Text: J. W. Ostrom, B. R. Pollin, and J. A. Savoye, “Chapter 02,” The Collected Letters of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. I: 1824-1845 (2008), pp. 75-170 (This material is protected by copyright)

Note: The New-England Magazine was founded by Joseph Tinker Buckingham (1779-1861) and his son, Edwin (1810-1833). It began publication in July 1831, and ended in December 1835. “Epimanes,” one of the Tales of the Folio Club, was first printed in the SLM (March 1836) 2:235-238 (see Wyllie, Poe's Tales, p. 327). For a description of the manuscript of “Epimanes,” along with a record of the text of this version, see TOM [T&S], 2:117-130. For supplemental discussions of Poe's Tales [page 78:] of the Folio Club, see Wilson, “The Devil Was in It,” American Mercury, 24:214-220; also Quinn, pp. 745-746; and Hammond's searching study of the Folio Club (“Tales of The Folio Club: Evolution of a Lost Book,” in Poe at Work, pp. 13-43). Poe's reason for submitting a tale to the New-England Magazine is obvious; it offered $1 a page for contributions at a time when few magazines paid contributors anything (American Magazines, 1:599-600). As would so often happen to Poe, however, his timing was spectacularly unfortunate. Although a joint effort between father and son, the magazine was chiefly the interest of Edwin Buckingham, and he was suffering from tuberculosis. At the time of the present letter, Edwin had gone abroad hoping to improve his health. He was returning on the brig Mermaid when he died on May 18, 1833. As noted by Mott, “His father continued the magazine, though with growing distaste for the work, until October, 1834, when he sold it to Samuel G. Howe and John O. Sargent” (American Magazines, 1:601). If J. T. Buckingham responded by letter, returning the MS, no record of the reply is known. For Poe's further disappointment about the non-publication of “Epimanes” expressed to Kennedy, see the second page of LTR-50. Apparently for the first time, Poe signs his full name to the present letter, probably as a detail he hoped would appeal to the proprietors and their sense of formality (see also LTR-38 and LTR-39).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (4 pp.), formerly in the collection of H. Bradley Martin, and currently in the collection of Mrs. S. J. Tane. The letter covers the top third of page one of a four-page MS that includes Poe's print-like copy of “Epimanes”; at the foot of page 4, Poe added his “P.S.” In the center of page 4 appears: “Messrs. Buckingham/ Editors of the N. England Magaz^ine/ Boston, Mass^tts.” Poe's signature carries a flowing underline, with a small loop in the middle.

Note: John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) was a Baltimore lawyer who had dabbled in the field of literature and would soon be a novelist of some prominence. In October 1833, he served as one of the judges of the Baltimore Saturday Visiter contest in which Poe was awarded the prize for best tale. The present letter, along with LTR-39, both to Kennedy, are the only known letters by Poe between May 4, 1833 and March 15, 1835 (ironically, also to Kennedy), a period in Poe's life about which very little is known. He was probably living at no. 3 North Amity Street (now no. 203) with his aunt, Maria Clemm (see the note to LTR-36). Mrs. Clemm is first identified as living there in the spring of 1833, by the Baltimore City Directory of that year (there was no Directory for 1832); and [page 80:] according to a notice in the Baltimore American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, July 7, 1835, Poe's grandmother, Mrs. David Poe died there (for this information, as well as fuller account, see Evans, “Poe in Amity Street,” Maryland Historical Magazine, 36:363-380). Poe's first contacts with Kennedy came with his participation in and winning of the Baltimore Saturday Visiter contest, announced June 15 and closed October 1, the winners being published October 12, 1833; Kennedy, John H. B. Latrobe, and Dr. James H. Miller were the judges (see Quinn, pp. 201-202). As is often the case, Poe's autobiographical details are rather equivocal. He was never legally adopted, and his age when taken in by the Allans was almost three. Whether David Poe, Jr. died before or after Poe's “adoption” by John Allan is unknown. The Poe-Allan correspondence hardly supports Poe's statement that Allan “always treated me with the affection of a father” (see APXA-Allan) — and, of course, Poe received no annuity “sufficient for my support.” Allan died on March 27, 1834; his will, originally written on April 17, 1832 and last updated on March 15, 1833, makes no mention of his foster son. Poe, however, had already long given up his hopes of a bequest from John Allan, certainly before he met Kennedy in November 1833 (see The Poe Log, p. 135). For a discussion of Poe's use of his full signature, see the introduction of the present edition. Concerning Carey & Lea, in whose hands Poe's tales were submitted previously for the Saturday Visiter prize, see Kennedy to Poe, December 22, 1834 (CL-75).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Peabody Institute Library. In his letter to Kennedy, December 19, 1834, Poe says: “About four weeks ago I sent you a note respecting my Tales of the F. Club ... ”; thus the date of the present letter may be placed at ca. 19 November. Poe's signature bears a nice paraph. Given that the MS appears to be complete, and written on one side only, Quinn's statement (p. 204, n. 36) that Kennedy wrote a note on “the third leaf” must be questioned. It is possible that Kennedy's comment is on the verso of the single-page original MS, now pasted in an album, and that Harrison may have seen it before the letter was so affixed. It seems more likely, however, that Harrison and Quinn both used a copy of this letter now in the Boston Public Library, which does have the note, signed by Kennedy, on page 3. Kennedy's slightly inaccurate statement reads: “This refers to the volume of Tales sent to Carey & Lea — ‘Tales of the Arabesque,’ etc., — being two series submitted for the prize, for which one was chosen and two others at my suggestion sent to Carey & Lea. — J. P. K.” [page 81:]

Note: In connection with the present letter, see LTR- 38. Poe's Tales of the Folio Club was submitted to the Baltimore Saturday Visiter contest, for which one tale, “MS. Found in a Bottle,” won the $50 prize (see the announcement by the judges, reprinted in Quinn, pp. 202-203). At the time of the contest, the series comprised eleven tales, six of which were sent to the Visiter, five already having been printed in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier. Poe, at Kennedy's suggestion (see Kennedy to Poe, CL-75; and notes to LTR-38), submitted the tales to Carey & Lea for publication. Though Carey was willing to publish them, he advised Poe, through Kennedy, first to sell them individually to the annuals, and was actually successful in selling one to Miss Leslie. According to Kennedy, this was for the Atlantic Souvenir, but he was mistaken. (The Souvenir had merged with the Token in 1832 — see Quinn, p. 204, n.). Instead, “MS. Found in a Bottle” appeared in The Gift for 1836, edited by Miss Leslie and published by Carey & Hart late in 1835. The sum of fifteen dollars received by Carey for the tale and forwarded to Kennedy, was undoubtedly called for by Poe. For Henry C. Carey's letters to Kennedy of November 21 and 26, 1834, see The Poe Log (p. 142). The MS of Carey's short note to Kennedy of December 8, 1834, sending the money, is in the Maryland Historical Society. Kennedy's reply to Poe, dated December 22, 1834 (CL-75), explains that he received Carey's letter as he was leaving on a trip to Annapolis, from which he had just returned.

Source: original MS (1 p.) in the Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin. The address appears on a separate leaf. The postmark is from Baltimore, with the same date as the letter. [page 82:]

Note: An advertisement for the position Poe sought appeared in the Baltimore Patriot, Thursday, March 12, 1835 (p. 3): “A Teacher Wanted — At male Public School No. 3 Aisquith St. The commissioners of Public Schools will appoint on Wednesday next, the 18th inst. a Teacher to supply a vacancy which has occurred at Male School No. 3. Satisfactory recommendations as to character, with testimonials of capacity for conducting a School on the Monitorial System, will be required. Salary one thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly. Applications addressed to the commissioners, may be left with either of them or the Secretary, No. 8 Courtland Street [a list of the commissioners then follows].” Whether Kennedy recommended Poe is unknown. A search of the Baltimore Patriot following the close of applications revealed no announcement of an appointment.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Peabody Institute Library. Poe's signature is marked by a simple line. That the correct date for the letter is indeed 1835, the year usually assigned, is established by the advertisement noted above. The present letter undoubtedly led to [page 83:] Kennedy's invitation to Poe to come to dinner (Kennedy to Poe, Sunday, March 15, 1835, CL-77) and Poe's subsequent note in reply (LTR-41).

Note: Many years later, Kennedy would recall that he responded to the present letter with sympathy and generosity: “I gave him clothing, free access to my table and the use of a horse for exercise whenever he chose; in fact brought him up from the very verge of despair” (see Quinn, p. 208). The desperate nature of Poe's circumstances at this time is well documented, and Poe himself acknowledges this assistance in LTR-118, commenting: “M^r Kennedy has been at all times a true friend to me ... I am indebted to him for life itself.”

Source: photocopy of the original MS. (1 p.) in the Peabody Institute Library. For the year date, Harrison (H [Works], 17:2) suggested 1833, while subsequent editors give 1835. In a letter to Ingram, March 2, 1909, Amelia F. Poe assigns the letter to March 15 (see Ingram Collection, University of Virginia, item 423); in the unpublished MS revision of his Life of Poe (Ingram Collection), Ingram places Poe's letter concerning the teaching vacancy (Sunday, March 15, 1835) first, with the present letter next, dating both 1835. Poe's last sentence, above, especially “I must submit to my fate,” suggests very strongly that the present letter is a [page 84:] follow-up of the one dated “Sunday, 15th March [1835]” (LTR-40). Kennedy's invitation was probably a written note, same date, unlocated (CL-77). Poe has drawn short lines beneath his signature, Kennedy's name and the date at the foot of the letter.

Note: Thomas Willis White (1788-1843) was the editor and proprietor of the recently launched Southern Literary Messenger. With little formal education, only a meager amount of financial resources, and no great experience with the magazine business, White relied on hard work, optimism, and a broad circle of friends, including Lucian Minor and Beverley Tucker. By the time of the present letter, only seven somewhat erratic issues had been published, but it would soon blossom into an important periodical and a strong voice for Southern literature. “Mrs. Butler's book” refers to Fanny Kemble Butler's Journal (Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1835), reviewed in SLM (May 1835) 1:524-531. Although reprinted by Harrison, this review was eliminated from the Poe canon by TOM in a letter of 1966 (see PS, 5:56-57), and omitted from Writings, 5:13. Jared Sparks was professor of history at Harvard; see also Poe's “Autography” (H [Works], 15:214), and LTR-63. N. P. Willis published Melanie and Other Poems in 1835. Dr. Robert M. Bird's The Infidel (Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1835) was reviewed in the SLM (June 1835, 1:582-585), but Harrison's attribution of the review to Poe (H [Works], 8:32-36) has been disputed (see Writings, 5:19). For Poe's swimming prowess, mentioned in the SLM article at the outset of the letter, see Writings, 5:12; and Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 40-41, who indicates it as by a writer “of Baltimore,” by courtesy of J. H. Whitty. He cites the January 1835 passage in the SLM, to which Poe is replying: “I splashed about with great vigor, thinking about Leander's remarkable feat in crossing the Hellespont, until I felt a great desire to try whether I might not aspire to equal him, or at least E — P —, who swam from Mayo's Bridge to Warwick wharf some years ago.” For Poe's inquiry as to who is the author of “The Doom,” see LTR-45. TOM [T&S], 2:619 cites Poe's comment about “the witty exaggerated into the burlesque” in his headnote to “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” as basic to Poe's view of humor. For Poe's great respect for and use of Bulwer's works, especially at this period, see TOM [T&S], 2:193; Pollin, “Bulwer-Lytton and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ ” American Notes and Queries, 4:7-9, “Bulwer's Rienzi as Multiple Source for Poe,” PS, 1996, 29:66-68, and “Bulwer-Lytton's Influence on Poe's Works,” EAP Review, 1:5-12. For Thomas DeQuincey's “Confessions of an Opium Eater,” see TOM [T&S], 2:359 n. 12, and also 2:187, 199, 207, and 3:880 and 882; also, R. Snyder, “A [page 87:] De Quinceyan Source for Poe's ‘The Masque of the Red Death,’ ” Studies in Short Fiction, 21:103-110; and LTR-206. Even in his similar reference in the 1836 “How to Write a Blackwood Article” Poe deemed the “Confessions” a fiction, ascribed to Coleridge. For William Maginn's “Man in the Bell,” see TOM [T&S], 2:363; used also for “Pit and Pendulum” (TOM [T&S], 2:700 n. 23). Poe is replying to certain criticisms and queries by White, as the content indicates.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Huntington Library. Following Ostrom's opinion, the fragment missing at the head of the present MS letter is provided from the paragraph concerning a swimming feat printed in the SLM (May 1835, 1:468). The paragraph, which is unsigned, refers to a swimming adventure by the writer, the allusion being an answer to a passage in an article entitled “The Doom,” which appeared in the SLM, January 1835, and in which “E — P — “ is cited as making the swim. Biographers have accepted testimonials of early Richmonders to Poe's dexterity and strength in the water (see The Poe Log, pp. 59-60). The paragraph printed in the May issue is headed: “A valued correspondent, who was the bold swimmer alluded to [in ‘The Doom’] writes to us as follows ... ” The subsequent paragraph could have been the first six lines of the present letter, which is a quarto leaf measuring at present 9 1/4 by 8 1/2 inches, with both the top and bottom torn off, about equally, with text definitely missing at the top. The leaf is folded twice, into envelope shape, and addressed to T. W. White; the postal cancellation is Baltimore, April 30, and White wrote on back of letter: “April 30, 1835.” The MS is a little split in folds and the right center edge is damaged. The original size of the leaf must have been at least 10 by 8 1/2 inches, if not more than 10 inches in length. Poe's letter to White, May 30, 1835 (LTR-43), measures 9 3/4 by 7 3/4 inches; his letter to White of June 12, 1835 (LTR-44), 7 5/8 by 6 inches; and that of June 22, 1835 (LTR-45), 9 5/8 by 7 1/2 inches; thus it can be established that the length of leaves increased in proportion to the width. A leaf 8 1/2 inches wide would be at least 10, if not 10 1/2 or 11 inches in length. Poe's surviving MS letter is closely written, averaging about 2/3 of a line for each 1/8 inch. Thus if the original leaf were indeed the size estimated, the missing fragment could be six lines long, still allowing space for the date and salutation. There seems to be no way of proving that the paragraph in the SLM is printed from the missing portion of the present letter. However, since a few lines have been torn from the MS, and since the paragraph appeared in the issue of the SLM following the date of the [page 88:] present letter, the joining seems justified. If this hypothesis is correct, White probably tore off the lines from the head of the letter and used them for printing the paragraph. Following “Calais” there may have been a brief suggestion that White add the present comment to what was said in the January article. The few words provided in brackets are editorial conjectures based on what can be read and the context.

Note: Poe probably received 80 cents per column, and $9.94 was payment in full for contributions to the May SLM (see Hull, p. 21). William Gwynn was the editor of the Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser (see LTR-31); William Gwynn Jones was a boy whom the bachelor editor took into his home. “The boy did not appreciate his opportunities and robbed the city post office,” according to Florence Belle Ogg, a kinswoman of William Gwynn, in a letter to James Southall Wilson. Kennedy's Horse-Shoe Robinson was reviewed by Poe in the SLM (May 1835, 1:522-524) prior to its publication. Poe printed a notice of the April 1835 issue of the SLM in the Baltimore Republican and Commercial Advertiser, May 14, 1835 (see Jackson, “Four of Poe's Critiques,” MLN, 50:251-256). Eliza Sloan Buckler, wife of Poe's Baltimore physician, published a poem entitled “Answer” in the SLM (April 1835, 1:452), in reply to Richard Henry Wilde's “My Life Is Like the Summer Rose” (SLM, August 1834, 1:13; see Jackson, “Four of Poe's Critiques,” MLN, 50:252). For Judge Tucker, see notes to LTR-52. Poe reviewed Laughton Osborn's Confessions of a Poet in the SLM (April 1835, 1:459; see Writings, 5:7-8 and 5:10-11). Writing to Osborn in 1845 (LTR-206), Poe denied his own authorship of this review, commenting that he had thought John Neal the author of the book.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (3 pp.) in the Boston Public Library. The envelope is postmarked at Baltimore, May 31. Poe is replying to White's letter of May 20, 1835 (CL-82).

Note: Poe's Baltimore physician seems to have been Dr. Buckler, whose wife had contributed to the SLM in April 1835 (see LTR-43). Marshall's Life of George Washington, first issued in five volumes in 1804-1807, was widely praised, and we know that the first two volumes were among the items Poe borrowed from the new library at the University of Virginia on August 29, 1826 (see The Poe Log, p. 72). It may seem odd that Poe should devote a review to a work already so well-known and established in the literature of the day; but the second edition, a popular two-volume revision by Marshall, was published by James Crissy, of Philadelphia, in 1832, and possibly reprinted in 1835. On June 2, 1835, White wrote to Beverley Tucker, noting, “I must also ask whether you cannot give me a Review of Chief Justices [sic] edition of Washington” (see The Poe Log, p. 155). It may be that Tucker declined and recommended Poe, whose SLM tales he had recently complimented. Poe wrote the review of Marshall's Washington, but White did not print it, in part due to Marshall's death on July 6, 1835 (see LTR-46). George H. Calvert, of Baltimore, was author of “German Literature” (SLM, May 1836, 2:373-380) and “A Scene from ‘Arnold and Andre’ ” (SLM, June 1835, 1:555-557), to which the above “communication” may have reference. Poe's notices of the SLM for May 1835, appeared in the Baltimore [page 92:] American, June 15, 1835, and in the Baltimore Republican, June 13, 1835 (see Jackson, “Four of Poe's Critiques,” MLN, 50:253; also, TOM, “A Few Notes on Poe,” MLN, 35:374). “Mr. S.” was Edward V. Sparhawk, announced as editor of the SLM in the May 1835 issue (1:461).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Boston Public Library. Poe is replying to White's letter of June 8, 1835 (CL-85).

Note: The third number of the SLM had been published in November 1834, though delayed (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, p. 30). No. 9 (May 1835) printed Eliza Gookin Thornton's verses in memory of White's son, Thomas H., who had died on October 7, 1832; the verses (SLM, 1:491-492) were signed “Eliza of Saco, Maine” (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, p. 18). White's complaint about Poe's careless punctuation probably has reference to a MS criticism; handwritten originals for Poe's SLM criticisms do not seem to exist and collation is therefore impossible. Poe's earliest letters show an erratic punctuation, as do his poems of 1827; but the pointing of the letters improved, especially when he chose to be careful, and in 1845 while preparing material from Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems for inclusion in The Raven and Other Poems, he made only a few changes not involving words (see TOM [ATMP]; TOM [RAOP]; and TOM [Poems], particularly looking at notes for specific poems). As time went on, Poe became increasingly careful of the punctuation of his tales, though the pointing often was more rhetorical than logical. Poe joined White in late July or early August 18, 1835 (see the note to LTR-49). Mr. Wood is probably John W. Woods, a Baltimore publisher (see H [Works], 9:158). Woods & Matchett were the printers for Hatch and Dunning, including for Poe's Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems, 1829 (The Poe Log, p. xlix). Wood also printed Address Delivered at the Annual Commencement of Dickinson College, by Stephen Asbury Roszel (1811-1852), reviewed in the SLM (October 1836, 2:716-717; see H [Works], 9:158-159; and Writings, 5:295-296). “The Doom” appeared in the SLM (January 1835, 1:235-240), and was signed “Benedict” (see LTR-42). Jackson acknowledges that J. H. Whitty, author of the appreciative Foreword to his book, knew “Benedict” to be “of Baltimore” (Poe and the SLM, pp. 40-41, n. 50), a hint never pursued. White changed his font of type for the issue (vol. II) of December 1835 (see White to Minor, September 8, 1835 in Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 98-99, and also p. 59).

Charles Brion Shaw (1800-1870) was a prominent railroad and turnpike engineer of Virginia, who published several maps, technical surveys, and special reports for towns and legislatures of Pennsylvania and Virginia, many of which are now procurable only in highly specialized, industrial [page 95:] document repositories. The title given by Poe was a pamphlet concerning the construction of railroad tunnels through the region's mountains, or possibly construction of the canal system. “Levels” seems to be a technical term used for both inclined tunnels or canal equalization levels. The lack of any reference to such a title implies its being a section of a large report. The U.S. National Park Service issues material on the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site in Gallitzin, PA, and says that it was “considered a technological wonder” which “operated between 1834-1854.” Odd is Poe's only reference here to “an old acquaintance,” yet one apparently unmentioned by any writing on Poe.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.) in the Boston Public Library. The postal cancellation is Baltimore, June 23. Poe is replying to White's letter of June 18 (CL-87).

Note: The “Young Men's Paper,” more properly called the Baltimore Athenaeum and Young Men's Paper, was edited by J. N. McJilton (see The Poe Log, p. 162). John H. Pleasants was the owner of the Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser, which commented favorably on Poe's “Hans Phaal” (see Heartman & Canny [1943], p. 271 and The Poe Log, pp. 162 and 164). The Visiter cited carried the announcement of a prize of fifty dollars awarded Poe for “MS. Found in a Bottle,” and, in addition, high praises by the judges of its merit. Poe's request that the letter be reprinted was granted by White in the SLM (August 1835, 1:716). John Hill Hewitt, editor of the Visiter, was given the poetry award for “Song of the Winds,” entered under the pseudonym of Henry Wilton (see Quinn, pp. 202-203). Poe's claim that he won both awards, but was obliged to accept only “the higher Prize,” is essentially verified by J. H. B. Latrobe's recollections (see “Reminiscences,” p. 60). Poe's count of “34 columns in all” has given considerable trouble to Poe's bibliographers (see Hull, p. 50). It seems to cover “Hans Phaal” (31 columns), and seven short reviews, not including the dubious review of Bird's The Infidel (see Writings, 5:18-19). Poe's Tales of the Folio Club which were published by this date were: “A Tale of Jerusalem,” “The Assignation,” “Berenice,” “Bon-Bon,” “Duc de L’Omelette,” “Lionizing,” “Loss of Breath,” “MS. Found in a Bottle,” and “Metzengerstein.” For Poe's review of Marshall's Washington, see LTR-44 and note.

The spelling of the surname as “Hans Phaal,” used once also in Poe's letter to Kennedy (LTR-50), is a rejected variant of Phaall and Pfaall, with the latter ultimately prevailing (over a form giving rise to obscene suggestions). For the involved matter over the years between June 1835 (SLM, 1:565-580) and his final copy (left to Griswold) in his Works, January 1850 (1:1-51), see Writings, 1:376-378; and Pollin, “Hans Pfaall: A False Variant and the Phallic Fallacy,” MissQ, 31:519-527. See Writings (5:18-19) for editor Sparhawk's views of Poe's balloon-tale and for the totality of columns claimed by Poe for compensation. See also Poe's account in the Richard Adams Locke “Literati” sketch of 1846, and its alleged effect (H [Works], 15:128-129). [page 98:]

Source: color photograph of the original MS (2 pp.) on loan to the Poe Foundation in Richmond, VA. The envelope is directed to “Tho^s W. White, Esq^r / Southern Messenger / Richmond, Va.,” and cancelled in Baltimore, July 20. It is endorsed, perhaps by White, as “20 July 1835 / Edgar A. Poe.” The second paragraph of page two shows one faded portion of MS and several smears. Poe's signature is very neat and clean, with a nice paraph. Poe is replying to White's letters of July 14 (CL-89) and 16 (CL-90). Although the present letter is the last surviving one known from Poe to White, others were probably exchanged. White's letter of January 17, 1837 (CL-170) implies a note from Poe (CL-169), and White's January 19, 1837 letter to Tucker (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 111-112) suggests other communications, at least some of which were perhaps in a written form.

Note: William Poe (born 1802) was one of several children of Edgar's great Uncle, also named William. As a banker in Augusta, GA, he presumably had sufficient financial resources to provide the assistance Poe sought. He seems also to have been somewhat sympathetic with Mrs. Clemm's plight. In connection with this letter and the Poe family tree, see Mrs. Clemm to William Poe, October 7, 1835, printed in H [Works], 17:379-381 (under the wrong date of 1836; also see Quinn, p. 230, n. 16); see also, Quinn, pp. 16-17. Poe returns to this genealogical subject, with an interesting family chart, in a letter to George W. Poe, July 14, 1839 (LTR-79). Compare the biographical account from the present letter, with Poe's “autobiography” of May 29, 1841, given to Griswold as basis for his editorial headnote on Poe in the forthcoming Poets and Poetry of America (in H [Works], 1:343-346), slanted for a different purpose. The death-date of Edgar's father, David Poe, is unknown (see Quinn, p. 44); his mother died December 8, 1811 (Quinn, p. 45). Edgar went with the Allans to England in June 1815. Poe went to West Point in June 1830, before rather than after John Allan married for the second time; and Mr. Allan died, March 27, 1834 (see the notes to LTR- 36), three years after Poe left West Point (see LTR-29). Poe joined the SLM sometime between his letter to White, July 20 (LTR-46), and White's letter to Lucian Minor, August 18, 1835 (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 97-98).

The compound word “Martyr-like” is virtually a Poe coinage, with only one OED entry, dated 1580.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.) in the New York Public Library, Berg Collection. The envelope is postmarked Richmond, August 20, and is directed to William Poe, Augusta, GA. A notarized copy of this letter, made July 16, 1903 (and authenticated by William T. Poe, grandson of William Poe), is now in the Library of Virginia. Although the copy itself contains inaccuracies, it does permit several restorations for torn places in the MS. William Poe answered Poe's letter, before October 6, 1835 (CL-105). Poe is replying to William Poe's letter of ca. August 17, 1835 (CL-92). [page 102:]

Note: N. Poe and N. P. refer to Neilson Poe, of Baltimore, seven months younger than Poe (see Quinn, p. 725), who had married Josephine Clemm, Virginia's half-sister (see Quinn, p. 219). His daughter, Amelia F. Poe, in a letter to J. H. Ingram (Ingram Collection, University of Virginia), dated March 27, 1912, says that her father would not permit the above letter to be published. William Poe, of Augusta, GA, was Mrs. Clemm's first cousin; Poe had written to him in LTR-47. The identity of “Hall” is unknown. Poe's letter is carelessly written and shows his extreme agitation. Buried in it is what might be called the only extant letter from him to Virginia, other than LTR-232. This letter of entreaty, firmly offering marriage, reveals Poe's great stress which apparently led to his drinking and a sudden exit from the SLM, with a return to Baltimore and the possibility of a private marriage on September 22, 1835. Quinn & Hart (pp. 7-8) were doubtful about the early marriage ceremony, but TOM [Poems, 1:546, n. 7] accepts the event, citing “new” evidence. The name Saunders is well explicated by The Poe Log (p. 163), which notes that his rival's middle initial was “A” not “T.” Apparently, uncertain about the adequacy and permanency of White's SLM post, Poe had [page 105:] applied for a widely advertised position as “Professor of English” in the Richmond Academy, of which Charles Ellis, John Allan's partner, was a trustee — and perhaps unlikely to recommend Poe to the deciding Board. According to N. H. Morison, writing to J. H. Ingram on November 27, 1874, “To prevent so premature a marriage, Nelson [sic] Poe offered to take the young lady, his half-sister-in-law, into his own family, educate her, & take care of her — with the understanding that, if, after a few years, the two young people should feel the same towards each other, they should be married” (quoted in Miller, BPB, p. 52). Poe's focus upon this steady salary and respectable status as “Professor” was an inducement to Mrs. Clemm and her daughter to refuse Neilson's invitation. Pollin argues that Mrs. Clemm, concerned that Neilson's offer included support for Virginia but nothing for herself, manipulated Edgar into the marriage (see Pollin, “Maria Clemm, Poe's Aunt,” MissQ, 48:213-214).

Source: original MS (3 pp.) in the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The year date is established by internal and external evidence: Poe was in Richmond in August 1835, and Mrs. Clemm was in Baltimore; the postal cancellation shows Richmond, VA, August 29; and the envelope is directed to Mrs. William Clemm, Baltimore, MD. Mrs. Clemm and Virginia joined Poe in Richmond on October 3, 1835, according to a letter from Mrs. Clemm to William Poe, October 7, 1835 (see Quinn, p. 230, n.16). The MS is badly torn and worn, page 3 especially. Poe is replying to Mrs. Clemm's letter written sometime between August 20-26 (CL-95), after receipt of one from Poe (CL-94) saying William Poe had written him offering to assist her; and to a letter just received from her (CL-96, probably dated Aug. 27-28).

Note: Between July 20, 1835, when Poe wrote Thomas W. White from Baltimore (LTR-46), and August 18, 1835, when White wrote Lucian Minor, Poe went to Richmond to assist White in editing the SLM. Though Poe in his correspondence speaks of himself as editor of the magazine, White was slow in officially referring to him in that capacity. In the August 18 letter to Minor he says: “Mr. Poe is here also. — He tarries one month — and will aid me all that lies in his power” (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, p. 98). Again to Minor, October 24, 1835, White says: “... the paper is now under my own editorial management ... You may introduce Mr. Poe's name as amongst those engaged to contribute to its columns — taking care not to say as editor” — he had said about the same thing in his letter to Minor, September 8, stating that Poe would give him “some assistance ... in proof-reading” (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 103-104 and 98). However, White wrote to William Scott, proprietor of the New York Weekly Messenger, August 25, 1836: “Courtesy to Mr. Poe whom I employ to edit my paper makes it a matter of etiquette with me to submit all articles intended for the Messenger to his judgment and I abide by his dicta” (see The Poe Log, p. 221). Furthermore, writing to Tucker, December 27, 1836, White said: “Highly as I really think of Mr. Poe's talents, I shall be forced to give him notice in a week or so at farthest that I can no longer recognize him as editor of my Messenger. Three months ago I felt it my duty to give him a similar notice, — and was afterwards over-persuaded to restore him to his situation on certain conditions — which conditions he has again forfeited” (see Wilson, “Unpublished Letters of EAP,” Century Magazine, 107:656 and Jackson, Poe and the SLM, p. 110). “The Galaxy” was the New-England Galaxy (1817-1837?); Neal claimed editorship of it in 1835 (see American Magazines, 1:127).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of William H. Koester, and now in the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The separate sheet for the envelope is lost. A note in an unknown hand reads “Edgar A. Poe Died.” There is no evidence that Neal replied to Poe's letter. [page 107:]

Note: Dr. James Henry Miller (1788-1853) was one of the judges in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter contest of 1833 (see the note for LTR-39). For the date of Poe's joining Thomas W. White and the SLM, see the note to LTR-49; Kennedy had interceded with White to employ Poe in the editing of the magazine (see Quinn, p. 208). Probably within the week following the present letter, White was forced to sever Poe's connection with the Messenger; though White, in his letter to Lucian Minor, September 21, [page 109:] 1835 (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 99-100), said: “Poe has flew the track already,” giving melancholy and drink as the causes; his letter to Poe, September 29, 1835 (CL-104), clearly indicates drinking as the chief reason for White's action. Moreover, White's letter to Poe indicates a letter from Poe (unlocated), datable about September 15-20, 1835 (CL-102), perhaps a few days later, asking reinstatement. Upon receipt of White's letter of September 29, 1835, Poe must have gone back to Richmond and the Messenger, for by October 8 he was writing to Robert M. Bird (LTR-51) “at the request of “ White. Thus the despondency in the first part of the present letter to Kennedy was probably occasioned by the uncertainty of Poe's position on the Messenger. Page 2 of the letter, from its more confident tone, seems to have been written a day or two after the first; White may have promised Poe another opportunity to prove himself. Moreover, the delayed mailing of the letter would tend to account for the elapsed time between the date it was begun and Kennedy's reply (CL-103), September 19, a reply that Kennedy, under the circumstances, would surely have been rather quick to send. Nevertheless, Poe was gone from Richmond when Kennedy's letter arrived, and it was forwarded to Baltimore, September 22, 1835. Poe's unlocated letter (CL-81) from Baltimore to Henry C. Carey, of Carey & Lea, concerning “MS. Found in a Bottle” (originally published in the Saturday Visiter, October 19, 1833; and reprinted in The Gift for 1836) is authenticated by Carey's letter to Kennedy, May 18, 1835 (see Campbell, “The Kennedy Papers,” Sewanee Review, 25:197-198): “Poe has written me to say that the tale selected by Miss Leslie has been printed already ... I would have written him but that his letter is only now received and I am excessively busy.” Thus Poe's letter to Carey may be dated before May 18, 1835. Nothing came of Poe's suggestion about his Tales of the Folio Club. Kennedy was the author of Horse-Shoe Robinson (1835). Concerning “Hans Phaal” and “Discoveries in the Moon,” see Poe's “Literati” article on Richard Adams Locke (H [Works], 15:126-137). For the odd spelling of “Hans Pfaal,” see the notes to LTR-46. For a full treatment of Poe's chagrin and many reasons for raising to Kennedy the issue of Locke's “Moon Hoax,” see notes to “Hans Pfaall” (Writings, 1:492-94, nn. 80-81).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.) in the Peabody Institute Library. It is written on both sides of a single leaf; there is no cover extant. Poe is not replying to a letter from Kennedy; but Kennedy seems to have written Poe a note to accompany some money that he forwarded from Thomas W. White to Poe (see LTR-43). The note or letter, [page 110:] unlocated, may be dated ca. May 21-25, 1835 (CL-83). The unlocated letter from Dr. Miller, suggests a communication from Poe to Dr. Miller; the letter from Dr. Miller may be dated September 8-9 (CL-100), and Poe's to Dr. Miller, before September 8, 1835 (CL-99).

Note: Dr. Robert Montgomery Bird (1806-1854) received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1827, and taught 1841-1843 at the Pennsylvania Medical College. Although he occasionally wrote poetry, he was primarily a novelist and dramatist. Poe reviewed Bird's Hawks of Hawk-Hollow (SLM, December 1835, 2:43-46; reprinted in H [Works], 8:63-73, and Writings, 5:50-53) and Sheppard Lee (SLM, September 1836, 2:662-667; reprinted in H [Works], 9:126-139, and Writings, 5:282-286). He appears in Poe's “Autography” (SLM, February 1836, 2:205-212; reprinted in H [Works], 15:156, and TOM [T&S], 2:259-291) and his “Chapter on Autography” (Graham's, November 1841, 19:234; reprinted in H [Works], 15:203-204). Some bibliographies attribute to Poe the SLM reviews of Bird's Calavar (February 1835, 1:315) and The Infidel (June 1835, 2:582-585; reprinted in H [Works], [page 111:] 8:32-37), but these are confidently rejected in Writings, 5:18-19. Worth noting is Bird's appearance late in Such Friends as no. 219, with the comment: “Rob. M. Bird — find him” (pp. 17 and 20).

Source: transcript of the text as printed in Anderson Galleries sale catalog, November 13-14, 1916, item 71. The letter was described as a one page quarto, addressed to Dr. R. M. Bird, Philadelphia. Only two letters are known from Poe to Bird, and two replies from Bird may be assumed: the first of these replies, late 1835 or early 1836 (CL-111a), in which a “demi-promise ... in relation to an article for our Southern Literary Messenger” was made (see LTR-65); the second, after June 7 (CL-148), probably a note accompanying his poem “The Pine Wood,” contributed to the SLM (August 1836, 2:541).

Note: Lucian Minor (1802-1858) was a lawyer in Louisa County, VA. His series “Letters from New England” was published in the SLM, owned by Thomas W. White, from November 1834-April 1835, and his “Address on Education” appeared in the SLM in December 1835 (2:17-24), while Poe was editor. In 1855 Minor became Professor of Law at the College of William and Mary (see the DAB, 13:27). TOM [Poems, 1:507, item 50] suggests that the translation” was “Hymn, in Honor of Harmodius and Aristogiton,” signed only as “P” in the SLM, and sometimes erroneously attributed to Poe. The present letter is interesting because it shows Poe serving as amanuensis for White (see also the note to LTR-99); however, despite the third-person reference to “Mr. Poe,” Poe probably not only wrote the letter but also formulated most of its content, White merely signing it. [page 112:]

Source: transcript of the fragment printed in the Anderson Galleries sale catalog, April 25-27, 1916, item 465. The Merwin-Clayton sales catalog, January 18, 1911, item 255, described the MS as a 1 page octavo. Both catalogs agree that the letter was written by Poe but signed by Thomas W. White, and that Poe addressed the envelope to Lucian Minor, the Anderson Galleries catalog giving his address as Charlottesville, VA.

Note: The second volume of the SLM, to which the letter evidently refers, began with the December 1835 issue, available about November 26, 1835. (Beginning with the inaugural issue of August 1834, the SLM suffered from a very erratic publishing schedule for the first two volumes, with volume I containing the unusual number of thirteen issues. Volume III began a more traditional alignment with the calendar in January 1837.) Based on surviving letters from T. W. White to Lucian Minor (September 8 and October 20, 1835; see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 98-99 and 102-103), it is known that Poe wrote all of the editorial reviews for the issues of August and September 1835. Burton R. Pollin and Joseph V. Ridgely (Writings, vol. 5), Hull and other authorities grant Poe the authorship of most of the critical notices for volume II. (There are, it should be noted, some important exceptions, such as the Drayton-Paulding review in the issue for April 1836.) “W. H. L. Poe” was Edgar's older brother, William Henry Leonard Poe, who died in Baltimore in 1831. Henry dabbled in poetry and prose, and seems to have had a circle of literary friends in Baltimore, including Lambert A. Wilmer and [page 113:] Frederick W. Thomas, as well as a number of professional contacts, particularly at the North American (Baltimore, MD). According to TOM [Poems], Henry “probably knew the Baltimore poet Edward Coote Pinkney” (1:515). Describing the lively literary scene in Baltimore in the 1820s, Allen and Mabbott mention Coale's Bookstore and “Mistress Foy's Tavern where [John Hill] Hewitt and Rufus Dawes might drop in for talk and song and punch” (Poe's Brother, p. 26). By 1835, Edgar had already established some contact with John Neal, William Wirt (both of whom wrote to Edgar in a casual and friendly manner), and William Gwynn (who had employed Edgar's cousin, Neilson Poe). Although none of these men are known to have had any association with Henry, all lived in Baltimore prior to 1831 and were clearly willing to encourage a young writer. Phillips (1:438) says that Poe's communications with F. W. Thomas date from a letter of March 1836, not described in more detail, in which case Poe's correspondent for the present letter might be Thomas.

Source: color photograph of the original MS (fragment) in the Poe Foundation. This fragment is the lower right quarter of a sheet of blue paper, apparently preserved by someone who was interested only in the signature. A note accompanying the fragment states that it “was given to the Poe Museum in October 1969 by Mrs. Rosewell Page. It once was the property of Thomas Nelson Page, her brother-in-law.” (Other property from the estate of Thomas Nelson Page, of Oakland, Virginia, the famous Southern writer, was auctioned off in October of 1931 by the American Art Association, Anderson Galleries.)

Note: Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (1784-1851), a native Virginian, was Professor of Law at William and Mary College. He was an early contributor to the SLM, and was the author of George Balcombe (1836), reviewed by Poe in the SLM (January 1837, 3:49-58; reprinted in H [Works], 9:243-265, and Writings, 5:336-344), and of The Partisan Leader (1836).The Greek word “B@40F4l” is correctly spelled by Poe, although in the 1948 edition of The Letters the medial sigma was misread as an omicron. This favorite bit of Poe's erudition came from Bielfeld's Universal Erudition, 2, ch. vi. For other instances in Poe, see note to “Pinakidia” (Writings, 2:94, item 152). “Jeffrey” was Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850), a founder of the Edinburgh Review, in 1802, assuming the editorial reins shortly afterwards. Initially, he unfavorably reviewed the writings of such luminaries as Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth, although he later revised his views of their works. (Poe's own negative impressions of Wordsworth were prominently expressed in his introductory “Letter to B ——,” in Poems, 1831.) See TOM [T&S], 2:658, n. 4, for Poe's invention of the derisive laughter recorded and used elsewhere. Although Poe may not be indicating an actual review in Blackwood's, it is perhaps unfair to assume that he is entirely inventing such laughter; in Our Press Gang (1859), L. A. Wilmer comments: “What! are wise editors a rarity? [page 117:] Methinks I hear a sound which resembles the laughing chorus in a Dutch opera. Ha! ha! ha! he! he! he! hi! hi! hi! ho! ho! ho!” (p. 66). Poe's “MS. Found in a Bottle” first appeared in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter, October 19, 1833. For Poe's praise of Cooke's critical acumen, see LTR-82. “Morella” first appeared in the SLM, April 1835. Three scenes from Poe's drama Politian were published in the SLM, December 1835. Mrs. Poe died in Richmond, December 8, 1811; but nothing definite is known concerning the death of David Poe. To White, Tucker had written, “... if I do not mistake his [Poe's] filiation, I remember his beautiful mother when a girl” (see Quinn, p. 235). Poe's use of “physique,” usually as though French, varies greatly, here seeming to be the appearance or representation of the horrifying. Although the effective weirdness of the “MS. Found in a Bottle” has none of the “bad taste” of “Berenice” — which, in his letter to White (LTR-42), he had vowed to eliminate — still to come were the cannibalism of Pym, the dismemberment of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and the putrescence of “Valdemar.”

Source: color photograph of the original MS (2 pp.) in the University of Virginia. The envelope, a separate leaf, is addressed to “Judge Beverly [sic] Tucker / Williamsburg / Va:” and is postmarked at Richmond, December 3. Poe's signature bears a slight paraph. Poe is replying to Tucker's letter to T. W. White, November 29, 1835 (MS in the Boston Public Library; printed in part in Quinn, pp. 234-235). Tucker replied to the present letter, December 5, 1835 (CL-111).

Note: George Poe, Jr. (1778-1864) was a banker in Mobile at the time of the present letter, and apparently a man of some financial means (see Quinn, p. 33). He was the grandson of John Poe, and therefore Mrs. Clemm's first cousin. (See also Poe's genealogical letter of July 14, 1839, LTR-79). Mrs. Clemm and Virginia joined Poe in Richmond, in October 1835. William Poe (born 1802), of Augusta, GA, was another cousin, to whom [page 119:] Poe wrote giving family relationships and soliciting aid for Mrs. Clemm (LTR-47). Robert Forsyth Poe (died 1854) was William's brother (see Mrs. Clemm to William Poe, October 7, 1835, printed in H [Works], 17:379-381; and see also LTR-60 and LTR-97), and he also lived in Augusta, GA. For Mrs. Clemm's letter to George Poe, thanking him for the money, see Quinn & Hart, p. 15. Nothing ever came of the “boardinghouse” idea.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The envelope is postmarked Richmond, January 12, and directed to George Poe, Mobile, AL. The signature, including the complimentary close and perhaps part of the postscript, has been cut away, but Poe is obviously the writer. On the verso of the MS, George Poe wrote: “Edgar A. Poe / 12 Jan. 1836 / rec^d / ans. 12 Feb. / Sent check for / $100.”

Note: Poe presumably took great pride in writing to Carey & Hart in his capacity as editor of the SLM. The Philadelphia publishers appear to have complied with his request, as Poe reviewed Rienzi in the SLM (February 1836, 2:197-201; reprinted in H [Works], 7:222-229, and Writings, [page 120:] 5:121-125). The long and seminal review of Bulwer's novel is unusually favorable for Poe. Rienzi is noted as “the best novel of Bulwer,” and Bulwer himself is praised for “illimitable faculties of mind [making him] unequalled ... unapproached” (Writings, 5:121). For Poe's extensive use of this novel, see Pollin, “Bulwer's Rienzi as Multiple Source for Poe,” PS, 29:66-68. Poe subsequently reviewed Bulwer's writings in Graham's Magazine and the BJ (Writings, 3:18-21).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the library of Princeton University. No address accompanies the letter unless it appears on the verso of the MS, which is pasted down flat in an album. The correct year date is established by the fact that Poe did not become editor of the SLM until after July 20, 1835 (see note to LTR-49) and by the fact that he reviewed Rienzi as noted above.

Note: For Kennedy's aid to Poe, see the notes to LTR-50. Based on family records kept by Amelia F. Poe, William and Catherine Clemm had five children: William, Jr. (1779-1826), John (1780-1814), James Sayre (born 1786), Joseph Ettwine (1787-1864), and Elizabeth (1789-1863). (Elizabeth married Samuel Tschudy.) In addition to Henry and Virginia, the children of Maria and William Clemm, Jr. (and one other daughter, deceased in 1822), there were five children from an earlier marriage between Harriet and William Clemm, Jr. (see the table for LTR-79). No inheritance was paid (see Kennedy to Poe, April 26, 1836, CL-135). Nothing more is known of Henry Clemm. Kennedy's new work may have been Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoes (Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 2 vols., 1838). In noting that he receives “nearly all new publications,” Poe is implying that he sells them for added income.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.) in the Peabody Institute Library. Poe is replying to Kennedy's letter of September 19, 1835 (CL-103).

Note: For information on Lucian Minor, see notes to LTR-51a. “Selection in Reading” (unsigned) was printed in the SLM, February 1836, 2:141; and “Liberian Literature” (unsigned), in the SLM, February 1836, 2:158-159. The necessity of shortening the title was apparently so that it would fit on one line within the column.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in Boston Public Library. The envelope is directed to Charlottesville, VA, shows a postal cancellation of February 13, and has a note, possibly in Minor's hand: “rec^d 16^th Feb. 1836.”

Notes: The Reverend Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (1809-1870), a native Bostonian, became a Unitarian clergyman in Augusta, GA, 1830-1837. He published a number of religious works and a book of poems; he was also editor of a Unitarian hymnal (see Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1:444). Poe included him in Such Friends as no. 117 (pp. 14 and 21). His letter to Poe, May 3, 1836 (CL-137), in which he sent contributions for the Messenger, was apparently in response to Poe's invitation (see LTR-69). In all probability, the suggestion made to the proprietor, Thomas W. White, came from Poe.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles. The envelope, on the last sheet, is addressed: “Richmond, Va., Feb. 13,” and bears the notation: “Edgar A. Poe, Esq. / Poe. Richmond / Feb. 13. 1836.”

Note: Kennedy sought possession of a picture of his wife, her sister, and himself, painted by William James Hubard (1807-1862) and valued at $225 (see CL-118 and CL-135). Hubard had taken it to Richmond, promising to return it, but after four years had failed to keep his word. Ironically, Poe's presence in the effort to retrieve the picture eventually led to a serious error over a “primitive drawing” said to be of Poe from “life” and actually copied from a woodcut in Duyckinck's Cyclopedia of 1856. J. H. Whitty later used it as frontispiece for his edition of Poe's poems (1911), donated it to the Richmond Poe Museum, and persuaded TOM [Poems] to call it “fully authenticated” (1:570). The account is well handled by M. J. Deas, The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of EAP, with illustrations, pp. 114-117. At the time of the present letter, Poe had published twelve tales, ten of which belonged to the Tales of the Folio Club: “Metzengerstein,” “The Duc de L’Omelette,” “Lionizing,” “A Tale of Jerusalem,” “Loss of Breath,” “Bon-Bon,” “MS. Found in a Bottle,” “The Visionary,” “Morella,” “Hans Pfaall,” “King Pest,” and “Shadow” (for dates, see TOM [T&S] and Wyllie, Poe's Tales). Concerning the satire or burlesque in Poe's tales, see Wilson, “The Devil Was in It,” American Mercury. Kennedy's letter of February 9, 1836 (CL-118), to which Poe is replying, promised a visit to McCulloch about the disposition of a minor inheritance from the estate of William and Catherine Clemm. In CL-135, Kennedy stated that debts had completely drained the estate. Poe began his article on autographs in the February number of the SLM (2:205-212; reprinted in H [Works], 15:139-174, and TOM [T&S], 2:259-291). In the thirteenth entry he spoke of Kennedy's penmanship as “our beau ideal [sic for idéal],” and of the seal as “nearly square, with a lion's head in full alto relievo, surrounded by the motto ‘il parle par tout.’ ” In addition to Poe's misreading of the motto, the SLM [page 127:] prints “par tout” as two words, presumably a typographical error since he spells “partout” correctly in the present letter.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.) in the Peabody Institute Library.

Note: John Collins McCabe (1810-1875) was a Richmond minister and minor literary figure, contributing numerous poems to the SLM, beginning with the first number, August 1834. See Gordon, Memories and Memorials of William Gordon McCabe (1:22) for the statement that Poe and McCabe were close friends, although corroborating evidence seems [page 129:] lacking, aside from the present letter and a curt “Autography” item of December 1841 in Graham's (H [Works], 15:231). TOM [Poems, 1:182-183] notes that Poe inscribed the 1831 version of “Irene,” the early form of the 1841 poem “The Sleeper,” in McCabe's album of 1837. This MS volume carried McCabe's very flattering introductory note “To / Original Contributors only” (plus accolades to them); Poe's poem leads all the others. Poe's admiration for McCabe's poetic talent seems rather tepid, however; his recording him as no. 92 in Such Friends (p. 30) may reflect the approximate date of the “Chapter on Autography” article at the end of 1841. Mr. W. was, of course, Thomas W. White, owner of the SLM.

Poe uses “materiel,” italicized as French, but lacking the French acute accent; moreover, properly speaking, even in 1836, it was invariably used in English without an accent or italics for military equipment or machinery. Although Poe's word “habiliments” comes etymologically from French “habillement,” it is neither correct French to use a single “l” nor correct English to change the second “i” to an “e”. Poe has 13 instances of correct “habiliment(s)” in his tales, one of which is used ironically as an exemplar in the American Heritage Dictionary (1992). The quoted use of “Oon burning” is from the Scots, for “one burning.”

Source: color photograph of the original MS (2 pp.) in the University of Virginia Library, Clifton Waller Barrett Collection. It is written on blue paper. Poe is answering McCabe's letter of February 24, 1836 (CL-124).

Note: For information on Lucian Minor, see LTR-51a. The Reverend Oliver A. Stearns (1807-1885) was a defender of anti-slavery policies, a prominent New England theologian, and a professor in the Harvard Divinity School (see the DAB, 17:546-547). This letter identifies Minor as author of “Letters from New England — No. 3, by a Virginian,” in the SLM, January 1835, 1:217-220. For the “Marshall article,” see the SLM, February 1836, 2:181-191, unsigned. Hugh Blair Grigsby (1806-1881) owned and edited the Norfolk American Beacon, 1834-1840 (see the DAB, 7:628; also Cappon, Virginia Newspapers, p. 134). Thomas R. Dew was president of William and Mary College, 1836-1845.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of William H. Koester, and now in the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The postal cancellation is dated the same as the letter. Minor's name appears on the envelope, a separate leaf, but not in the letter itself. Further identification is made by reference to “Liberian Literature,” which was by Minor (see LTR-55; also the letter of T. W. White to Minor, November 9, 1835, in Jackson, Contributors and Contributions to the SLM, p. 14). Poe, acting as White's amanuensis, is answering Minor's letter to White, March 6, 1836.

Note: For information on William Poe, see the note to LTR-47. His gift probably resulted from a plea for financial aid by Poe, or possibly Mrs. Clemm. Poe is replying to William Poe's letter of March 29, 1836 (CL-130). For a similar letter from Poe to another cousin, see LTR-53. William's brother was Washington Poe, who also corresponded with Edgar (see LTR-98, CL-129, and CL-131).

Source: transcript of the original MS, in the Library of Virginia. The notarized transcript was made July 16, 1903 and authenticated by William T. Poe, grandson of William Poe. Below Poe's signature, the notarized copy includes the following note to William Poe from Mrs. Clemm: “Dear Cousin: — Edgar a few days since handed me a note for fifty dollars for which I learn I am indebted to your kindness — accept my sincere gratitude — will you have the goodness to present to your lady my respects, and believe me, yours sincerely, Maria Clemm.” [page 132:]

Note: Mrs. Sigourney's Zinzendorff, and Other Poems (New York: Leavitt, Lord & Co., 1836), along with collections of the works of two other female poets, was reviewed by Poe in the SLM, January 1836 (2:112-117; reprinted in H [Works], 8:122-142, and Writings, 5:83-88). For Poe's joining White and the SLM, see LTR-45 and notes, and the note to LTR-49.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.), formerly in the collection of William H. Koester, and now in the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The envelope, a separate leaf, is addressed to “Mrs. L. H. Sigourney / Hartford / Connec^t” and is postmarked Richmond, April 12. The envelope is endorsed, presumably by Mrs. Sigourney, “Edgar A. Poe. Richmond. April 12, 1836. / ans^d April 25^th”; but the original MS letter from Mrs. Sigourney in reply to Poe's, above, is clearly dated “April 23^d” (CL-134). Poe is replying to a letter from Mrs. Sigourney to Thomas W. White, owner of the SLM.

Note: Tucker's two poems, both entitled “To a Coquette,” omitted in the April number of the SLM, appeared in the May 1836 issue, though unsigned (SLM, 2:352). Tucker's article on slavery was an unsigned review of J. K. Paulding's Slavery in the United States (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836) and William Drayton's The South Vindicated From the Treason and Fanaticism of the Northern Abolitionists (Philadelphia: H. Manly, 1836). Each of these books attempts to justify slavery in the United States, as does the unsigned review. Unfortunately, Harrison's error of collecting this review as if by Poe (H [Works], 8:265-275) has been influential in numerous Poe commentaries. The result has been widespread misconceptions about Poe's racial attitudes, in spite of the corrected identification by Hull in 1941 and the present letter from an editor, seemingly blunt and evidentiary in explaining his need to alter a text about to be published. The major issues in this heated controversy are most ably analyzed and addressed by Whalen in Poe and [page 135:] the Masses, pp. 116-121. See also a more condensed survey of the “history” of the reception and denial of this attribution in Writings, 5:153-154, and J. V. Ridgely's fuller treatment of the issue in “The Authorship of the Paulding-Drayton Review,” PSA Newsletter, 20:1-3 and 6. A few scholars continue attempts to use the review as a reflection of Poe's own attitudes on slavery, but the case against such arguments seems clear. Thomas R. Dew and Robert Saunders were professors at William and Mary College, Williamsburg. Dew became president of the college in 1836. Both men were crucially involved in the public stance of the SLM's presentation of the widely debated issue of slavery. For the importance of Professor Dew and Mr. Saunders to Poe see Whalen, Poe and the Masses, pp. 115, 130-131, and 299, n. 55. It may be assumed that “Mrs. Nathaniel Beverly [sic] Tucker Jr.” is this prominent correspondent's wife, listed for his address in Such Friends as no. 146 (pp. 15 and 37, with a parenthetical “Jane Ellis” added).

Although the OED does not give “apologise” as an accepted alternate spelling of “apologize,” it does cite prominent examples of both in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In his letters, Poe uses it consistently in this form (see LTR-76, LTR-85, LTR-144, and LTR-163d). Although it is not officially sanctioned, it appears to have been a common spelling, and is therefore accepted as a variant.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of George P. Coleman, and now in the library of the College of William and Mary. No reply to the present letter is known.

Note: Jared Sparks (1789-1866) was Professor of History at Harvard (see “Autography,” in H [Works], 15:214). The satirical “Letter of Celia Single” appeared in the SLM for April 1836 (2:296), signed Celia Single, but possibly in jest; “MSS. of Benj. Franklin” with the introductory note: “never yet published” appeared in the same issue of the SLM (2:293-295). In W [1909] 2:365-368, and the 1948 and 1966 editions of The Letters, as well as elsewhere, the Duane mentioned by Poe has been consistently misidentified as William John Duane (1780-1865), who was Secretary of the Treasury from May to September 1833 under President Andrew Jackson (and noted in the DAB, 5:469). Poe's Duane, William Duane, Jr. (1808-1882), was actually the son of the man identified (see W. T. Bandy, “Poe, Duane and Duffee,” University of Mississippi Studies in English, ns 3:81-95). In Writings (5:151-152) is reprinted Poe's grateful account of having access to important material in Duane's Franklin manuscript-book, which furnished various items for the April-June 1836 issues of SLM, with footnotes probably by Poe. Also in Writings (5:204-205) are reproduced Franklin's nine lines of verse on women's beneficial role as teachers. Far different from the present letter in tone and tenor are Poe's later references and direct correspondence with Duane, concerning the borrowed SLM volume that Maria Clemm had furtively sold when told to return it (see LTR-184 and LTR-191).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in Harvard College Library. Poe is acting for White in replying to Sparks’ letter of May 17, 1836, which is unlocated. [page 137:]

Note: According to an Anderson Galleries catalog, January 4-5, 1934, offering the present letter as item 350, James H. Causten (1788-1874) was associated in Washington with Col. John T. Pickett and the French spoliation claims; the letter came up for sale from the Pickett family. David Poe, Sr. was appointed Assistant Deputy Quartermaster of the Continental Army in Baltimore, April 8, 1778, and on September 10, 1779, was listed as an agent to purchase for the Army. “General” Poe asked nothing for his services, but did request reimbursement from the Government for personal outlays of money totaling $40,000. He provided letters in his support from such luminaries as Washington and Lafayette, but these “were not held to be vouchers of technical formalities” — and he received nothing. When Lafayette visited the United States in 1824, he asked to see his old friend David Poe, but was told that he was dead. Mrs. Poe, however, was still alive and a meeting was quickly arranged. That she was elderly and living in poverty proved sufficiently embarrassing to the Maryland legislature that she was granted an annuity, upon which Maria Clemm and her family largely relied for income until Mrs. Poe's death in 1835. There is no evidence that Poe's letter to Causten had any success. Documents reproduced in Brannan, The Poe Family Line, show that the claim was still being pursued in April 1837, but was denied because Mrs. Poe “died before the passage of the Act” (pp. 28-32).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of William H. Koester, and now in the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The address appears on the verso of the single leaf. On the MS appears the note: “Ans Dec 9 J H C,” indicating a reply from Causten (CL-166). [page 139:]

Note: Bird (CL-148) apparently answered Poe's request by sending a poem, “The Pine Wood,” published in the SLM, August 1836 (2:541). In the SLM for June 1835 (1:582-585) appears a review of Bird's novel The Infidel, or the Fall of Mexico (reprinted in H [Works], 8:32-37), commenting briefly also on Calavar. Poe's final comment in the present letter has suggested to some, including Harrison, that Poe was the author of this review, but for a correction of the attribution, see notes to LTR-51. The present letter is the first of several Poe wrote requesting contributions to the SLM (see LTR-66, LTR-67, LTR-67a, LTR-67b, and LTR-68).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of William H. Koester, and now in the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The letter is addressed on the verso of the single leaf to “D^r Robert M. Bird / Philadelphia / P^a,” and is postmarked from Richmond, June 7. Bird's reply (CL-148) is unlocated. [page 140:]

Note: James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) was one of America's most prolific and successful novelists. Much like his dealings with Washington Irving, Poe was willing, for the sake of professional opportunities, to sublimate his personal lack of esteem for the prominent and popular writer. Reviewing Cooper's History of the Navy, Poe revealed a distinctly unfavorable opinion of the author's fiction: “It cannot be denied that, for many years past, he has been rapidly sinking in the estimation of his countrymen, and indeed of all right minded persons” (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, July 1839, 5:56). In spite of his personal [page 141:] reservations, however, Poe continued to think that Cooper's “aid would be invaluable,” and entered his name in Such Friends, as no. 240 (p. 22). In the first issue of the SLM (August 1834), a brief comment of encouragement from Cooper begins: “The south is full of talent, and the leisure of its gentlemen ought to bring it freely into action.” Apparently holding to this notion, Cooper did not comply with Poe's request.

Source: photograph of the original MS (1 p.) in the New York State Historical Association. At some point, the original MS was pasted on a folding screen along with several letters from other celebrities of the day. No address is visible. Poe's signature bears a slight paraph.

Note: Fitz-Greene Halleck (1790-1867) was a poet of the Knickerbocker Group. Poe wrote a mixed review of Halleck's Alnwick Castle for the SLM (April 1836, 2:326-336; Writings, 5:164-174), and a longer notice as part of the “Our Contributors” series for Graham's Magazine (September 1843, 23:160-163), essentially repeated in an installment of “The Literati of New York City” (Godey's, July 1846). The SLM had been “forcing its way” for more than “eighteen months.” White's first number appeared in August 1834, as a bi-weekly periodical broadly defined as “Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts,” but it was changed to a monthly with the November issue (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 20-21). Poe's reference here to “literati” is interesting in light of his controversial series on “The Literati of New York City” a decade later. Poe's present letter is one of several seeking contributions to the SLM (see LTR-65, LTR-66, LTR-67a, LTR-67b, and LTR-68). There is no evidence that Halleck complied with Poe's request, although a two-sentence fragment printed in the SLM for June 1836 (2:517) suggests a flattering reply (CL-148b).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of William H. Koester, and now in the Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The address leaf is lost.

Note: This is another of several very similar letters Poe wrote to prospective contributors to the SLM on the same date (see LTR-65, LTR-66, LTR-67, LTR-67b, and LTR-68). The celebrated name of Washington Irving on the contributors’ page would have been of great value to the SLM, but Irving failed to contribute. Hope that he might be relied upon for support could have been inferred from page one of the first issue of the magazine (August 1834), where Irving, along with other well-wishers, had said: “Your new literary enterprise has my highest approbation and warmest good wishes. Strongly disposed as I always have been in favor of ‘the south,’... I cannot but feel interested in the success of a work which is calculated to concentrate the talent and illustrate the high and generous character which pervade that part of the Union.” Unfortunately, good wishes were apparently all Poe and the publisher, T. W. White, could expect. For writers who actually sent contributions to the special August 1836 number, see LTR-69c and notes.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Annmary Brown Memorial, Brown University. A notation on the verso of the MS reads: “Edw. a Poe [sic] / June 7. 1836 / Behalf of Southe[rn] / Messenger.” Below this notation in a larger hand is “1836.” [page 144:]

Note: As in LTR-65, LTR-66, LTR-67, LTR-67a, and LTR-68, Poe's letters to prospective contributors to the SLM all repeat similar phrases. In these other letters, the name of the person addressed usually appears at the bottom of the page, but not on this MS. Since we do not know the names of all the authors Poe wrote to at this time, or even how many there were, his correspondent here cannot be easily assigned. A possible candidate is James Kirke Paulding, to whom Poe certainly wrote [page 145:] (CL-147a). Excerpts from Paulding's apparent reply (CL-148a) were printed in the supplement to the SLM, July 1836. Paulding also sent one poem and two prose contributions, which would seem to be in fulfillment of Poe's request: “The Old Man's Carousel” (SLM, August 1836, 2:538), “Example and Precept” (SLM, July 1836, 2:464-465), and “Judgement of Rhadamanthus” (SLM, August 1836, 2:539-540). These are the first items by Paulding written for the SLM, and the only ones for 1836, all three carrying Paulding's name.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.). The photocopy was among the papers at TOM [Iowa], but without identification for a source or correspondent.

Note: Concerning Mrs. Catherine Clemm's estate, see LTR-54. With one exception, full letters in reply from the authors cited in the present letter are unlocated, although R. M. Bird and others sent contributions (see notes to LTR-65 and LTR-67b). Mrs. Sigourney's letter to Poe, June 11, 1836 (CL-150), promises a contribution and mentions a letter from Poe, June 4, 1836 (CL-141). Poe and Virginia were married in Richmond, Monday, May 16, 1836 (see Quinn, p. 252). Quinn (p. 255) cites Susan Archer Weiss, Home Life of Poe ( p. 85), for their then living “in a cheap tenement on Seventh Street,” with a reservation about “any statement which that lady made at second hand.” Although Poe specifically states that Lewis Cass has promised a contribution, LTR-69c establishes that he had not yet even written to the former governor until nearly a month later.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.), formerly in the collection of H. Bradley Martin, now unlocated. No reply from Kennedy is known. [page 147:]

Note: The present letter, another of the series written to prospective contributors for the SLM, is virtually identical to LTR-67a, differing only in some slight phrasing, such as “contribution for our Journal” rather than “contribution to our Journal.” This is the only known correspondence between Poe and Edward Everett (1794-1865), the famous 19^th century orator. Poe's early impression of Everett appears to have been a highly favorable one. In the brief “Eulogies on Marshall,” Poe writes: “But [page 148:] except Everett among the living, and Wirt and Ames among the departed of our countrymen, we doubt if any American, with the effusions of whose mind we are familiar, could have more closely rivalled by language the character and the actions attempted to be portrayed” (SLM, December 1835; see Writings, 5:72). Everett is more directly featured as the author of letter X in “Autography,” with Poe's comment: “Here is a noble MS. It has an air of deliberate precision about it emblematic of the statesman; and a mingled solidity and grace speaking the scholar. Nothing can be more legible. The words are at proper intervals — the lines also are at proper intervals, and perfectly straight. There are no superfluous flourishes. The man who writes thus will never grossly err in judgment or otherwise. We may venture to say, however, that he will not attain the loftiest pinnacles of renown. The paper is excellent — stout yet soft — with gilt edges. The seal of red wax, with an oval device bearing the initials E. E. and surrounded with a scroll, on which are legible only the word cum and the letters c. o. r. d. a.” (SLM, Feb. 1836, 2:209). Poe essentially repeats this entry in the “Chapter on Autography” of 1841, modifying the last sentence slightly: “The letters before us have a seal of red wax, with an oval device bearing the initials E. E. and surrounded with a scroll, inscribed with some Latin words which are illegible.” (Graham's, November 1841, 19:233). In the same article, however, Poe indirectly asserts a more negative opinion in the entry on Robert Walsh: “Mr. Walsh cannot be denied talent; but his reputation, which has been bolstered into being by a clique, is not a thing to live. A blustering self-conceit betrays itself in his chirography, which upon the whole, is not very dissimilar to that of Mr. E. Everett, of whom we shall speak hereafter.” Eveleth appears to have sent no contribution.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Massachusetts Historical Society, Edward Everett Papers. To avoid tearing the page by pulling the paper at the seal, the letter was opened by cutting a neat V, leaving the wax intact. The letter is addressed to “Hon. Edward Everett / Boston / Mass.” and carries a postmark of “RICHMD / VA / JUN 7.” A notation below the address, presumably by Everett, states: “7 June 1836. E. A. Poe / 23 —.” The number 23 may indicate the date of a reply from Everett, a possibility that is further suggested by Poe's April 28, 1846 letter to E. A. Duyckinck, in which Poe lists Everett's name among those “distinguished Amer. statesmen” for whom he has an autograph in the form of “well-preserved letters” (see LTR-229). One can only wonder if these letters include those Poe describes in his “Autography” series. [page 149:]

Note: For information on S. G. Bulfinch, see the notes to LTR-56. Robert and William Poe lived in Augusta, GA. Bulfinch's letter of “the 3d. ult” would undoubtedly be that of May 3, 1836 (CL-137), since Poe usually used “ult.” to refer to the month just past (see LTR-103, LTR-125, LTR-133, LTR-146, and LTR-253) and “inst.” to refer to the current [page 150:] month (see LTR-102 and LTR-145); furthermore, Bulfinch's contribution is “in the printer's hand” by June 8 and did appear in the “next” or June issue (SLM 2:410-411). Addressed to the editor, the contribution was headed “Perdicaris.” The article consisted of two columns, two-thirds of the first one made up of a biographical comment on Perdicaris; the rest of the article being a twenty-eight line translation “From the Romaic of Christopoulos,” in which Bulfinch acknowledges assistance by Perdicaris, and a fifty-five line original poem by Bulfinch, entitled, “To G. A. Perdicaris.” Gregory Anthony Perdicaris was a native Macedonian who, after he came to the United States, taught Greek in schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and became the U.S. Consul to Greece in 1836. His book on The Greece of the Greeks was published in 1845 (New York: Paine & Burgess, 2 vols.). The notice of Perdicaris’ Lectures did not appear in the Messenger while Poe was editor, though one was printed in the February number (SLM, 3:159).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles. The envelope is addressed: “To. / Rev. S. G. Bulfinch / Augusta / Georgia.” It is postmarked: “Richmond / V^a / Jun 9.” Two almost similar notations appear on the envelope: “Edgar A. Poe. / Richmond, / June 8. 1836”; and “Edgar A. Poe Esq. June 8th, / 1836.” No further correspondence between Poe and Bulfinch is known, although Bulfinch is no. 117 in the list of Such Friends (p. 21), presumably many years later (CL-844).

Note: Peter Stephen Du Ponceau (1760-1844), the American name of Pierre Étienne Du Ponceau, was a Frenchman who came to America and served in the Continental Army, later settling in Philadelphia and becoming a citizen of Pennsylvania. He achieved the status of a prominent lawyer, linguist, and literary figure with significant writings on philology and history (see the DAB, 5:525-526). There is no evidence that Du Ponceau answered Poe's letter or ever sent any contribution to the SLM. For similar solicitations, see LTR-65, etc.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Note: Dr. Francis Lieber (1800-1872) was born in Germany, served in the Prussian army at Waterloo, and settled in Boston in 1827. He became professor of history and political economy at the University of South Carolina in 1835, and in 1856 assumed a similar chair at Columbia University. He was a voluminous writer and held many government offices. Poe reviewed one of his books as “Reminiscences of Niebuhr,” supplying also an account of Lieber's life, in the SLM, January 1836 (reprinted in H [Works], 8:162-168 and Writings, 5:95-98); he also included him in “A Chapter on Autography,” in Graham's (November 1841, 19:232). Under the date of June 28, 1836, Lieber sent an article entitled “A Reminiscence” to Poe as editor of the SLM, which Poe published in the August 1836 number (SLM, 2:535-538).

Source: facsimile of the original MS (1 p.) as printed in the Emerson Society Quarterly, no. 51 (II Quarter, 1968), pt. II, p. 51. There is no address or cover. This is Poe's only known letter to Lieber.

Note: Lewis Cass (1782-1866) had been governor of the Territory of Michigan from 1813 to 1831 before becoming Secretary of War under President Jackson. He resigned his cabinet post in 1836 because of illness, but in October he was appointed Minister to France (see DAB, 3:562-563). The present letter is yet another of numerous similar requests at this time (see LTR-65, etc.). In extant examples, names of prospective contributors are given only in Poe's letters to J. P. Kennedy and to Governor Cass; in his letters to more prominent writers (like Irving, Cooper, Bird, and Halleck) he omitted them. The fact that some letters to named contributors are extant suggests that Poe wrote letters to all (see Check List for individual items). Poe tells Kennedy (see LTR-68) that Cass has contributed, or promised to contribute, an article, even though Poe had not yet made the request. Cass did not send a contribution to the August, 1836, number of the SLM, but those named in the letters to Kennedy and Cass who did comply were Mrs. Sigourney, Bird, Hopkinson, Paulding, and Slidell. One new name is that of James Waddell Alexander (1804-1859), Professor of Rhetoric at Princeton [page 154:] Theological Seminary (1833-1844), who contributed three items to the SLM in 1836, two signed “Borealis.”

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.) in the Clements Library, University of Michigan. The cover is addressed: “To / Govr. Lewis Cass. / Washington. / D. C.” It is postmarked: “Richmond, Va., Jul 4.” The letter carries the following endorsement: “Edgar A Poe / July 4 1836.” The present letter has been renumbered from LTR-69b to LTR-69c to allow for the insertion of Poe to Francis Lieber.

Note: Littleton Waller Tazewell (1774-1860), of Norfolk, succeeded John Marshall in Congress in 1800, was United States Senator from Virginia in 1824, and Governor of Virginia, 1834-1836 (see The South in the Building of the Nation, 12:445-446). John Tyler, later President of the United States, and Benjamin W. Leigh were United States Senators from Virginia at the time of the present letter (see The South in the Building of the Nation, 12:487 and 12:89-90). Tazewell did not contribute the article to the SLM as Poe requested. See Quinn (p. 42) for a short note from Poe's mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, to Tazewell's wife, Anne Nivision Tazewell (1785-1858). [page 155:]

Source: original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of J. K. Lilly, Jr., and now in the Lilly Library, Indiana University. The letter carries no postmark but is addressed to “Littleton W. Tazewell Esqr / Norfolk / Va.” It is also endorsed in an unknown hand: “Edgar A Poe / July 16, 1836.” No reply from Tazewell is known.

Note: Carey's article appeared as “The Learned Languages” in the SLM, August 1836 (2:557-561). His “last article” refers to “National Ingratitude” in the SLM, July 1836 (2:486-488), and not to the very brief “The Science of Life” (SLM, July 1836, 2:503) or the poem “Anthologia” (SLM, July 1836, 2:503).

Source: photocopy of the original MS (2 pp.) in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Poe's apology implies a letter from Carey (CL-155), probably dated in latter half of July. No reply from Carey is known, although one is highly likely (CL-156a) since the change was made.

Note: Hiram H. Haines (1802-1841) was a minor literary figure and publisher living in Petersburg, VA. He wrote Mountain Buds and Blossoms, a volume of poetry, in 1825; established the democratic tri-weekly American Constellation in 1834; edited Th’ Time o’ Day, devoted to news and literature, in 1839; and published the Virginia Star (a weekly, then a semi-weekly) from March 4, 1840 until his death (for a fuller account, see Ostrom, “Two Unpublished Poe Letters,” Americana, 36:67-71). For elaboration of “the best number, by far, yet issued,” see LTR-73. “All after the word Editorial,” for the August 1836 issue of the SLM, includes two editorials and thirteen reviews. Haines praised Poe's reviews as early as January 1836, and subsequently complimented him upon certain reviews and criticisms, reprinting portions of Poe's work (see SLM, January 1836, 2:140; SLM, February 1836, 2:205-212; SLM, April 1836, 2:347; SLM, July 1836, 2:522).

Source: original MS (1 p.) in the Poe Foundation. The letter is undated, but postal cancellation shows “Aug. 19”; the year is established as 1836 by Poe's review of Willis’ Inklings of Adventure in the SLM, August 1836 (2:597-600). The envelope is addressed to “H. Haines Esq^r / ‘Constellation’ / Petersburg.”

Note: The Courier paragraph to which Poe alludes follows: “The August No. of the Southern Literary Messenger has been well received by most [page 160:] of the editorial corps who have noticed it. These commendations may be valued, because they emanate from sources beyond the influence of private friendship; and therefore it is, that suggestions of improvement should be, and we have no doubt will be, duly regarded by the editor and publisher. No periodical in the country has been so successful in obtaining the aid of able and distinguished writers; and the quantity of matter is much greater than need be. We entirely agree with the editor of one of the prints, who thinks a choice tale in each number would add to its attraction; as something is due to the tastes of those who have neither time nor relish for the higher grades of literature. Specimens of the writing we refer to, have often been given in the Messenger, but the supply may not be as abundant as needful. The hint, we are sure, is enough to prompt the effort to obtain regular contributions of this sort. [new paragraph] The criticisms are pithy and often highly judicious, but the editors must remember that it is almost as injurious to obtain a character for regular cutting and slashing as for indiscriminate laudation.”

The editor's remarks, appended to Poe's letter, claim innocence of any attempt to injure the reputation of the SLM; point out that “editors” was a typographical error, and that the paper did not imply that the editor of the Messenger was already guilty of cutting and slashing, but merely warned him against such a possibility; and, further, that Poe in his letter chose “to transpose our words, and use the word ‘indiscriminate’ instead of ‘regular,’ which makes us say what we did not say.” The editor of the paper cites, “if we remember right,” the Baltimore Chronicle as one paper that did not praise unreservedly the August number of the Messenger. The Newbern Spectator (NC) article (reprinted in the SLM for July 1836) said the SLM was pretentious and that many of its articles were worthy only of an ephemeral sheet, and was answered by Poe (SLM, 2:517-518). Colonel Stone's Ups and Downs was severely handled in the SLM (June 1836, 2:455-457). Theodore S. Fay's Norman Leslie was reviewed in the SLM (December 1835, 2:54-57). For Poe's statement that he is the only editor of the SLM, see the note to LTR-49. Sidney Moss, Poe's Literary Battles (pp. 54-62) reprints some of the Courier material and appraises Poe's harsh criticism and its hostile response in the Southern and New York press. See also the unfolding “warfare,” which finally resulted in Poe's dismissal in January, via the successive monthly headnotes of the SLM volume of Writings, 5:45-46, 247, 273-277, 291-292, 315, and 323-326; also, Pollin, “Poe's ‘Mystification’: Its Source in Fay's Norman Leslie,” MissQ, 11:111-130. [page 161:]

Source: text of the letter as printed in the Richmond Courier and Daily Compiler, p. 2, cols. 4-5, September 2, 1836. The original MS was probably discarded after being set in type for the Compiler. Poe was replying to a paragraph in the Courier of August 31, 1836, p. 2, col. 4; thus the letter is reasonably dated August 31 or September 1. Though the letter is signed only as “Editor of the Messenger,” Poe certainly wrote it, as evinced by the reference to “the commencement of my editorship in December last,” and the listing of reviews known to have been written by Poe.

Note: This fragment is all that was preserved when Dr. Maurice E. Wilson, as a 14 year old student, came across Poe's letter while clearing out files of papers for the Franklin Literary Society in 1869, when Jefferson College merged with Washington College. Unfortunately, he cut out Poe's signature and discarded the rest of the letter, the contents of which he recalled only as “thanking the Franklin Literary Society of Jefferson College for having elected him an honorary member.” (Dr. Wilson's comments are recorded in the article noted as the source for this letter.) Although Dr. Wilson felt that the letter “must have been written between 1846 and 1849,” the surviving minutes of the Franklin Literary Society record a September 9, 1836 entry stating: “A. E. Poe [sic] Honorary member Nourse, Semple & Thompson Jr. com. — .” Poe's address list contains an entry for “Franklin Lit. Soc. Jefferson Col. Canonsburg, Pa. / see let” (Such Friends, p. 14). Since no item on Poe's list can be surely dated prior to 1841, this letter may be later than the 1836 date assigned by Ostrom. Although Poe had been editing the SLM for several months by September of 1836, and as such may have earned some attention from a literary society as far away as Philadelphia, it is [page 162:] also possible that “A. E. Poe” is not Edgar but some other Poe. Lending support to the idea that “A. E. Poe” should be “E. A. Poe” is the fact that an entry in the minutes, just a few lines above this one, states that an honorary membership has been awarded to “the Milford Bard,” the name used by John Lofland, who knew Poe in Baltimore in the early 1830s. It is also possible that Poe was made an honorary member on some other, and later, occasion.

Source: fragment of text as printed by Ross Wells, “Franklin Society of Jefferson Made Him Honorary Member,” Richmond Times Dispatch, p. 3. All of the information concerning the letter was related to the reporter, through Dr. Celestin P. Cambiaire, by Dr. Maurice E. Wilson, 80 years old and Chaplain of Washington and Jefferson College in 1935. The MS of this signature has not been located, and the rest of the letter, regrettably, must be considered lost. Dr. Cambiaire himself searched unsuccessfully for a record of an honorary membership associated with Poe. The minutes are still kept in the archives of the college.

Note: Harrison Hall was a Philadelphia printer and had published the Port Folio, 1816-1827 (American Magazines, 1:223). For Poe's review of the Latin Grammar, written by Baynard R. Hall and published by Harrison Hall, see H [Works], 9:166-167 and Writings, 5:310. The “Sketches” may have been Skimmings, or a Winter at Schloss Hainfeld in Lower Styria, by Captain Basil Hall, reviewed by Poe in the SLM, October 1836 under the heading “Schloss Hainfeld” (see H [Works], 9:170-174 and Writings, 5:304-306). Contrary to Poe's statement, the SLM did republish material, including several of Poe's own tales and poems. The chief interest in the present letter lies in Poe's discussion of the Folio Club. His original plan for the fictitious Club was to have a membership “limited to eleven” (see H [Works], 2:xxxvii and TOM [T&S], 2:200-207); the present letter shows its expansion to seventeen. By September of 1836, Poe had printed in the SLM a total of fourteen tales, all of which found republication in his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque of 1840. Of these tales, Quinn (pp. 745-746) accepts all, with the possible exception of “Hans Phaall,” as tales of the Club; J. S. Wilson accepts only twelve, excepting “Hans Phaall” and “Morella.” To make up the total of seventeen, Quinn adds to the above fourteen the following, published later: “Mystification,” “Siope,” and “A Descent into the Maelström”; Wilson excludes “A Descent into the Maelström,” accepts “Mystification,” and “Siope” and adds “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” and “Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling,” making a total of sixteen. (In this connection, see Wilson, “The Devil Was In It,” American Mercury, 24:214-220.) For the most comprehensive study, see Hammond, “Tales of The Folio Club,” pp. 13-43. The “critical remarks,” mentioned by Poe, are lost. As in the present instance, Poe answered numerous letters for T. W. White during his editorship of the SLM.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (3 pp.) in the Haverford College Library. The text appears on pages 1-3 of a folded leaf. The envelope, the verso of the second leaf, shows “To / Harrison Hall Esqr / Philadelphia / P^a”; and was postmarked Richmond, September 2. No reply from Harrison Hall is known. [page 165:]

Note: Mrs. Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (1788-1879) contributed “A Profession for Ladies” to the SLM (August 1836, 2:571-572). Mrs. Hale, then editor of the Ladies’ Magazine, (not the Ladies’ Wreath), became an editor of Godey's Lady's Book when the two magazines were merged in 1837 (Quinn, p. 269). Mott (American Magazines, 1:348) describes the Ladies’ Magazine as suffused with sentimentality, but also surprisingly progressive, emphasizing education for women. He further notes that it was “the first women's magazine to reach an age of more than five years.” Though the above letter is the first extant one between Poe and Mrs. Hale, there may have been at least two earlier ones: (1) a note to her (CL-51a) as editor of the Ladies’ Magazine, similar to that sent to Neal, accompanying “Heaven” (see note to LTR-21), and to Willis, who reviewed “Heaven” in the American Monthly Magazine (November 1829) 1:587 (see Quinn, pp. 154-156); (2) an unpublished scratch note (CL-53a), which contains, besides other items, almost a full copy of a review of “Al Aaraaf” in the Ladies’ Magazine (January 1830, 3:47; see Quinn, p. 165), but also has at the head of the scratch notes “D^r Madam.” Existence of the full letter, if written, is unknown. Mrs. Hale's son, David E. Hale, had known Poe at West Point, to whom, on one occasion, he had conveyed some message from his mother (see letter of David Hale to Mrs. Hale, February 10, 1831, in Quinn, p. 171). David Hale's concern about the autograph was due to Poe's use of Mrs. Hale's signature in “Autography” in the SLM (February and August 1836). Though Poe is not answering a letter addressed to him, he cites a recent letter to Mrs. Hale: probable date ca. June 7 (CL-145), since he wrote to Bird (LTR-65), Cooper (LTR-66), Halleck (LTR-67), Irving (LTR-67a), Mrs. Sigourney, and, as he tells Kennedy on June 7, 1836 (LTR-68), “many others,” soliciting contributions for the SLM. The “Mirror” was the New-York Mirror, which Poe had harshly criticized in December 1835 for regularly puffing Norman Leslie, a novel written by Theodore S. Fay, one of the editors of that prominent magazine.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.), formerly in the collection of H. Bradley Martin, but currently unlocated. Poe's year date is incorrect; it should be 1836. After January 1837, he was no longer the “Editor of the Messenger.” [page 167:]

Note: Edgar Simeon Van Winkle (1810-1882) was an attorney-at-law, 66 Cedar Street, New York City. The present letter and LTR-75b, Poe's only two known letters to Van Winkle, solicit a contribution to the SLM, which Poe was soon to leave. Van Winkle sent the contribution, as requested (see LTR-75b and notes). Poe, not unexpectedly, recorded this attorney in Such Friends, as no. 127, p. 37 for future contributions to his Stylus. Peter Godwin Van Winkle (1808-1872) was a lawyer in Parkersburg, WV. After 1851, he became president of a railroad company, and later a US Senator. Jackson lists no items by any of the Van Winkles (see Jackson, Contributors and Contributions to the SLM), but Peter G. Van Winkle's two contributions can be identified. In the SLM, January 1837 appears “Our Portion” (3:17-18), a poem by “Nikor,” noted as a lawyer of Parkersburg by T. W. White in a January 24, 1837 letter to B. Tucker (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, p. 113). The same letter also attributes to him “A Birthday Tribute” in the June 1836 issue (2:434-435). The other brother was Henry Edwin Van Winkle (born 1806), who moved [page 168:] to Natchez, MS in 1835. During 1836, along with Samuel H. B. Black, he was co-editor of the Natchez Courier and Journal, but by 1837, only Black's name is listed on the masthead. Henry E. Van Winkle was also the author of two books: Rombert: a Tale of Carolina (New York: Charles S. Frailey; Boston: Munroe & Frances, 1835) and Nine Years of Democratic Rule in Mississippi; Being Notes Upon the Political History of the State From the Beginning of the Year 1838 to the Present Time (Jackson: 1847).

Source: facsimile of the original MS (1 p.) in the Charles Hamilton Gallery catalog (No. 51), August 5, 1971, item 282. The catalog describes the letter thus: “... 2/3 page 4to. with integral address-leaf penned by Poe, bearing circular red-ink ‘Richmond, Va.’ strike, stamped ‘Paid,’ and manuscript marking; docketed by Van Winkle ... On the lower quarter of Poe's A.L.S. appears a holograph signed postscript by publisher White ... Seal tear on address-leaf.” White's postscript reads: “Mr Van Winkle will please accept of the issued Nos. of my 2d Volume — which he can obtain by applying to Charles King, Esq. editor of the American. Respectfully, T. W. White.” Below this postscript and to the left appears: “Address T. W. White.”

Note: To Poe's request for a contribution to the SLM (see LTR-75a), Van Winkle submitted “Study of the Law” and the “continuation” requested by both Poe and White. The full article appeared in the SLM for January 1837 (3:25-31). Poe quit his editorship of the Messenger on January 3 (see the note to LTR-76), and White published the article unsigned in the January 1837 number, which was late (see SLM, 3:25-31). White wrote Beverley Tucker, January 24, 1837: “Study of the Law, is by a respectable member of the New York Bar. — I think it is good” (see Jackson, Poe and the SLM, p. 113).

Source: facsimile of the original MS (1 p.) in the Charles Hamilton Gallery catalog (No. 51), August 5, 1971, item 283. The catalog describes it thus: “... about 2/3 page 4to ... with integral address-leaf, penned by Poe, bearing circular red-ink ‘Richmond Va.’ strike, stamped ‘Paid’ and manuscript marking; docketed by Van Winkle ... On the bottom quarter of Poe's A.L.S. appears a holograph signed postscript by publisher T. W. White, dated Nov. 28, 1836: ‘Please transmit the balance to my address so soon as you have the M. S. ready. — Send it, or any thing else, from your pen by mail, — and let me know whether my Oct. No. has reached you... ’ Seal tear on address-leaf, and with one tiny marginal tear.... ” Van Winkle's only known letter to Poe (CL-165b) is unlocated.

Note: Allan B. Magruder became a lawyer and writer, and lived for a number of years in Charlottesville, VA. His daughter Julia became a writer of some prominence. (Woodberry, W [1909, 1:70], seems to have confused General John B. Magruder with the present correspondent.) T. W. White, publisher of the SLM, refused to print the essay, though Poe seems to have had it set in type (see White to Poe, January 17, 1837, CL-170). According to White in a letter to William Scott, January 23, 1837, “Mr. Poe retired from the editorship of my work on the 3d inst. I am once more at the head of affairs” (MS in Middlebury College Library); but Poe seems to have been in Richmond as late as January 19 (see White to Beverley Tucker, of that date, in Jackson, Poe and the SLM, pp. 111-112), perhaps later. White strongly contradicted Poe's judgment in his letter to him of January 17, 1837, which dismissed it as “bombast” not worth “putting ... in type.” The Poe Log (p. 239) also cites Magruder's interesting memories of Poe as a Cadet at West Point and the disappointment of his fellows upon receiving the “poor-looking” poems by Poe, for which they had garnished their pay (pp. 107 and 117). See also Russell, “EAP: The Army Years” (USMA Library Bulletin, 10:45), where Magruder's name is reproduced as part of the full list of 135 cadets who subscribed to Poe's 1831 Poems.

Source: photocopy of the original MS (1 p.). The MS is unlocated, but the photocopy is in the collection of the Emerson Society, Hartford, CT. The letter is addressed to: “Allan B. Magruder Esq^r / Buchanan / Botetourt Co / Va:” It is cancelled: “Richmond, V^a, Jan. 9.” The photocopy shows the MS letter and cover in a very bad state of deterioration. Poe is replying to Magruder's letter of December 24, 1836 (CL-167).