Text: Edgar Allan Poe to Rufus Leighton, Jr. — January 10, 1846 (LTR-223b)

Notes:

This letter is printed here from the Spring/Summer 1994 issue of Profiles in History, the catalogue of autograph dealer Joseph Maddelena of California, where it was listed for $15,000. A brief notice in the PSA Newsletter, XXII, no. 2, Fall 1994 carries the body of the letter, without any comment describing the salutation or signature. In the original, Poe's signature appears over a simple one-line flourish and the name of R. Leighton is underlined. The paper of the one-page letter measures approximately 4 1/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches. The narrow width forces the single sentence into three lines: “It gives me pleasure [/] to comply with your very flatter- [/] ing request for my autograph.”