Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 004: John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman, Jan. 28, 1874,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 12-15 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 12, continued:]

4. John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman

Dear Mrs. Whitman,

I am troubling you with another epistle close upon my reply to your very welcome one. I am very desirous of collecting all possible [page 13:] information respecting Edgar Poe as quickly as I can, and, therefore, after a few preliminary remarks will give you a regular series of questions, and, if you can and will answer any one of them I shall be thankful. I have sent you a copy of my Flora Symbolica by registered post, and hope you’ll get it safely, and like it: if you have inclination to review it anywhere I should feel flattered. With one exception it has been favorably noticed by our leading publications. The Times downwards: daily to quarterly all spoke well. There are some of my dear lost sister's verses in it — Ella Ingram.

I look for your poems: all that I have seen of yours — save “The Portrait” — was in Duyckinck's Cyclopedia. My notice in Temple Bar is delayed until March: it is not what I would have liked but I dare not offer to alter it again; my threefold revision having delayed it. But in the interim the Mirror will appear & shall follow with poem “To Isadore.” I shall, however, meantime collect every possible reference for a complete biography, including & duly acknowledging all your information. I want to collect all the writings, I can, of Poe's, not included in the 4 vols. You quote a marginal note that I did not know of his: was a separate collection of “Marginalia” ever published, do you know? An American said he thought Lowell had edited one. What I chiefly want & cannot get here is Graham's Magazine from its commencement in (Nov. 1840?) to end of 1842. My Mirror papers may contain some things unknown tri you even. Meanwhile, if there are any of the following questions you can & will answer, I shall be thankful.

1. Is there anyone to apply to at Baltimore, for precise date of Poe's birth; anecdotes of childhood or family?

2. 1816 to England & 1822 departure to U. States: are these dates correct?

3. Were the Allans kind to him? Did they leave him in England, or stay here? Was Allan his godfather & was Edgar's 2nd name Allan?

4. Any anecdotes of his childhood, school days, University life, or adventures in Europe, Russia, &c. from friends, &c.?

5. Do you know if Ebenezer Burling, who Powell says was to accompany him to Greece, is alive?

6. When first collection of poems was published? 1827? If any poems therein not reprinted?

7. Mr. Allan's 2nd wife is said — when Allan died — to have refused Poe his books?

8. Military Academy — date of entry &c. — any fellow students known?

9. When he married?

10. Burton's Gentleman's Magazine — about 1838-39 — any nos. to be had?

11. Prize for “Gold Bug” — in what publication? [page 14:]

12. Broadway [Journal] — can I procure any nos.? From Oct. [18]45 to Jan. [18]46, Poe had it alone — Briggs was out.

13. “Literati of New York” — do you know that they are not properly reprinted in Griswold's collection, but are garbled &c.? See case of English. Did you know anything of the libel suit gained by Poe against English? The letter by English appeared in New York Mirror, 23rd June, 1846: the letter has been abstracted, or not sent with remainder of the newspaper to British Museum.

14. Is there any reliable account of his last moments?

15. Are the Lewis family to be got at? Griswold says they were his dear friends.

16. Do you know anything of the Brown “Conchology” story? His enlistment in & desertion from the army?

I have asked these questions hurriedly & apparently coldly & businesslike, but you must not deem that I am unsympathetic, or want the information for mercantile purposes. I admire & reverence Edgar Poe to an extent that makes me quite a scoff amongst. the many, who think I am somewhat crazy on the point: but you, & those who study him with kindred feeling, cannot avoid the glamour of his masterly influence.

Had I been wealthy, long ere this I’d have properly investigated the whole subject and have published the result, but alas! the res augusta domi of late years have cramped & enfeebled my exertions. Still, if Mr. T. Clarke, or Mr. Gill, have any real information & will part with it for any sum within reason, I will do my best to meet them with what is needed.

Do you know who was author of that vile paper in the S.L. Messenger? Griswold calls it “an Eulogium.” I believe, strictly sub rosa — entre nous, that it was J. M. Daniel, Editor of the Richmond Examiner; the same, I suppose, you speak of at page 43 of E.P. & His Critics.(1) The author of that cruel paper in the North American Review was, I believe, a certain “Rev. A. Lamson.” Do you know him?

And now I have bored you enough for the nonce, and will desist, relying upon your kind aid towards placing the name & fame of our admired poet in that position which it deserves to be in, and hoping that you will not misunderstand my motives & that you will trust me to return any papers, cuttings, MSS., &c. when required, I remain, believe me, ever faithfully yours,

P.S. Do you know if E. C. Pinckney's poems are to be got? Are there any friends of Edgar Poe, besides yourself, to whom I might apply? May I keep “The Portrait”? 2 slips returned: more to follow. Is there anything I can procure you? [page 15:]

 

1. John Moncure Daniel (1825-1865), journalist and editor of the Richmond Examiner, 1847-53, 1861-65, published an article on Poe, which he called a “Eulogium,” in the Southern Literary Messenger, 16 (Mar. 1850), 172-87. For a synopsis and analysis of this covert attack on Poe, see Quinn, p. 666.