Text: John Ward Ostrom, “Letters: Chapter II,” The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. II: 1846-1849 (1966), pp. 669-728 (This material is protected by copyright)

Poe reviewed Rienzi (published by Carey & Hart, Philadelphia) in the Southern Literary Messenger, February, 1836 (H, VIII, 222-229). Poe subsequently reviewed Bulwer novels in the Messenger and Graham's. [CL 113]

Source: photostat of original MS, (1 p.). The photostat used is in the Princeton University Library; the MS. is in a private collection. First printed in the Princeton University Library Chronicle, X (February, 1949) 91-92. 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 Messenger until after July 20, 1835 (see note to Letter 46) and by the fact that he reviewed Bulwer-Lytton's Rienzi for the February, 1836, number.

The Reverend Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch was a Unitarian clergyman in Augusta, Georgia. He was the brother of Thomas Bulfinch, author of The Age of Fable. He was born in Boston and went to Augusta in 1830. While there he wrote a book of poems and a number of religious works; he was also editor of a Unitarian hymnal (see Applelons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, I, 444, and Letter 69 and note). His letter to Poe, May 3, 1836 [not June 3 (see CL 138) ], in which he sent contributions for the Messenger, was apparently in response to Poe's invitation (see Letter 69).

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles. The letter was first printed in American Literature, XXVIII (January, 1957) 507. The envelope is addressed: “Richmond, Va., Feb. 13.” On the envelope is the notation: “Edgar A. Poe, Esq./ Poe. Richmond/ Feb. 13. 1836.” [page 674:]

“Oon burning spot blush’d on her smooth fair cheek”.

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, I, 85-87 from a printed source, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy. Notes for this letter accompany the original printing.]

Source: photostat of original MS. (2 pp.) in the Clifton Waller Barrett collection, University of Virginia Library.

This is one of several letters that Poe wrote to prospective contributors to the Southern Literary Messenger on the same date (see letters 65-68). Washington Irving's name on the contributors’ page would have been at this time of great value to the Messenger, but Irving failed to contribute. However, on page one [page 677:] of the first issue of the magazine, August 1834, Irving, along with other well-wishers, had said: “Your new literary enterprise has my highest approbation and warmest good wishes.” That, apparently, was all Poe and the publisher, T. W. White, could hope for. For writers who sent contributions to the special August, 1836, number, see Letter 696, notes.

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Annmary Brown Memorial, Brown University. First printed in American Literature, XXVII (May, 1955), 250-251. 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.”

(Since this letter was printed in The Letters, I, 96-97 from a printed source, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy.) For the identity of Stephen [page 678:] G. Bulfinch, see Letter 56 note and 69 note in The Letters. Bulfinch's letter of “the 3d. ult would undoubtedly be that of May 3, 1836 [rather than the “June 3” reading of the Check List, No. 138], since Poe usually used “ult.” to refer to the month just past (see Letters 125, 133, 146, 253) and “inst.” to refer to the current month (see Letters 102, 145); furthermore, Bulfinch's contribution is “in the printer's hand” by June 8 and did appear in the “next” or June issue (SLM, II, 410-411). The contribution was headed “Perdicaris” and was addressed to the editor. 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.” Perdicaris was a native Macedonian who, after he came to the United States, taught Greek in schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The notice of Perdicaris’ Lectures did not appear in the Messenger while Poe was editor (though one was printed in the February number (see SLM, III, 159), and no further correspondence between Poe and Bulfinch is known.

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles. First printed in American Art Association catalogue, May 4-5, 1925, item 467. The envelope is addressed: “To./ Rev. S. G. Bulfinch/ Augusta/ Georgia.” It is postmarked: “Richmond/ Va/ 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.”

Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, the American name of Pierre Étienne Du Ponceau, a Frenchman who came to America and served in the Continental Army, later settled in Philadelphia and became a citizen of Pennsylvania. He became a prominent lawyer, linguist, and literary figure with significant writings on philology and history (see the Dictionary of American Biography, ed. Johnson and Malone [New York, 1930], V, 525-526). There is no evidence that Du Ponceau answered Poe's letter or sent a contribution to the Messenger. For similar solicitations, see Letters 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 69b.

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The letter was first printed in American Literature, XXIV (November, 1952), 358-359.

This is one of numerous similar requests at this time (see Letters 65-68). In extant letters, names of prospective contributors are given only in Poe's letters to J. P. Kennedy and to Governor Cass; in his letters to prominent writers like [page 680:] 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 also CL 141, 145, 151). Poe tells Kennedy (see Letter 68) that Cass has contributed, or promised to contribute, an article, even though Poe has not yet made the request. Cass did not send a contribution to the August, 1836, number of the Messenger, but those named in the letters to Kennedy and Cass who did comply were Mrs. Sigourney, Bird, Hopkinson, Paulding, and Slidell. Lewis Cass 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 Dictionary of American Biography, III, 562-563.

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Clements Library of the University of Michigan. The letter was first printed by the Clements Library Associates in “The Quarto Extra” to accompany the Quarto, No. 19 (October, 1949) from the Lewis Cass Papers. 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.”

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, I, 106-107, from a typescript, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy. For notes to this letter, see The Letters, I,107.]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.). The MS. is unlocated, but the Photostat is in the Emerson Society collection, Hartford, Connecticut. The letter is addressed to: “Allan B. Magruder Esqr/ Buchanan/ Botetourt Co/ Va:” It is cancelled: “Richmond, Va., Jan. 9.” The photostat shows the MS. letter and cover in a very bad state of deterioration. First printed in facsimile in Emerson Society Quarterly, No. 31 (2d Quarter, 1963), 31.

James Kirke Paulding (1778-1860) was a prominent and voluminous writer of the early decades of the nineteenth century. He belongs to the New York group of which Washington Irving was the leader. In 1815 President Madison appointed him to the Board of Navy Commissioners. After eight years in Washington, he returned to New York as navy agent for that city, and on July 1, 1838 President Van Buren appointed him Secretary of the Navy. Poe's need of a clerkship was apparent: he had been in New York from February, 1837, after leaving the Southern Literary Messenger, until about July, 1838. During this time Poe is not known to have written any new poems or tales for publication, and only one critical article on John L. Stephens’ Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia, and the Holy Land for the New York Review, October, 1837. The present letter is the only known letter by Poe between May 27, 1837 and September 4, 1838 (see Check List), and is important as evidence of the earliest known date for Poe's being in Philadelphia. No reply by Paulding is known. [CL 176a] [page 682:]

Source: facsimile as printed in the Yale University Library Gazette, XXX (April, 1959), item 29, opposite p. 150, from the original MS. in the Richard Gimbel collection. In the unprinted portion of the letter Poe admits his past intemperance and promises to amend his life. The unpublished portion is unavailable at the present time. This is the only extant letter from Poe to Paulding.

[Although this letter is only a copy of a typescript, which is full of the copyist's errors (see below), its content is important.]

Poe left Richmond in the latter part of January, 1837 (see Letter 76 note). He joined Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in June, 1839. Poe had last heard from George W. Poe in February, 1836 (see CL 121), so that the letter to which Poe is replying is a continuation, not a “commencement” of a correspondence. Throughout his life Poe was prone to vary the date of his birth; in the present letter he gave his age correctly. A number of Poe's statements are inaccurate or misleading: for example, his parents were not visiting a friend in Richmond when they died (his mother, an actress, died while the company was playing in Richmond; and little or nothing is known of his father's death or where it occurred) ; Poe's grandfather, David Poe, Sr., was not well-to-do at the time Poe went to live with John Allan; Poe did not refuse “all offers of reconciliation,” for John Allan did not make them; and Allan remarried when he was fifty. (For a more accurate statement of these matters by Poe, see Poe's letter to William Poe, August 20, 1835.) Poe's “P. S.” refers to his West Point acquaintances. The present letter is also interesting, for Poe stresses the importance of social and economic status which he constantly echoes throughout his correspondence with relatives and friends. [CL 192]

With the letter Poe supplied a two-page genealogical table. The first portion dealing with his own descent and that of George W. Poe, to whom he is writing, is given below. (Poe omits the name of George Washington Poe, brother of his father, David Poe, Jr., who died in infancy.)

The Descendants of John Poe

Who was born in Ireland about 1720: came to America in 1745 or 1746: and married the sister of Admiral McBryde in 1742. (Mrs. John Poe died in Baltimore at the age of 106.) [page 685:]

[[Here appears the table, which I have redone from the MS]] [page 686:]

Source: photostat of only extant copy of original MS. (the copy is in the Virginia State Library in Richmond; the original MS. is presumed lost). Page 2 of the copy carries the following notation: “This letter and family tree, is a copy of an original one from Edgar A. Poe to my father Geo. W. Poe which is now in my possession, and was copied by me for J. T. Poe. (Signed) Geo. M. Poe, Mobile, Ala.” Here first printed in full. The note to Letter 217 suggests that the present letter might have made a request of George Poe for $50. Since no such request was made herein, there must have been another, so far unlisted exchange of letters between Poe and George Poe prior to November 30, 1845 and after the present letter; therefore these two letters should be added to the Check List as items 585a and 585b. The remaining portion of the genealogical table is in the Virginia State Library.

[Although this important letter appeared as No. 82 in The Letters, it is here reprinted from a photostat of the original MS. in order to provide a true copy.] Philip Pendleton Cooke, who was about seven years younger than Poe, was a minor Virginia writer and contributed to the SLM and Burton's Gentleman's Magazine during the periods of Poe's editorship. Poe on several occasions expressed his high opinion of Cooke as a poet and critic (see “Autography,” in H. XV, 234; also The Letters, I, 77). Cooke's letter of September 16, 1839, which Poe is answering, is in H. XVII, 49-51; for other letters from Cooke, see the Check List. Irving's high praise of The Fall of the House of Usher is not borne out by Irving's later letter to Poe (see letter 83a and note in the present “Supplement”); it may have been expressed in an earlier letter, not extant (see CL 201). For further comments on the present letter, see The Letters, p. 119. [CL 203]

Source: photostat of original MS. (2 pp.) in the Houghton Library, Harvard University. First printed with many errors in the Century Magazine, XLVIII (September 1894), 726-729. No envelope or address accompanies the MS. [For further bibliographical data, see The Letters, p. 482.]

In connection with this letter one should read Letters 82 and 84 and note. In the light of the present letter Irving's reply of Nov. 6, 1839 (see W, 1, 216-217), seems to carry milder encomiums of Poe's “Fall of the House of Usher” and “William Wilson” than Poe's correspondence warrants. Poe's reference to Irving's “An Unwritten Drama of Lord Byron” as a source for “William Wilson” is significant. In 1825 Irving made notes from Calderon's play El Embozado (person hooded or masked) for a dramatic work and even sketched a plot, and in his Journal for the same year entered memoranda for the story. Long ago Thomas 0. Mabbott discovered that this story was used by Irving for his article in The Gift (see Thomas 0. Mabbott's introduction to An Unwritten Drama of Lord Byron, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1925; see, also, Stanley T. Williams, The Life of Washington Irving, New York, 1935, I, 466-467). Poe's own “MS. Found in a Bottle” appeared in The Gift for 1836. It has been supposed by scholars that Poe therefore saw Irving's article and borrowed from it for “William Wilson” (see Quinn, Poe, 286). In the present letter Poe admits his indebtedness. For the publication date of Poe's Tales, see Letter 85 and note. [CL 209a (delete 204) ]

Source: photostat of original MS. (2 pp.) deposited by The American Academy of Arts and Letters in the Library of Congress. The letter was first printed in American Literature, XXIV (November, 1952), 360-362. The MS. is now in the Bradley Martin collection, New York. The third page of the letter paper is blank; on the fourth is the address: “Washington Irving Esq^r/ New-York/ N.Y.” and the postmark: “Philadelphia, Oct. r3.” The letter is readdressed: “Tarrytown, Westchester County,” and in the lower left corner, where Poe had written “Paid,” someone has added, below, “to New York”; a second postmark reads: “New-York, Oct. 14.” In the upper left corner of one folded portion of the cover appears Irving's notation: “Edgar A Poe/ Oct 12th 1839/ answd. Nov. 6th.” The present letter verifies Check List entries 196, 201.

This is the only known letter to the Reverend Roland S. Houghton who, in Nov. 1850, after Poe's death, married Marie Louise Shew. Poe and Mrs. Shew corresponded during 1847-1848, and it was she who encouraged Poe to compose “The Bells” (see Letter 248 and note, Quinn, Poe, p. 563, and Letter 273 and note. Poe, as editor of Burton's, is rejecting a contribution and referring to one of his favorite topics, the condition of copyright laws in the United States. [CL 233a]

Source: typescript fragment from the original MS. in the Richard Gimbel collection, Yale University. Here first printed. The rest of the letter is not available at the present time.

This is Poe's only known letter to Stoddard, who apparently wrote to Poe twice (see below and Check List 542). Richard Henry Stoddard (1825-1903) was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, and became a minor literary figure and editor in New York. In 1894, he edited The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. His Recollections (1903) are not very flattering to Poe. The present version of “To Zante” differs in punctuation from other printed versions of the poem. [CL 257]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Henry Bradley Martin collection, New York. No envelope accompanies the MS. First printed in the Yale University Library Gazette, XXX (April, 1959), item 41 (facsimile between pp. 164 and 165). Poe is answering Stoddard's letter of October 10, 1840 (unlocated), a new item in the Check List (2562), For further bibliographical data, see The Letters, II, p. 486.

Nicholas Biddle, a former president of the Second Bank of the United States, lived at Seventh and Spruce Streets during the winter and at Andalusia, the family estate, in the summer. According to his great-grandson, Mr. Charles J. Biddle, Andalusia was located in Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the bank of the Delaware River, about a mile and a half northeast of the Philadelphia City line. It took its name for the province of Andalusia, Spain. Concerning Poe's illness, see Letter 105; concerning the postponement of the [page 695:] Penn, see note to Letter 106. The absence at this time of letters from Poe's Southern cousins supports the contention that they provided no material aid for the magazine. Poe's “equivocal errand” seems to have been to secure a subscription to the Penn. In Mr. Charles Biddle's collection is an original Prospectus of the Penn for January 1, 1841, on which is written “N. Biddle subscribed four years in advance.” It may have been during his visit with Mr. Biddle at Andalusia, probably in the fall of 1840, or before, that Poe gave him a copy of his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, for the fly-leaf carries the inscription: “For Mr. N. Biddle, with the author's respects.” [CL 265b]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Charles J. Biddle collection, Philadelphia. The letter is here first printed. The envelope is addressed: “N. Biddle, Esqr./ No. [sic] Spruce Street/ Philadelphia” and is postmarked at Philadelphia, Jan. 6. The street number is omitted. No reply to the present letter is known.

Thomas sent his song, Sept. 27 (see his endorsement on present address sheet), Poe took it to Willig (see Letter 127), and procured a copy presumably on Nov. 11, the day after Thomas's letter of Nov. 10 (see Note 104) ; he then sent copies to Thomas (see Letter 131). Jesse E. Dow was a mutual friend, publisher of the Alexandria (Va.) Index (see Thomas to Poe, Oct. 14, 1841, original MS in the Boston Public Library; unpublished). Poe was working on his “Autograph” articles (see Graham's Magazine, Nov., Dec., 1841, Jan., 1842) ; both Thomas and Dow were included in the Dec. chapter. Thomas was apparently unsuccessful in obtaining the desired signatures. [CL 332a]

Source: photostat of original MS (1 p.) in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas. The letter was first printed in American Literature, XXIV (November, 1952), 363-364. It is a double sheet of ruled paper. On the verso of page 3 is the address: “F. W. Thomas Esq^r,/ Washington/ D. C.” and the postmark: “Philadelphia, Sep. 24.” Thomas's endorsement reads: “Received 25 Sept/ and answered 27th.” Below the endorsement appears the following notation: “Bolingbroke/ Nelson/ Shafbury [sic]/ Peterborough/ Wrote to Shreve and/ Prentice — 12 October — “. The lower left corner of the cover carries the initials by Poe: “E A P.” Thomas's letter to Poe, September 27, 1841, becomes a new item in the Poe correspondence.

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, I, 207-209, from a copy, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy. Notes accompany The Letters printing.] In addition, on the second page of the MS. Chivers wrote: “In the letter, enclosing these Poems [referring to the last sentence in paragraph 3], I made some critical remarks on the ‘wishy-washy’ verses published by Mr Griswold in Graham's Magazine which greatly offended him — for which I have reason to believe he [Griswold] never forgave me — although what was therein written was intend [sic] for the eyes only of Mr Poe. [CL 378] **[[add closing quote mark]]**

Source: photostat of original MS. (2 pp.) in the Clifton Waller Barrett collection, University of Virginia Library. The letter is addressed to: “D^r Thos. Holley Chivers,/ Middletown/ Conn:.” It is initialed “EAP.” in the lower left comer, and is postmarked: “Philadelphia, Pa./ Jul 7.”

From July, 1841, through 1843 the Democratic Review was published in New York instead of in Philadelphia by J. and H. G. Langley; later H. G. Langley published it alone. John L. O’Sullivan was sole editor from 1841-1846 (Mott, History of American Magazines, I, 677-678, 680). Poe's article may not have been accepted because there had been an article entitled “Landscape Gardening and Rural Architecture” in the December, 1841, number. Poe lived in Philadelphia from probably sometime in the summer of 1838 (see Quinn, Poe, 268, and Letter 772) until April, 1844 (see Letter 174). He visited New York briefly in late June, 1842 (Letters 138, 139, 141, 142) ; he does not seem to have made such a visit in June or July of 1841 or 1843. The present letter, postmarked July 18, belongs to 1842. “The Landscape-Garden” must have been returned rather promptly, for it was published in Snowden's Ladies Companion, XVII, 324-327 (October, 1842) and occupies three and one-quarter pages. For Wallace, see Letter 142 and note. The review of Rufus Dawes appeared in Graham's October, 1842 (see H. XI, 131-147). [CL 3821

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) owned by Roger W. Barrett of Chicago. First printed in American Literature, XXIX (March, 1957), 80-81. The verso of the letter is postmarked “Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 18.” The address reads: “Mess.^rs J. & H. G. Langley/ 57 Chatham St/ New-York/ N. Y.” In the lower left corner of the address page is Poe's notation: “Double-paid.” The envelope is also docketed: “Edgar A. Poe/ July 18.” This item is probably the same as item 382 in the Check List, which is described by the Anderson Galleries sales catalogue as a one-page quarto letter with address.

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, I, 218-219, from an inaccurate typescript, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy. For notes to this letter, see The Letters, I, 219. See also letters 134, 135, 138. Poe never got the position in the custom house.] [CL 399]

Source: photostat of original MS. (2 pp.) in the McCormick collection, Princeton University. The letter was first printed in the Century Magazine, XLVIII (September, 1894), 733-734 (See also The Letters, II, Note 148). The address leaf, initialed “EAP” by Poe in the lower left corner, is directed to “F. W. Thomas Esq^re/ Treasury Depart^t./ Washington/ D. C.” It is postmarked: “Philadelphia, Nov. 20.” Across the end Thomas wrote: “Received Nov. 21.” Poe is replying to Thomas’ letter of November 14, 1842 (unlocated).

For Poe's letter to Bernard, see Letter 157. Thomas Mackenzie was the son of William Mackenzie (see Letter 159). Poe's sister Rose was still living with the family. Thomas C. Clarke, publisher of the Philadelphia Saturday Museum, had agreed to finance Poe's Stylus (see Letters 153 and note, 155 note, and 161); Poe hoped to combine the lists of the Stylus and the Southern Literary Messenger. Apparently Poe never received a reply from Bernard, who at the time of the present letter was helping to print the Messenger, nor from Thomas Mackenzie or from his father William (see Letter 159). The Messenger was bought by Benjamin B. Minor in July, 1843 (Mott, History of American Magazines; 1741-1850, p. 644) [CL 431b]

Source: photostat of the MS. (2 pages) in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. The letter was first printed correctly in American Literature, XXXV (November, 1963), 360. No envelope or address accompanies the MS. Thomas Mackenzie's letter to Poe may be dated ante April 22, 1843 but is unlocated; it may be entered in the Check List as item 431a [actually it probably precedes Poe's letter to Bernard, March 24, 1843]. The present letter probably antedates Poe's letter to Thomas's father (see Letter 159), since Thomas Mackenzie had written to Poe “some time ago” about the uncertain future of the Messenger, and Poe would be likely to write to him first when Bernard did not reply.

According to Bryllion Fagin, who published the letter, Mr. Morris “was a prominent Baltimore lawyer, president of the Mechanics Bank, and a director of [page 704:] the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.” The lot in question, according to Fagin, “was located north of Baltimore Street, between Republican and Greene Streets.” At the time of the letter Maria Clemm, Poe's aunt, was 53. Mrs. Clemm's “dower right” must have come to her when her husband, William Clemm, Jr., died in 1826. Whether Morris, who was interested in real estate, purchased the property is not known. [CL 453a]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Johns Hopkins University Library. The letter was first printed in Ex Libris, a leaflet issued by the Friends of the Library, XIV, No. 2, May, 1955. No cover address accompanied the letter when the library received the MS. in 1944.

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, I, 242, from a sales catalogue, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy. Notes for this letter accompany the oiginal printing.] [CL 464a] **[[fix “oiginal”]]**

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Clement Dixon Johnston collection, University of Virginia Library.

By “The New-Mirror” Poe means the newly revived New York Mirror, edited from April, 1843, by G. P. Morris and N. P. Willis. For Mrs. Hale as editor of the Opal and John C. Riker, its publisher, see Letter 176 note. [CL 482]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas. The letter was first printed in full in American Literature, XXIX (March, 1957), 82-83. The postscript appears along the left side of the page. The letter is addressed on the fourth page of a folded leaf: “M^rs Sarah J. Hale,/ Philadelphia,/ Pa.” The address page is postmarked: “New-York May 29”; and is initialed “EAP” in the lower left corner. It is also marked “paid,” and carries across the end in a strange hand: “1844/ Edgar A Poe.” [page 706:]

“The Purloined Letter” appeared in the 1845 Gift, published by Carey and Hart. The firm of E[dward] L. Carey and A[braham] Hart was founded in 1829, and printed eight Gifts: 1836, 1837, 1839, 1840, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845. Miss Eliza Leslie edited the first four, Carey edited the fifth alone and the remaining three with the aid of William H. Furness (see Ralph Thompson, American Literary Annuals and Gift Books, 1825-1865, New York, 1936, p. 74). Poe contributed to those of 1836, 1840, 1842, 1843 1845. Harnden's was a mail carrier frequently used by Poe. William H. Graham, a Philadelphia publisher, had printed The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe in 1843, now one of the rarest of Poe's works. [CL 483a]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The letter was first printed in American Literature, XXIV (November, 1952) 364-365.

Lewis J. Cist, at the time of this letter, was an editor, publisher, and minor poet of Cincinnati, Ohio. Later, as an autograph collector, he owned one of the largest collections in the country (see Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography I, 617). Cist had sent Poe for his first number of the Penn scheduled to appear on January 1, 1841, a poem entitled “Bachelor Philosophy.” It was subsequently printed in The Saturday Evening Post (see Letters 105 and 125 and notes). The purport of Poe's last paragraph is uncertain, for Cist's letter of April 30, 1844, to Poe, and Poe's letter of June 3, 1844, to Graham (if written; but see CL 486) are unlocated. “The Beaten Path” seems never to have been published in Graham's, Mrs. Rebecca Shepard Nichols, of Cincinnati, contributed poems to Graham's while Poe was editor. He noticed her in Autography (see H, XV, 258) and reviewed her New Year's address in the Broadway Journal, March 22, 1845 (see H, XII, 110-111), calling her “one of our most imaginative and vigorous poets.” Poe's postscript could easily refer to a forthcoming volume of poems by Mrs. Nichols, Bernice: The Curse of Minna and Other Poems, published in Cincinnati by Shepard and Company, 1844, or possibly by Cist, Trifles in verse, published in the same city in 1845. [CL 485]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Clifton Wallet Barrett collection, University of Virginia. First printed in American Literature, XXVI (January, 1955), 560-561. The letter is postmarked: “New-York, Jun 5”; it is addressed on page 4 of a folded leaf to “L. J. Cist Esq^re/ Cincinnati/ O.” In the lower left corner appears: “Single/ EAP.” The notation “Edgar A. Poe/ Philadelphia/ June 3^d 1844” also occurs. Poe's present letter to Cist confirms CL 485, refers to a new Cist to Poe letter, April 30, 1844 [CL 479a], and suggests an unlocated Poe to Graham letter for June 3, 1844 [possibly same as CL 486].

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, I, 262, from an inaccurate copy, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy. In the source used for the version printed in The Letters, the name of the head of the Aurora was deleted; the MS. shows “Dunn English.” For further notes to this letter see The Letters, I, 262-263.] [CL 496] [page 709:]

Source: photostat of original MS. (2 pp.) in the private collection of Dr. O. O. Fisher of Detroit. The letter was first printed in the Century Magazine, XLVIII (October 1894), 863. The envelope is addressed: “F. W. Thomas Esq^re./ Washington,/ D. C.”; it is postmarked “New-York, Sep 10.” Thomas noted on the envelope: “Answered Oct 10. 1844”. For additional notes see The Letters, II, 507.

On October 19, 1843, Poe wrote Lowell: “I have written a long notice of [The Spanish Student] for Graham's December [1843] number” (Letter 164). On July 2, 1844 (Letter 179), he tells Lowell that Graham has had the review for nine months. Graham may have returned the review rather promptly, unpublished, following the present request, or Poe may have incorporated its material in his critical paper, “The American Drama,” which was published in the American Whig Review, Aug. 1845 (see H, XIII, 33-73) The amount of Poe's indebtedness seems inconsistent with the facts: Poe apparently received $4 per page for reviews in Graham's (Letter 187). His article on “The American Drama” is almost equally divided between Longfellow's Ballads and The Spanish Student, but neither runs seven and one-half Graham pages. Of course, Poe may have submitted more material to Graham than he used in his “American Drama” article. How Poe's indebtedness to Graham was finally met is not [page 711:] known. Poe's pique against such men as Graham, whether from real or imagined causes, was characteristic. [CL 527a]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas. Here first printed from MS.; it was printed earlier from a copy in American Literature, XXIX (March, 1957), 83-84. The MS, is very fragile and is in two pieces held together by tape. Any reply from Graham is unknown; in fact, there are no known letters from Graham to Poe, and the present letter is the only extant one from Poe to Graham. It is very possible that Poe's statement of accounts to Graham (Letter 187) was once a part of the present letter. In his defense of Poe, Graham's, 1850, Graham in publishing the account says: “This, I find, was his uniform habit ... carefully recalling to mind his indebtedness with each fresh article sent.” In the Gribble sale, May 7-8, 1945, item 432, Parke-Bernet Galleries sold an autograph manuscript memoranda (1 leaf) from Poe's personal account book. The leaf carried the following record of payments made by Graham to Poe: “Recd March 25th 1841 of Geo. R. Graham Sixty dollars on acct $60 Edgar A Poe/ Recd April 3d 1841 of Geo R- Graham Fifty Four Dollars on acct $54 Edgar A. Poe/ Recd April 24th 1841 of Geo. R. Graham Forty Dollars on acct $40 Edgar A Poe/ Recd July 2nd 1841 of Geo. R. Graham Fifty Five dolls on acct $55 Edgar A Poe/ Recd July 20th 1841 of Geo. R. Graham One Hundred & Five on acc $105 Edgar A Poe.” These entries seem to support Graham's statement. In addition, the edges of the MS letter have been trimmed so that there is no physical evidence that the present letter had a second half of a folded leaf on which the material of Letter 187 could have been written. However, the following evidence suggests strongly that Letter 187 was originally part of the present letter: Graham's statement that Poe often provided an account with an article submitted for the magazine; the memoranda in Letter 187 are like those m the Parke-Bernet catalogue; the account rendered in Letter 187 begins with a statement by Poe as if it is part of a letter; the present letter is dated March 10, 1845 and Graham stated that the memoranda in Letter 187 were sent him long after Poe left Philadelphia (April, 1844); and the last article cited by Poe in Letter 187 is his review of Longfellow (“Spanish Student,” undoubtedly, since it would have run about five Graham pages), and the same article is referred to in the present letter, Graham having held it since late 1843 (see Letter 164). Finally, the $30 cited in the present letter is accounted for by the following evidence: Poe sent Graham the “Spanish Student” (five pages worth $20 on his account) and got $10 in part payment; if Graham now returns the article, Poe owes him not only the $20 but also the $10 received. All the evidence seems to support the identification of Letter 187 as part of the present one.

The address given by Poe may well be a hitherto unidentified residence in New York. It is hardly to be confused with 130 Greenwich Street, where he lived when he came to New York in April, 1844 (see Letter 174 and Quinn, Poe, p. 407) Quinn suggests (ibid., pp. 414, 435) that Poe was living on the Brennan farm in January, 1845, and that he moved from there to 195 East Broadway about May, 1845 (ibid., pp. 461, 463). Poe seems to have moved to 85 Amity Street by October, 1845 (see Letter 215 note). He may have moved to 154 Greenwich Street from the Brennan farm sometime after January and before March 20, 1845, staying there until he went to 195 East Broadway. (Poe's address is not listed in the 1844, 1845, 1846 New York City directories, and who or what occupied the building at the new Greenwich location cannot be determined. I am indebted to Mr. Rutherford D. Rogers, Chief of the Reference Department, The New York Public Library, for this information.) [CL 532 ( ?) ]

Source: photostat of original MS. fragment (probably from a one-page A.L.S.) in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas. First printed in American Literature, XXIX (March, 1957), 84-85. There is no accompanying cover or address with the MS. The complimentary close and signature of a Poe letter was often cut off by his feminine correspondent and given to a friend (see Letter 214). Mrs. Hewitt may well have been the person addressed in the present letter, for she had written Poe, March 15, enclosing a poem, “The Tale of Luzon,” which he liked and printed in the Broadway Journal, March 22 (see CL 528). Mrs. Hewitt's letter to Poe, March 21 (see CL 533), may be a prompt reply to the present one. The tone of Poe's close fits that of his Literati article on Mrs. Hewitt in Godey's for October, 1846 (1-I, XV, 123-126). If this fragment is properly identified, it is the only extant bit of correspondence from Poe to Mrs. Hewitt.

James E. Root is unidentified (but see Letter 332 in this Supplement). The Broadway Journal, the only magazine that Poe ever actually owned, died January 3, 1846, less than three months after he took possession because he could not raise sufficient funds to carry it during the early period of his proprietorship (see Quinn, Poe, p. 752 and Letter 225, postscript and note). The “complete copy of the B. J.” that Poe is referring to must be volumes I and II [page 714:] (January 4, 1845-January 3, 1846). Why Mathews should have back copies of the defunct journal is not certain; perhaps he had agreed to store some of them in his office, which may have been “up stairs” over 14o Nassau Street and from which he may have edited Yankee Doodle in 1846-1847. [CL 622b]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Here first printed. No envelope or address accompanies the MS. The present letter strongly implies a letter from Root, ante April 18, 1846.

This is one of several invitations from college societies (see Letters 229, 234, 253). Barstow, secretary of Phi Sigma Nu, and Jewett, secretary of the University Institute, extended the invitation to Poe to serve as the commencement poet, only after both Joel Headley and Henry Jarvis Raymond declined. The invitation was written after the April 15, 1846 meeting of the fraternity (see MS. Journal, Phi Sigma No Society, University of Vermont, in the Wilbur Library, University of Vermont). [CL 626]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Richard Gimbel collection, Yale University Library. First printed in American Literature, XXXII (January, 1961), 455. There is no address or postmark. Poe is answering a letter from Barstow and Jewett, c April 15, 1846, unlocated (see CL 625). **[[fix “c” to “ca.”]]** [page 715:]

Mr Poe has been invited by the Literary Societies of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. to deliver a poem at their approaching anniversary, but this <as> invitation, as well as that of the University of Vermont, he is forced to decline through continued illness and a pressure of other engagements.

Who is the “great writer of small things” in Ann St” referred to by Briggs in the article about me in the Mirror of the 26? Has anything concerning me appeared lately in Morris’ “National Press.?

Truly yours.

Poe

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, II, 321, from a sales catalogue printing, it is here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy. For notes on this letter see The Letters, II, 321 and 519-520.] [CL 638]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas. The letter was first printed in the Anderson Galleries catalogue, May 1-3, 1916, item 642. No address or postmark accompanies the letter, which is written on a sheet of Virginia's note paper and embossed “V E P.”

Enoch L. Fancher was the lawyer Poe retained to try his libel case against Hiram Fuller and Augustus W. Clason, Jr., editor and publisher respectively of the Evening Mirror. The Mirror had printed an article by Thomas Dunn English, June 23, 1846, in which English accused Poe of forgery, and in his next article, July 13, dared Poe to sue him, as Poe had threatened. Poe did. The case was instituted in the Superior Court of New York, July 23, 1846, and since the defense could not produce witnesses to support English's charges, Poe was awarded $225 damages on February 17, 1847 (Quinn, Poe, p. 505). The Poe-English controversy was of the violent, name-calling type, and Poe was as guilty of ungentlemanly action as was English, but Poe was not guilty of forgery, as charged (see the whole controversy in H, XVII, 233-258). Mrs. Clemm frequently was a messenger for Poe. [CL 679a]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Slack Collection, Marietta College Library, Marietta, Ohio. The letter was first printed in American Literature, XXXVI (January, 1965), 514. Poe's year-date is wrong; it should be “1847,” for the case was not settled until February, 1847.

Bronson was an elocutionist in New York (see the Dodd, Mead catalogue cited below), and Poe was apparently on friendly terms with him and his daughter (see the unsigned reminiscence — presumably by Bronson's daughter (?) — quoted in the American Literature article cited below). The author of the reminiscence alludes to the poem as “Ulalume.” When Bronson decided not to use the poem, Poe sent it to Mrs. Caroline Kirkland, editor of the Union Magazine. When she also rejected it (see P. II, 1246), Poe sent it to G. H. Colton, editor of the American Review, where it was published in December, 1847. Since the Dodd, Mead catalogue identifies Bronson as the addressee of the letter, and since the writer of the reminiscence refers to her father as the person for whom Poe wrote the poem, it is reasonable to assume that “Miss —— ‘ is Bronson's daughter. If the poem is really “Ulalume,” the letter suggests that Poe wrote it later than has usually been supposed or that he offered Bronson an early or revised version. [CL 688a instead of 685a]

Source: American Literature, XX (May, 1948), 167. The text, which seems complete, was first printed in the Home Journal, Whole No. 754 (July 21, 1860), 3. Part of the second sentence (“... I wish ... another”) was printed in the Dodd, Mead and Company sales catalogue, No. 59, March, 1901, item 269, where the MS. is described as an a.l.s. of 1 page, duodecimo, addressed to Professor C. P. Bronson. In the reminiscence cited above the author says, “We [her father and she] left the city and did not return until September ... A few weeks afterward ... the following note [the letter] was received by [her father].” (See American Literature, ibid.) The author then adds that Poe brought the poem, “The Ballad of Ulalume,” to her house the next day. Based on the time references in this article, the receipt and rejection of the poem by Mrs. Kirkland, and the subsequent publication of the poem by Colton in December, 1847, a probable dating for the letter seems to be: Oct. Nov., 1847. Moreover, since Poe often wrote a letter to accompany a MS. he submitted to an editor, the text of the above letter and the history of “Ulalume,” suggest two hitherto unnoticed letters by Poe: one to Mrs. Kirkland, ca. October-November, 1847 [CL 688b]; the other to G. H. Colton, ca. October-November, 1847 [CL 688c]. Further, the closer dating of the present letter also suggests shifting its position in The Letters from 254a to 256a, and in the Check List from 689a to 688a. No reply to the present letter is known, and the MS. of the present letter is unlocated.

[Since this letter was included in The Letters, II, 353-354 from an inaccurate printed version, it here reprinted from MS. to provide a true copy.] Notes accompany The Letters version. See also Letter 254a in this Supplement. [CL 693]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

For the lecture about which Poe is writing, see Letter 279 and note. The above date is confusing in the light of what Poe says in the sixth paragraph of his letter to Mrs. Whitman, November 26, 1848. In all probability, Poe had not yet written the present letter when he wrote to Mrs. Whitman, or, if he had, he postdated it for some reason. What his “other arrangements” were is not known. [CL 747]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.) in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas. The letter was first printed in American Literature, XXIX (March, 1957), 85-86. The address, “T. L. Dunnell Esq./ Providence/ R. I:”, is on the fourth page of a folded sheet, which is postmarked: “New-York 28 Nov., 5 cts” and which also carries the notation: “Edgar A Poe/ Nov 27. 1848.” The present letter is the same as item 746 in the Check List, before the change suggested in No. 291 of this Supplement.

John Reuben Thompson was a young lawyer, minor poet, and critic of Richmond. He became owner and editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in 1847, sold his interest in 1853, but continued as editor until 1860 (see Mott, History of American Magazines, I, 629). Thompson's letter to Poe is the first known item in their correspondence. Poe's statement that he had been out of town “for some weeks” is untrue, unless he meant in and out of the city on short trips (see CL items 737-750, Poe's letters being mailed from New York). The “Whitings” are unidentified. For Susan Archer Talley [Weiss], see Letter 299 and note, and Quinn, Poe, pp. 622-624. Thompson sent Poe copies of the Messenger requested (see Letter 299). In Poe's review of Griswold's The Female Poets of America, published in the Southern Literary Messenger, February, 1849, Poe repeats his praise of Miss Talley, saying that “she ranks already with the best of American poetesses, and in time will surpass them all ... her merits are those of unmistakeable genius” (see H, XI, 158). This letter carries one of Poe's rare uses of the full signature, “Edgar Allan Poe.” Poe did not go to Richmond until the following June. [CL 751]

Source: photostat of original MS. (2 pp.) in the Butler Library, Columbia University. There is no accompanying address or postmark. The letter was first printed in the Princeton University Library Chronicle, XII, No. 2 (Winter, 1950), 87. Poe is replying to Thompson's letter, ante Dec. 7, 1848, a new entry for the Check List, as 750a. Thompson's letter is unlocated.

The present fragment appears to be part of a letter to Mrs. Clemm while Poe was in the Lowell-Providence area during the latter part of 1848. [CL 759a]

Source: photostat of original five-line fragment in the Richard Gimbel collection, Yale University Library. Here first printed. The verso shows a section of postmark: “... L Ms,” which may indicate Lowell, Mass. (the abbreviation “Ms” being first used in 1845 with the Lowell cancellation). Since Poe usually signed himself “Eddy,” or “Your own Eddy,” to both Annie Richmond and to Mrs. Clemm, and since this letter seems to have been posted at Lowell, where Mrs. Richmond lived, the addressee appears to be Mrs. Clemm.

Frederick Gleason was the editor of The Flag of Our Union, a Boston weekly magazine (see Letter 303 and note). Poe had probably not been absent from New York since he returned from Providence or Lowell sometime between December 23-24 and December 28 (see second and third sentences of Letter 303 and Letters 294 note, 295, and 302). Mr. French was probably Gleason's agent in New York (see Letter 308). Mrs. Frances Sargent Osgood, a New York poetess, was a friend of the Poe family (see Quinn, Poe, passim) ; Park Benjamin was a New York writer and editor about whom Poe had conflicting opinions at various times (see H, XV, p. 183-184). Poe seems to have written Hop-Frog for the Flag, where it was first printed, March 17, 1849 (see Letter 303 and Quinn and O’Neill, The Complete Poems and Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, 11, p. 1084). The poem referred to was probably “A Valentine, which appeared in the Flag, March 3, 1849; it was addressed to Mrs. Osgood and had been written 3 years earlier (see ibid., p. 1070). Despite Poe's low opinion of the Flag he contributed a number of articles to it in the next few months. [CL 771]

Source: a “literal copy” of the original MS. (r p.) loaned to the Columbia University library by Dodd, Mead and Company, who in 1897 cited the letter as an a.l.s. of 1 page (catalogue 46, item 76). The original MS. is unlocated. Here first printed. The verso of the copy bears the notation: “Copy of/ Letter of/ E. A Poe/ referring to/ P. B” [Park Benjamin (?)]. Gleason's letter of January 22, 1849, gives a proper dating for item 770 in the Check List, which should now be entered as CL 768a. [page 725:]

Both the name of the addressee and the date of this fragment must remain conjectural on the basis of present evidence. However, it may be a good guess that Poe was writing to Mrs. Annie L. Richmond on March r, 1849. The “Valentine,” an anagrammatic poem to Mrs. Frances Sargent Osgood, although first published three years earlier, was reprinted in The Flag of Our Union for March 3, 1849, but was on the stands by February 24, or a day or two before that, according to the fragment. “Hop-Frog” was not published in the Flag until March 17, 1849, but was probably also issued in advance of date, by a week or so. Thus Poe's letter seems to have been written between February 24 and March 10, and since he refers to the day of issuance, it seems that he was writing the letter after that date. The tone and content of the fragment suggest at least three possible correspondents: George W. Eveleth, Annie L. Richmond, and Sarah Heywood, Annie's sister. Poe's letter to Eveleth, June 26, 1849, speaks of answering his “last letter — the one from Brunswick,” February 17, 1849; in it Poe makes no reference to the “Valentine and merely answers topics brought up by Eveleth. Eveleth, therefore, would seem to be eliminated. Mrs. Richmond lived in Lowell, Massachusetts, and her sister Sarah in Westford, nearby. If they did not see the “Valentine” in the Flag by February 18, they might have seen it in Sartain's Union Magazine, which was published on the same date, March 3, which also printed the “Valentine,” and which may have preceded the Flag on the stands. Since Poe's note to Sarah (see Letter 307) appears to be an extra message included in another letter, that letter may have included the text of the present fragment. Moreover, the date, March 1, 1849, at the end of Sarah's note may be the dating for the combined items. This dating would fit the end dates for the references in the fragment. Since a note such as the one to Sarah would most likely be included in a letter to her sister, Mrs. Richmond is possibly the person to whom Poe is writing, and the fragment becomes a new item in the Poe-Annie Richmond correspondence. Poe's “X-ing a Paragrab” appeared in The Flag, May 12, 1849, and “The Bells” in Sartain's, November, 1849. [CL 778a] [page 726:]

Source: photostat of original MS. fragment in the Clifton Waller Barrett collection, University of Virginia Library. Here first printed. The fragment is composed of two parts: the first eight lines on a single cutting, and a ninth line (“May God forever bless you!/ E.A.P.”) on a cutting attached to it. The close, which seems to have been written with a finer pen point, may not belong with the larger section. Poe is answering Mrs. Richmond's letter, February 18, a new item in the Check List (CL 777a).

[Since this letter was printed in The Letters, II, 451, from an incomplete version in a sales catalogue, it is here reprinted from MS. facsimile in order to provide a true copy. Notes accompany the former printing.] In addition, this letter and one from Poe to John P. Kennedy, December 19, 1834 (two sentences in length but with full signature) were for a long time in the hands of a Paris dealer who was asking $10,000 for both items. In the early 30's both sold for about $200. H. S. Root is unidentified, except that he lived in Saratoga Springs, N. Y. at the time of this letter. The nature of the content of this letter and of that in Letter 228a (see Supplement) is similar and the surnames of the correspondents, both unidentified, are the same, but unless Poe made a mistake in the initials of one of them, they do not seem to be the same person. [CL 806]

Source: facsimile of original MS. in the New York Times, September 18, 1957, Section L, p. 29, where the letter was first printed. The MS. is in the Miriam Lutcher Stark Library, University of Texas.

Mrs. St. Leon Loud, born about 1800, was a Philadelphia poetess who contributed to the local magazines of the period and published a volume of poems in 1851, entitled Wayside Flowers (see Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, IV, 33). Her poetry was represented in Griswold's Female Poets of America. In “Autography” in Graham's, December, 1841, Poe had written: “Mrs. M. St. Leon Loud is one of the finest poets in this country.” Mr. Loud had offered Poe $100 to edit her poems, and Poe planned to stop in Philadelphia on his trip from Richmond to New York (see Letters 330 and 332). Whether he did or not remains uncertain (see Quinn, Poe, 637-638). The present letter is one of the last three he is known to have written, all on the same day (see Letters 332 and 333). [CL 827a]

Source: photostat of original MS. (1 p.). The MS. is on deposit in the collection of the Poe Foundation now in the Virginia State Library, Richmond. First printed in American Literature, XXXV, No. 1 (March, 1963), 80-81. On the verso the letter is addressed to: “Mrs. M. S^t Leon Loud/ Care of John Loud,/ Philadelphia/ Pa.” It is postmarked: “Richmond, Va., Sep 19.” Beneath the address appears, presumably by Mrs. Loud: “Marguerite St. Leon Loud/ Philadelphia/ [some doodling]/ I slept & dreamed that life was beauty — / I woke and found that life was duty’/ [more doodling].” No reply from Mrs. Loud is known.