Edgar Allan Poe — “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”

Reading copy:

• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” — 1844 — (There are no known draft manuscripts or scratch notes reflecting the original effort of composition.)
• Text-02 — “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” — 1844-1845
  • Text-02a — “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” — about May 28, 1844 — “Wakeman” manuscript, roll — (Mabbott text A) — [This was the faircopy manuscript that Poe prepared for publication. According to S. A. Cuneo, the manuscript was initially saved by one of the printer/proofreaders at Graham's Magazine, a man named Alexander McKelly. He appears to have died about 1878, and his collection of manuscripts was inherited by Isabel Snyder McKelly (1813-1916), the second wife of his brother, Robert McKelly (1815-1896). She passed the collection on to her grandson, Robert C. McKelly (1872-1934) about 1898. He presumably sold the manuscript to George Millar Williamson (1849-1921) of Grand-View-On-Hudson, shortly after the information was printed in the Bookman. The manuscript was next sold at an Anderson auction, from Williamson's library, on March 1, 1904 (as item 73), for $505, and was purchased by Stephen H. Wakeman (1859-1924). A large portion of Wakeman's collection, including this manuscript, was purchased as a block by J. P. Morgan about October 27, 1909.)
  • Text-02b — “The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether” — November 1845 — Graham's — (Mabbott text B) — [Advertisements for Graham's Magazine (published as early as November 12, 1844), included the announcemnt of “a series of amusing sketches” contributed by “Mr. J. C. Neal, E. A. Poe, H. H. Weld, and others.” Although not named, the only tale by Poe during this period that fits this description is this story. Why it did not appear in print for another year is a mystery.]
• Text-03 — “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1844-1856
  • Text-03a — “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1845-1849 — (Speculated copy of Graham's Magazine with minor changes made by Poe. This copy has not surivived but is presumably reflected in Text-04.)
  • Text-03b — “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1856 — WORKS — (Mabbott text C — This is Mabbott's copy-text)

Reprints:

• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — May 5 and 12, 1858 — Spirit of Democracy (Woodsville, OH) (the story is not attributed to Poe.)
  • “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — May 5, 1858 (front page)
  • “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — May 12, 1858 (front page)
• “Inside an Asylum: Or, Method and Madness” — 1859 — Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, UK, vol. VII. (The story is not attributed to Poe.)  (a copy was sold by 19th Century shop, 1992, item 540)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1867 — Prose Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, second series (New York: W. J. Widdleton), pp. 379-397 (This collection is extracted from the 1850-1856 edition of Poe's Works. It was reprinted several times.)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1874 — Works of Edgar A. Poe, edited by J. H. Ingram (vol. II, pp. 419-438) (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (3:301-325)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 6: Tales V, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (6:53-77, and 6:278-279)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1973 — Edgar Allan Poe: The Other Side, ed. David Galloway (New York: Penguin Books), pp. 201-218 and pp. 253-254 (annotations are minor)
• “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” — 1976 — The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Harold Beaver (New York: Penguin Books), pp. 175-193 and pp. 390-393 (reprinted 1977, 1978, 1979, and 1982)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales & Sketches II, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (3:997-1024)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America), pp. 699-716

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — study text (“Wakeman” manuscript) (This study text shows the changes Poe made on manuscript, as well as changes made by an unknown editor.)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — comparative text (“Wakeman” manuscript and GM)
• “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — comparative text (GM and WORKS)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — 1862 — Contes inedts d‘Edgar Poe, Paris: J. Hetzel, pp. 85-118 (French translation by William L. Hughes)
• “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)
  • “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — January 7-29, 1865 — Le Monde Illustré
    • “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — Part I  (January 7, 1865)
    • “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — Part II  (January 14, 1865)
    • “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — Part III  (January 21, 1865)
    • “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — Part IV  (January 28, 1865)
  • “Le système du docteur Goudron et du professeur Plume” — 1865 — Histoires grotesques et sérieuses, Paris: Michel Lévy frères
• “Le Système du Docteur Goudron et du Professeur Plume” — 1904 — Le Système du Docteur Goudron et du Professeur Plume, Paris: Jules Rouff  (French translation by Léonora C. Herbert
• “The System of Doctor Tarr” — February 27 - April 08, 1905 — play, written by Henry Terrell and Arthur Hornblow, performed by Frank Keenan and the Frank Keenan Players at the Berkely Lyceum Theater in New York, NY
• ”Doktor Tarr ve Profesör Fether‘in Sistemi” — 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 System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” — 2017 — Audio book (unabridged), read by Chris Aruffo

• Anonymous, “J. P. Morgan buys Rare Manuscripts; Gets Wakeman Collection of Poe, Thoreau, Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, and Bryant,” New York Times, October 27, 1909
• Benton, Richard P., “Poe's ‘The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether’: Dickens or Willis?,” Poe Newsletter, April 1968, 1:7-9
• Bryant, John, “Poe's Ape of UnReason: Humor, Ritual, and Culture,” Nineteenth-Century Literature, June 1996, 51:16-52
• Cuneo, Sherman A., “An Interesting Manuscript Find,” Bookman (New York), vol. VII, no. 4, June 1898, pp. 289-296. (A few further details about the disposition of McKelly's collection is provided in “American Manuscripts Found in Sandusky,” New York Times, June 11, 1898.)
• 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 (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.
• Mooney, Stephen L., “The Comic in Poe's Fiction,” American Literature, January 1962, 33:433-441.
• Whipple, William, “Poe's Two-Edged Satiric Tale,” Nineteenth Century Fiction, November 1954, 9:121-133
• 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.