Text: Edgar Allan Poe to Mrs. Jane Clarke — about 1842-1843 (LTR-150a)

Notes:

This letter was written to a woman who was living in Richmond, and many years later in Louisville, Kentucky. The most likely candidate seems to be Mrs. Jane Clarke. She apparently had several letters from Poe, from which only this one fragment of text seems to be known. Others are described only as “gracious little notes accompanying the loan of a book or a gift of flowers; letters on family topics . . .” These letters were mentioned by Elvira Sidnor Miller in “A Chat about Poe” (The Louisville Courier Journal, March 8, 1885). Unfortunately, as Mrs. Miller says, “my friend would not allow me to copy a line.” The one sentence above is all that she could recall, “coming at the close of one epistle.” The date of 1842-1843 is speculative, based on similar letters Poe wrote concerning Virginia's health about that time. In particular, see Poe's letter to William Mackenzie.