The Works of the Edgar Allan Poe (Stedman/Woodberry Edition)


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(Under Construction)

Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833-1908) and George Edward Woodberry (1855-1930) largely defended R. W. Griswold as an editor and a biographer, without necessarily advocating many of his most extreme attacks on Poe. In a letter of January 27, 1895 to J. H. Whitty (now in the Whitty papers at Duke University), Woodberry comments that “The first three volumes only of Poe are published; and four more are in type; but the last three, which comprise the critical portion of his writings are still be set up; & and the use I make of the uncollected critiques in the S. L. M. is considerable, especially in the notes.” Whitty had sent Woodberry the first two volumes of the Southern Literary Messenger that had belonged to William Duane, Jr., which Whitty had purchased in 1884. Woodberry proceeds to implore Whitty to allow him to hold on to the volumes until he completes the task of preparing the edition, noting that he could not “find any other copy in the city, but only portions and the first volume.” In another letter to Whitty, dated Jun 6, 1895, Woodberry notes that “all my work on the edition is now done,” and having secured a promise from the publishers to send Whitty a copy of the edition “as a token of my gratitude for your aid and for the very generous spirit and consideration you have shown me.”

 

The Works of the Edgar Allan Poe (The Stedman/Woodberry Edition) (1894-1895)

  • Volume I: Memoir and Tales I - Romances of Death and the Old-World   (“Shadow — a Parable,” etc.) (1894)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Jan. 12, 1895) (Preface dated Oct. 28, 1894) (In his article on “Poe in Philadelphia” the second installment of his series of “Selections from the Correspondence of Edgar Allan Poe,” George E. Woodberry reproduces one of the illustrations and notes that it is from the forthcoming new edition. See Century Magazine, September 1894, p. 727.)
  • Volume II: Tales II - Conscience, Natural Beauty, and Pseudo-science   (“William Wilson,” etc.)  (1894)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Jan. 12, 1895)
  • Volume III: Tales III - Ratiocination and Illusion   (“Murders in the Rue Morgue,” etc.)  (1894)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Jan. 12, 1895)
  • Volume IV: Tales IV - Extravaganza and Caprice   (“The Duc de L’Omelette,” etc.) (1895)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on June 22, 1895)
  • Volume V: Tales V - Adventure and Exploration   (“Narrative of A. G. Pym” and “Journal of J. Rodman”) (1895)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Feb. 22, 1896)
  • Volume VI: Literary Criticism I - of Poetry and Poets   (1895)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Feb. 22, 1896) (Preface dated May 5, 1895)
  • Volume VII: Literary Criticism II - of Novels, Essays, and Travel; Marginalia   (1895)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Feb. 22, 1896)
  • Volume VIII: Literary Criticism III - The Literati; A Chapter of Suggestions   (1895)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Feb. 22, 1896)
  • Volume IX: Eureka and Miscellanies   (“Maelzel's Chess-Player,” etc.) (1895)  (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Feb. 22, 1896)
  • Volume X: Poems   (1895)  (apparently completed on Dec. 3, 1895) (advertised in Publisher's Weekly on Feb. 22, 1896) (Preface dated May 5, 1895)

The first four volumes are collectively categorized as “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque,” taking as a general title the one used for Poe's 1840 edition of tales.

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Woodberry had written a very popular biography of Poe, first published in 1885 and reprinted several times (expanded and revised in 1909). Stedman had written a much admired article on Poe in 1881, reprinted as a small separate book, and also the commentary for the 1884 printing of “The Raven,” with illustrations by Gustave Dore.

Stone and Kimball was founded in 1893 by two recent Harvard graduates, Herbert Stuart Stone (1871-1915, he died on the Lusitania) and Hannibal Ingalls Kimball, Jr. (1874-1933). Their first publication was a paperback reissue of Chicago and the World's Fair: A Popular Guide. Their most ambitious undertaking, this elaborate edition of Poe's works, would also prove to bring an end to the enterprise. According to A. B. Creek, the “Poe edition sold very slowly, and the net result of this expensive project was the tying up of a large amount of working capital during one of the worst economic depressions in American History” (49:442). Althought the company managed to print several other books, and literary daily, it was unable to recover financially and disolved in 1897. Stone went on to found Herbert S. Stone and Company. Kimball became an advertising designer at the Cheltham Press.

An annoucement appears in the Publisher's Weekly for March 10, 1894 (p. 405), stating: “STONE & KIMBALL, of Chicago and Cambridge, have in preparation a definition edition of the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry. It will be complete in ten volumes, illustrated with portraits, fac-similies, and other illustrations, printed on specially made paper.”

An annoucement appears in the Publisher's Weekly for May 19, 1894 (p. 742), stating: “STONE & KIMBALL, Chicago and Cambridge, ... The first volumes of ‘The Complete Edition of the Writings of Edgar ALlan Poe,’ to which we have several times referred, is now nearly ready. THey will comprise ‘The Tales of the Groteseque and Arabesque.’ The large-paper edition in ten volumes, limted to 250 numbered sets for America, will contain a series of eight illustrations to the tales by Mr. Aubrey Beardsley, a signed etching by Mr. Sterner — not included in the small-paper edition — proofs of all the pictures printed on India paper, and will, in trugh, be a luxurious edition.”

An official advertisement for publications by Stone & Kimball, obviously sanctioned by the publishers themselves, appears in the Publisher's Weekly for May 26, 1894 (p. 796):

EDGAR ALLAN POE.

COMPLETE WRITINGS. Edited by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN and Professor GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY. With many portraits, some of which are here published for hte first time, fac-similes, and so forth, and pictures by ALBERT EDWARD STERNER. In ten volumes. Printed on specially made paper. 16mo, deckled edges, $15.00, in sets; or separately, $1.50 per volume.

Also a large-paper edition, limted to 250 sets for America, with a series of eight illustrations by AUBREY BEARDSLEY, and a signed etching by Mr. Sterner, not included in the small-paper edition — proofs of all the pictures printed on India paper. Ten volumes, on hand-made paper. 8vo. $50.00 per set. (In preparation.)

In the “Christmas Number” of the Publisher's Weekly, November 17 and 24, 1894 (p. 80): “STONE & KIMBALL have endeavoured to make a standard and final edition of “The Works of Edgar Allan Poe,’ newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions and notes by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry, with many portraits, fac-similes and pictures by Albert Edward Sterner. The works of Poe are published in ten volumes, and there has been a thorough rearrangement of the text — based on Poe's maturest judgement — and a correction of much of Mr. Griswold's work, which has been mechanically followed by late editions. The edition includes an exhaustive index, and there is also a bibliography.”

An annoucement appears in the Publisher's Weekly for May 19, 1894 (p. 742), stating: “STONE & KIMBALL, Chicago, have just ready the first three volumes of ‘The Works of Edgar Allan Poe,’ in ten volumes, newly collected, edited and for the first time revised after the author's final manuscript corrections, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodbery, with many portraits, fac-similes, and pictures by Albert Edward Sterner ...”

An annoucement in the Publisher's Weekly for May 25, 1895 (p. 847), notes that volumes I-V are “now ready.”

 


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Bibliographic Data:

8vo (8 1/4 in x 5 1/2 in), large paper edition is 8vo, also tall 8vo (9 in x 10 in).

The set was available in three forms:

Regular edition, laid paper, with the Stone and Kimball watermark, bound in cloth or half-leather. In this standard edition, illustrations are merely printed on pages, in what would be considered typical fashion.

Large paper edition, limited to 250 sets. In the large paper, vellum bound edition, the illustrations are printed on very thin, India paper, and laid in on stiffer pages bound within the text.

Japan paper edition, limited to 10 sets. Illustrations were presumably done as with the large paper edition.

Two extra portfolios with designs matching the vellum covers: It is generally noted that the edition on Japan paper was the only one to include the extra sets of etchings in two vellum portfolios, but the inclusion of the additional portfolios is a matter of much conjecture and, apparently, misunderstanding. At least one vellum set, not on Japan paper, also has two smaller matching portfolios, with the volumes and the portfolios all bearing the same assigned number of 187. One of the portfolios has separate printings of eighteen illustrations reproduced from the famous Quantin edtion of 1884, and the other the four illustrations by Aubdrey Beardsley. None of these illustrations appear in the main volumes. Another set of the large paper edition, numbered 189, was sold at the auction of Frank Maier (Nove. 16-17, 1909, item 1728), and the description in the catalog lists the two additional portfolios of illustrations. A Sotheby sale (London) on July 15, 2014 (item 587) included a set of the 10 volumes with the Beardsley portfolio, apparently the large paper edition but not so designated, although implied by the statement that it is one of 250 copies. (The description perpetuates the erroneous assumption that there were only 10 sets produced with the portfolios.) That copy was numbered 166. There may be other sets with the partial or full complement of extras, but these are the only ones that have been recorded.


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A Chronology of Printings and Reprintings:

  • Stone and Kimball  (Chicago)
    • 1894 - volumes I-III
    • 1895 - volumes IV-X (volume 4 is listed as available in the Publisher's Weekly for June 29, 1895, p. 1016)
    • 1896 - various volumes in the set bound in green cloth bear imprint dates of 1896, presumably accompanying remainder stock of other volumes or already printed pages with a new title page. All of these volumes bear the name of Stone & Kimball at the base of the spine. Some later sets also bear dates of 1899 and 1901, by which time Stone had parted company with Kimball. These volumes usually bear the name of Stone & Company on the base of the spine, both otherwise match the earlier cloth bound sets. Sets with a mixture of these volumes are not uncommon, and may reflect how they were originally purchased.
  • Lawrence and Bullen (London)
    • 1895 - volumes I-X  (London reprint of vols. I-X)
  • Herbert S. Stone & Company (Chicago and New York)
    • 1901 - volumes I-X  (reprint or reissue of vols. I-X, with a new title page) (although the decorated cloth binding is the same as the first printing, the name of the publisher at the base of the spine reflects the name of Stone and Company, and gives the location as Chicago and New York, with New York replacing the date on the lower right portion of the spine)
  • The Colonial Company (New York)
    • 1903 - reprint of volumes I-X  (called the “Definitive Edition” and limited to 1,000 sets. The 1894 preface is slightly revised by the editors.)
    • 1903 - reprint of volumes I-X, “extended to twenty volumes”  (called the “Autograph Edition” and limited to 150 sets, signed by the editors and the publisher. The 1894 preface is slightly revised by the editors.)
  • Duffield & Co. (New York)
    • 1906 - volumes I-X  (reprint of vols. I-X)  (also reprinted in 1908?)
    • 1907 (September) - The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (a separate printing of the volume of Poe's poetry, reprinted from volume X, although the date has been removed from the preface. The pagination matches the 1894-1895 volume exactly.) (reprinted again in 1908)
  • Charles Scribner's Sons (New York)
    • 1914 - reprint of volumes I-X
    • 1914 - The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (a separate printing of the volume of Poe's poetry. The pagination differs from the 1894-1895 volume)
    • 1927 - reprint of volumes I-X (The pagination differs from the 1894-1895 volumes)

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Census of Copies:

There are so many surviving copies of these volumes that a listing is impractical and unnecessary.


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Bibliography:

  • Blanck, Jacob, “Edgar Allan Poe,” Bibliography of American Literature; volume 7: James Kirke Paulding to Frank Richard Stockton, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983. (Volume 7 is edited and completed by Virginia L. Smyers and Michael Winship. For Griswold's editions, see items 16158- 16161, pp. 123-125.)
  • Campbell, Killis, the “Poe-Griswold Controversy,” The Mind of Poe and Other Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933, pp. 63-98. (This article originally appeared in PMLA, XXXIV, Sept. 1919, pp. 436-464.)
  • Creek, Alma Burner, “Herbert S. Stone and Company,” Dictionary of Literary Biography, Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 49:436-440.
  • Creek, Alma Burner, “Stone and Kimball,” Dictionary of Literary Biography, Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 49:440-443.
  • Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, ed., The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, New York: J. S. Redfield, 4 vols, 1850-1856.
  • Harrison, James A., “Editor's Preface,” in The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1902. (vol. I, pp. vii-xx. The preface is dated “March 25, 1902.”) (Volume XVII contains letters by and about Poe. It was reprinted as volume II of The Life and Letters of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1903.)
  • Hatvary, George Egon, the “Whereabouts of Poe's ‘Fifty Suggestions’,” Poe Studies, IV, No. 2, December 1971, p. 47.
  • Heartman, Charles F and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 1943, pp. 129-133. (Reprinted, Millwood, New York: Kraus Reprint Co., 1977.)
  • O’Neill, Edward H., the “Poe-Griswold-Harrison Texts of the ‘Marginalia’,” American Literature, XV, November 1943, pp. 238-250.
  • Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. Auction Catalogue, The Frank J. Hogan Library: Part One - American Authors, First Editions, Autograph Letters, Manuscripts, January 23 and 24, 1945 (items 584 and 585). (The only significant information here is the description of item 584, which includes the volume with N. P. Willis’ autographs.)
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, volume I: Poems (1969); volumes II & III: Tales and Sketches (1978), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
  • Miller, John Carl, Building Poe Biography, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977.
  • Miller, John Carl, Poe's Helen Remembers,
  • Pollin, Burton R., “Introduction: Marginalia,” The Collected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe; volume 2: The Brevities, New York: Gordian Press, 1985, pp. xv-xxii.
  • Quinn, Arthur Hobson, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1941.
  • Thompson, John Ruben, The Genius and Character of Edgar Allan Poe, privately printed, 1929. (Edited and arranged by James H. Whitty and James H. Rindfleisch.)
  • Southeby Auction Catalogue, The Library of H. Bradley Martin: Highly Important American and Children's Literature, New York, January 30 and 31, 1990, item 2213.
  • Woodberry, George E. (assigned as writer of this anonymous review by Killis Campbell), The Nation, December 4, 1902, p. 445-447.
  • Woodberry, George E. and Edmund Clarence Stedman, “General Preface,” The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Chicago: Stone and Kimball, 1894-1895 (reprinted by New York: The Colonial Company, 1903 and Charles Scribners's Sons, 1914).

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[S:0 - JAS] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Editions - Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Stedman and Woodberry, 1894-1895)