 — Cats in Prose and Verse, compiled by Nelson Antrim Crawford and illustrated by Diana Thorne, New York: Coward McCann, Inc, pp. 120-129. (This is the only work by Poe in the collection; it leads the section with the sub-title “The Supernatural Cat.”)
• “The Black Cat” — 1965 — Basil Rathbone Selects Strange Tales, New York: Belmont, pp. 7-17. (This is the only story by Poe in the collection.)
• “The Black Cat” — Spring 1972 — Saturday Evening Post (magazine format)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “The Black Cat” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (2:42-54)
• “The Black Cat” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 5: Tales IV, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (5:143-155, and 5:322)
• “The Black Cat” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales & Sketches II, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (3:847-860)
• “The Black Cat” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America), pp. 597-606
• “The Black Cat” — 2015 — The Annotated Poe, ed. Kevin J. Hayes (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press), pp. 306-317

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “The Black Cat” — Comparative Text (SEP and TALES)
• “The Black Cat” — Comparative Text (TALES and Pictorial National Library)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Le Chat Noir” — January 27, 1847 — La Démocratie Pacifique  (French translation signed “Isabelle Meunier”)
• “[El gato negro]” — April 28, 1847 — El instructor peruanao — (Spanish article with summary and translation of passages in “Cuentos de Edgar A. Poe,” by an anonymous translator, published in Peru.) (noted in Translated Poe, p. 330, n. 10)
• “[The Black Cat]” — 1855 — Fortaellinger [Tales] (Copenhagen)  (Danish translation, noted by Anderson, p. 14)
• “Le chat noir” — November 16, 1853 — Chronique de France  (French translation by Paul Roger)
• “Le chat noir” — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)
  • “Le chat noir” — November 13-14, 1853 — Paris
    • “Le chat noir” — Part I — November 13, 1853
    • “Le chat noir” — Part II — November 14, 1853
  • “Le chat noir” — July 31 - August 1, 1854 — Le Pays
    • “Le chat noir” — Part I — July 31, 1854
    • “Le chat noir” — Part II — August 1, 1854
• “Le chat noir” — 1857 — Nouvelles histoires par Edgar Poe, Paris: Michel Lévy frères
• “[The Black Cat]” — 1868 — Phantastiske Fortaellinger [Fantastic Tales] (Copenhagen)  (Danish translation by Robert Watt, noted by Anderson, p. 14)
• “[The Black Cat]” — 1881 — Underliga historier  (Stockholm)  (Swedish translation, noted by Anderson, p. 54)
• “[The Black Cat]” — 1882 — Valda noveller  (Stockholm)  (Swedish translation, noted by Anderson, p. 54)
• “The Black Cat” — November 3 and 9, 1888 — Yomiuri Shimbun  (Japanese translation by Aeba Koson)
• “Like Poe's Black Cat” — September 23, 1897 — Evening Journal (Wilmington, DE), p. 4, col. 1 (This news story recounts the murder of William Guldensuppe, a massuser, by Mrs. Augusta Nack, a landlady and occassional mid-wife, recently estranged from her husband, and Martin Thorn, a barber and a rival for Mrs. Nack's attentions. The article provides an extended summary of Poe's tale, and claims that the murderer was compelled to confess, in Poesque manner. A somewhat more accurate account would note that Mrs. Nack confessed while Thorn refused to admit his role in the crime. Both were found guilty. Mrs. Nack was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, of which she served nine. Martin Thorn was executed in the electric chair, in Sing Sing, on August 1, 1898. The article might have done better invoking “The Imp of the Perverse,” and, in the dismembering of the body to conceal the crime, instead recalling “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Guldensuppe’s severed body was thrown in New York's East River, although the head was, which had been encased in plaster, was never found.)
• “Crippen's Case and Poe's Tale” — August 4, 1910 — Bluefield Evening Leader (Bluefield, WV), p. 4, col. 2 (This news story, taken from the Richmond Journal, is chiefly a summary of Poe's “The Black Cat,” with a slight attempt to connect the tale to the murder by Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen of his wife, Cora Crippen, in the midst of an affair with a younger woman, Ethel Neave, killed his wife and buried her torso under the brick floor of the cellar. What became of her head and limbs was never determined. Dr. Crippen was caught trying to flee on a boat to America on the ship Montrose, with Ethel disguised as a boy. When caught, Dr. Crippen is reported to have expressed relief: “Thank God it's over. The suspense has been too great. I couldn't stand it any longer.” Crippen, found guilty of murder after only 27 minutes of deliberation by the jury, was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London on November 23, 1910. Ethel was allowed to emigrate to the United States, but eventually returned to England and died in 1967. A waxwork model of Dr. Crippen was on display in Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors in London until 2016.)
• “De Zwarte Kat” — about 1930 — Fantastische Vertellingen van Edgar Allan Poe, Haarlem: H. D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon (Dutch translation by Machiel Elias Barentz, with elaborate illustrations by Albert Hahn, somewhat reminiscent of those by Harry Clarke)
• “ ‘The Black Cat,’ Poe's Horror Masterpiece — in Real Life” — July 11, 1943 — Detroit Evening Times (Detroit, MI), p. 9 (This news story claims that Mrs. Mary Potts was murdered by her husband, Howard C. Potts, who had lost his temper when he found that dinner was late. The body was discovered, buried in a shallow grave in the basement, in part due to the constant crying of her two cats at the door to the cellar.)
• “The Wailing Wall” — November 6, 1945 — a radio show broadcast on The Inner Sanctum Mysteries show (Starring Boris Karloff. Clearly a very loose adaptation of “The Black Cat,” with a few touches from “The Tell-Tale Heart,” except that the wailing goes on for years, with the twist that the killer is forced to remain in the house for fear of discovery.)
• “The Black Cat” — September 18, 1947 — a radio show broadcast on the Mystery in the Air show, starring Peter Lorre. (This episode is available on CD as part of a 6-CD set of “Smithsonian Legendary Performers,” issued in 2004. As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.)
• “De Swarte Kat” — October 1949 — De Tsjerne, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 294-303 (Dokkum, Netherlands, published by J. Kamminga) (Frisian translation by Inne de Jong)  (This title provided by René van Slooten)
• “The Black Cat” — February 11, 1950 — a radio show broadcast on The Hall of Fantasy show, introduced as “dedicated to the supernatural, the unusual and the unknown.” (As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.)
• “The Black Cat” — April 1954 — Nightmare (number 12)  (a comic-book)
• “Kara Kedi” — 1955 — Altin Böcek [Golden Beetle], Varlik edition, Istanbul (Turkish translation) (the small softbound book has 109 pages. It features “The Gold-Bug” but includes seven other tales.)
• “The Black Cat” — October 1958 — unabridged audio recording by Basil Rathbone (directed by Howard O. Sackler, copyrighted and produced by Cadmeon, although originally issued on LP by Philips B-94002-L with the designation “Literary Series.”) (reissued as TC 1028 by Cadmeon in 1960 and again in 1977 on LP, also reissued on tapes, LP and CD on the Cadmeon label)
• “The Black Cat” — 1960 — a reading by Nelson Olmsted on The Raven: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, issued on the Vanguard label (VRS-9046, rereleased as VSD-32)
• “The Black Cat” — 1960-1965 — a radio show broadcast on the Black Mass show. (This was apparently a local broadcast in California. As was often the case with dramatic presentations of Poe's works, the story has been modified.)
• “The Black Cat” — 1962 — a reading by Richard Taylor on Horror: Edgar Allan Poe, issued on the Random Records label (M-37) (running time, around 13:37 and 15:37) (This is a very cheaply produced 33 1/3 LP, with a single narrator speaking over a very reverberant and somewhat off-key electric organ played for atmosphere. The jacket features simple black and white graphics. The narrator, who has a surprisingly high voice and a detectable Brooklyn accent, is noted as being 21 at the time of the recording. This album was initially advertised for $2.98, and 25¢ for shipping and handling. This was part of a series of 4 albums.)
• “The Black Cat” — 1968 — a reading by Martin Donegan as part of volume I of Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, issued on the CMS Records label (CMS-555)
• “The Black Cat” — 2006 — an episode from the “Masters of Horror” series on the Showtime cable network. (The episode first aired on January 19, the anniversary of Poe's birthday.) It was directed by Stuart Gordon, with Jeffrey Combs as Poe. Although the director makes a great deal about how “authentic” the film is to Poe's story, his notion of authenticity appears to be limited to the graphic nature of the goriest special effects. By attempting the tired (and erroneous) cliche of mixing Poe's life with his works, the screenplay ends up serving neither well. The production values are generally quite high, but the biographical material, particularly that offered in the commentary, has a few genuine details mixed with much falsehood, and is best ignored. George Graham, who in real life helped Poe a great deal, is also portrayed very unfairly.
• ”The Black Cat” — 2006 — a moody, disjointed and mostly incomprehensible modern adaptation, directed by Serge Rodnunsky. It is presumably a direct-to-DVD release. The real victim here is Poe's story.
• “The Black Cat” — 2007 — Audio book (unabridged), read by Chris Aruffo

Forgeries:

• “The Black Cat” — (Fragment, 1 leaf, 4 x 6 5/6 inches, comprising the following text: “[. . .] attempt to expound them . . . as to make me the jest of my [. . .]” The text is written in what appears to be dark brown ink, running from left to right edges, on only one side of the page, apparently in an attempt to imitate Poe's use of roll manuscripts. The writing is somewhat clumsy, with some words or parts of words being much darker than the general text. A mark of ‘II,’ for a Roman numeral of ‘2’, appears at the top of the page. The fragment was offered as a genuine Poe manuscript by New England Book Auctions, Sale Number 366, October 21, 2008, as item 204, with an estimate of $15,000-$25,000, but was promptly retracted from sale over doubts about its authenticity. It was in the collection of Richard Oinonen, who died in 2001, and is probably the work of Joseph Cosey. It may have been kept by Mr. Oinonen as an example of a forgery by someone who was notably notorious in the field, especially for his Poe forgeries. It bears a strong resemblance to a forgery of “To Helen,” offered in the same sale as item 208.)

• Anderson, Carl L., Poe in Northlight: The Scandanavian Response to His Life and Work, Durham, NC: Duke Unversity Press, 1973.
• Anderson, Gayle Dennington, “Demonology in ‘The Black Cat’,” Poe Studies (1977), 10:43-44
• Badenhausen, Richard, “Fear and Trembling in the Literature of the Fantastic: Edgar Allan Poe's ‘The Black Cat’,” Studies in Short Fiction (1992), 29:487-498
• Benfy, Christopher, “Poe and the Unreadable ‘Black Cat’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’,” in New Essays on Poe's Major Tales, ed. Kenneth Silverman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 27-44
• Bonaparte, Marie (translated by John Rodker), “ ‘The Black Cat‘, “ Partisan Review (Nov. 1950), 17:834-860
• Cavell, Stanley, “Being Odd, Getting Even (Descarte, Emerson, Poe),” in The American Face of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Shawn Rosenheim and Stephen Rachman, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1995, pp. 3-36
• Clark, Richard, “The ‘Homely,’ the ‘Wild’ and the Horror of ‘Mere Household Events‘: The Aristotelian Poe-etics of ‘The Black Cat’,” Short Story, Spring 1996, 4:57-68
• Cleman, John, “Irresistible Impulses: Edgar Allan Poe and the Insanity Defense,” American Literature (1991), 63:623-640
• Crismal, William, “ ‘Mere Household Events’ in Poe's ‘The Black Cat’,” Studies in American Fiction (1984), 12:87-90
• Del Vecchio, Rosa Maria, “Into that Material Nihility”: Poe's Criminal Persona as God-Peer, PhD disseration, Case Western University, 1994
• Esplin, Emron and Margarida Vale de Cato, eds., Translated Poe, Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2014.
• Frushell, Richard C., “ ‘An Incarnate Night-Mare‘: Moral Grotesquerie in ‘The Black Cat’,” Poe Newsletter (Dec. 1972), 5:43-44
• Gargano, James W., “ ‘The Black Cat‘: Perversness Reconsidered,” Texas Studies in Literature and Language (Summer 1960), 2:172-178
• Hanrahan, Heidi, “ ‘A series of mere household events’: Poe's ‘The Black Cat,’ Domesticity, and Pet-Keeping in Nineteenth-Century America,” Poe Studies: History, Theory, Interpretation, vol. 45, 2012, pp. 40-56
• 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.
• Heller, Terry, “The Pure Fantastic Tale of Terror,” in The Delights of Terror: An Asthetics of the Tale of Terror, Urbana: Illinois University Press, 1987, pp. 100-107
• Hester, Vicki and Emily Segir, “Edgar Allan Poe: ‘The Black Cat’ and Current Forensic Psychology,” E. A. Poe Review, Vol. 15, no. 2, Autumn 2014, pp. 175-193.
• Krappe, E. S., “A Possible Source for Poe's ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘The Black Cat’,” American Literature (March 1940), 12:84-88
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, “[introductory note, annotations and variants to ‘The Black Cat’]”, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.
• Madden, Fred, “Poe's ‘The Black Cat’ and Freud's ‘The Uncanny’,” Literature & Psychology (1993), 39:52-62
• Weaver, Aubrey Maurice, “And Then My Hert with Pleasure Fills . . .,” Journal of Evolutionary Psychology (1988), 9:317-320
• 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.