Text: Anonymous, “The Poe Special Number,” Book News Monthly (Philadelphia, PA), vol. 25, no. 12, August 1907, pp. 783-784

[page 783, column 1, continued:]

The Poe Special Number

On January 19, 1909, will occur the centenary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe. As the time draws near, admirers of the poet, headed by the Poe Memorial Association of Baltimore, are looking forward to ways by which the memory of Poe may be honored. Both in Baltimore and in Richmond there is a growing activity; and the Maryland capital is to be the place of a permanent monument that will, it is hoped, be ready in time for the celebration of Poe's one-hundredth birthday. [column 2:]

A Poe number of THE BOOK NEWS MONTHLY has been under discussion for a long time, and finally this August issue was decided upon, the renewed interest in all things Southern — aroused by the Jamestown Exposition — seeming to make it appropriate.

In treating of Poe it has been our desire and care to present facts. Poe has been alternately so wildly praised and so vilely slandered that many average readers have a totally wrong impression of his life and character; while his weaknesses have been so emphasized that the [page 784:] value of his literary work has many times been overlooked, and Poe the man rather than Poe the poet has received the larger share of attention.