Text: James B. Reece, “Charles Anthon,” Poe's Poe and the New York Literati Story, dissertation, 1954 (This material is protected by copyright)

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Charles Anthon (1797-1867) was a native and life-long resident of New York City. His mother was the daughter of a French officer; his father, a German by birth, had for many years served [page 137:] as a surgeon with the British army before moving to New York in 1786. In 1811 Anthon entered Columbia College, where he won prizes with such regularity that his name was withdrawn from further competition. Following his graduation in 1815 he studied law in the office of an older brother and was admitted to the bar in 1819. He had found time, however, to continue his study of the classics and in 1820 was appointed adjunct professor of the Greek and Latin languages at Columbia College. He served the institution during the remaining forty-seven years of his life, becoming in 1830 the rector of the grammar school connected with the college and in 1835 a full professor of Greek and Latin. In 1831 the college conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Anthon's more than thirty works include many textbook editions of Greek and Latin authors which were widely used and frequently reissued. Among them are editions of Homer, Xenophon, Ovid, Livy, Terence, Juvenal, Tacitus, Cicero, Sallust, Caesar, Virgil, and Horace. He also prepared works on Greek and Latin grammar and versification and on classical geography and antiquities. His editions of Lempriere's Classical Dictionary included numerous revisions and additions, and in 1841 he published his own work bearing that title. His works made use of foreign scholarship and through them he acquired a reputation as one of America's foremost classical scholars. The Home Journal for December 9, 1848, quoted the London Athenæum as stating that Anthon had “done more for a sound classical school literature than any Englishmen.” [page 138:]

One of his former pupils described Anthon as “very large, strongly built, and of a most imposing presence,” and as possessing a voice which “in the Summer time, when the windows were open, you could hear ... all over the college.” He seems to have been a terror to the younger boys of the grammar school, being intolerant of mediocrity and a strict disciplinarian who punished infrequently but severely. His appearance and manner won for him among his students the nickname “Bull.” He never married, had few close friends, and preferred the quiet of his excellent library to the stir of social life.(1)

The relationship of Poe and Anthon, though it does not appear to have been close or personal, was marked ay cordial feelings and mutual professional respect. On several occasions Poe published enthusiastic notices of Anthon's classical productions, and Anthon expressed his admiration for Poe's work in a correspondence which began in 1836 and lasted at least until 1844.(2) [page 139:]

Early in his career as a critic Poe offered the opinion that Anthon had done more for classical literature than any other man in America and called his edition of Lempriere's Classical Dictionary “a monument of talent, erudition, indefatigable research, and well organized method.” Of the work under review, Anthon's sixth edition of Sallust's Jurgurthine War and Conspiracy of Catiline, Poe remarked that “any farther real improvement in the manner of editing, printing, or publishing a Sallust would seem to be an impossibility.”(3) To this highly favorable notice have responded, for two months later Poe stated in the Messenger that he had received a letter from him.(4) It was perhaps this letter to which Poe alluded in writing to Joseph E. Snodgrass on November 11, 1839; here Poe Implied that he had received from Anthon a letter in which the scholar had praised his tales.(5) Anthon well may have written such a letter, for it is certain that he was an early and appreciative reader of Poe's work. On November 2, 1844, he wrote in reply to a letter from [page 140:] Poe: “You do me injustice by supposing that I am a stranger to your productions. I subscribed to the ‘Messenger’ solely because you were as connected with it, and I have since that period read and, as a matter of course, admired very many of your other pieces.”(6) Poe again expressed his high regard for Anthon's scholarship in his notice of the Select Orations of Cicero in the Messenger for January, 1837. The notes of his editions of the Latin classics, Poe added, “will do him lasting honor among all who are qualified to give an opinion of his labors.”(7)

Poe moved to New York early in 1837, hoping to find employment with the recently established New York Review, a quarterly for which Anthon wrote. However, he formed no permanent connection with the Review, his sole contribution being a notice of John L. Stephens’ Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea, and the Holy Land, which appeared in October, 1837. In preparing his criticism Poe wrote to Anthon for a rendering and interpretation of a passage in Hebrew. Anthon complied with the request and Poe incorporated the data into his review with no acknowledgment of his debt. On three later occasions Poe used the data without giving credit to Anthon.(8) If Anthon knew of Poe's repeated [page 141:] use of the information he had supplied, he is not known to have expressed any resentment, but the matter lent credence enemies that Poe made a pretense of knowledge he did not have.

In 1844 Poe, with less success, applied to Anthon for aid in another matter. He asked that Anthon use his influence with the Harpers to procure publication of his tales. Such publication, Poe thought, would enhance his reputation and put him in an advantageous position for establishing the Stylus.(9) Anthon called upon the Harpers, his own publishers, but could not persuade them to bring out the tales. In a courteous note he reported his failure and advised Poe to call upon the publishers in person.(10)

Poe had in the meantime found another opportunity for complimenting Anthon in the second series of the “Autography,”(11) and later occasions commended his learning and defended him against charges brought by less friendly critics.(12) In the “Literati” sketch, which contained little that was new, he expressed [page 142:] great respect for Anthon's erudition and accuracy. “If not absolutely the best,” Poe wrote, “he is at least generally considered the best classicist in America.” Poe defended Anthon against charges that the Classical Dictionary contained plagiarized material, attributing the attacks to “a clique of pedants in and around Boston.” Anthon's style, he remarked in the only adverse comment in the sketch, “is singularly Ciceronian — if, indeed not positively Johnsonese.”(13)

Anthon apparently was not among those who attended the receptions of the literati, and if Poe made his acquaintance the meeting very likely occurred at Anthon's home. Anthon had urged Poe in 1837: “Do not wait to pay me a formal visit, but call and introduce yourself.”(14) Poe, however, did not accept this invitation, for in writing to Anthon in 1844 he admitted that he had no claim upon Anthon's attention, “not even that of personal acquaintance.”(15) In replying to this letter Anthon again invited Poe to call upon him.”(16) That the two met at some later time is indicated by the fact that, though no further correspondence between them is known, they had reached an understanding, by January 1846, concerning Anthon's participation in Poe's projected Stylus. In that month Poe wrote to Sarah J. Hale that Anthon had agreed to take charge of “a Department of Criticism on Scholastic [page 143:] Letters. His name will be announced.”(17) This arrangement was still in effect in 1848 when Poe revised the prospectus for the magazine.(18)

The continued good wishes of a man of Anthon's abilities and professional standing did something, one trusts, to console Poe from attacks during the period when his reputation was suffering from attacks by men of lesser note.

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