Text: Anonymous, “[review of The Raven and Other Poems],” Brooklyn Eagle and Kings County Democrat (Brooklyn, NY), vol. 4, no. 297, December 13, 1845, p. 2, col. 4

[page 2, column 4, continued:]

New Publications.

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The same publishers have added to their “Library of American Books” a volume of poems by Edgar A. Poe, editor of the Broadway Journal, and one of the best writers, both of prose and verse, in the United States. He modestly says, however, in a preface, that he does not think the poems of much value to the public, or very creditable to himself; and that he has merely collected and republished them with the view of redeeming them from the many “improvement” to which they have been subjected in going the rounds of the press. This would all be proper enough in a young beginner; but an author by profession, like Mr. Poe, ought not to indulge in such moonshine. He knows, and the public know, that many of these pieces are excellent, while not one of them is even dull.

— Speaking of American books: we think that Messrs. Wiley & Putnam are entitled not merely to patronage (which they receive) but also to the gratitude of all well-wishers to American literature for the liberality and good taste with which these volumes are got up. The paper is firm and white, the type clear and distinct, and the whole mechanical execution of the first order. Hereafter a book worth printing need not be taken to some steam newspaper office, rushed through the press upon whitey-brown, and given to the world in a form so horrible that the author himself would be ashamed to acknowledge it; but, decked in suitable habiliments, it can go forth without experiencing that drawback which merit, however great, experiences if clad in seedy garments. This, republican as we think ourselves, and insist upon being thought by others, is no mean advantage. Eight of the “American Books” have already been published, and as many or more are announced in preparation.