Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 006: John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman, Feb. 11, 1874,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 17-19 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 17:]

6. John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman

Dear Mrs. Whitman,

I am again troubling you with a letter, but, as you will see, more with the object of making you the medium of other letters to other people: I hope I shall not tire you out, but now that I’ve got a real clue to the long hidden mystery of Poe's life, I am anxious to unravel the whole story. The various letters enclosed are open to your inspection & if you will kindly try and forward them to their proper destinations, you will indeed, be conferring a favour on me. If you do not know the address of Mr. Thos. C. Clarke, probably Messrs. J. B. Lippincott & Co. of Philadelphia, do. Do you object to anything I have said in my letter to Mr. Clarke? Do you mind becoming the medium of a transaction between us? I could trust to you to receive my money & not to pay it for valueless matter: but I know nothing of Mr. Clarke — whether he is author, publisher, or what. Do you know anything of the “Autobiography” alluded to? In Edgar Poe & His Critics you speak of a paper by J. Wood Davidson, in Russell's Magazine, but I cannot see or get that publication in London: is a copy of the paper obtainable by you?(1) The paper in the North A. Review was by a “Mrs. Vale Smith,” I believe, not by Mr. Lamson.(2) I find the “Fire Fiend” affair was thoroughly shewn up in Notes & Queries, but I did not see the account until Saturday last. You may emphatically deny that Macready had anything to do with it. See N&Q for 1864-5. Wallace's Literary Criticisms have you seen? I have not, but if they are by D. Ross Wallace, I dare say they are favourable to Poe.(3) The Edinburgh Review paper I’ll cut up at the first opportunity: it is shameful, but of course thoroughly influenced by the “Memoir.” I hope to have the paper out this evening in the Mirror & will forward at once. Let all your literary friends see it. I will gladly send more copies. Are there any papers in America you would like to receive copies?

I enclose letters for Dr. Lowell & Bayard Taylor. Can you get them forwarded? I don’t know their addresses. The former, I fancy, resides in Boston, & the latter in New York — but I’m not certain —

There! I hope you are not sick of me. Forgive my troubling you so much & believe me to be

P.S. I have paper re. “Edgar Poe” coming out in both Temple Bar & Belgravia but I have not sent advance sheets of former because I’m not quite sure Ed. would approve.

Do you know whether Poe had any English correspondents? I fancy that he got no further than England on his Greek expedition. Can you [page 18:] throw any light on the subject? The Russian affair, I fancy, was a complete mirage — what do you think?

Wm. Gilmore Simms, who, I believe, is dead, was a very old friend of Poe's: Perhaps his family have letters which they would allow to be copied: do you know their residence? I fear not, as it is, most likely, in the South.

Who wrote “Edge Hill”?(4) I do not know the work. Griswold alludes to it.

I shall not send B. Taylor's letter this post.

[Enclosure: John H. Ingram to Thomas Cottrell Clarke]

Dear Sir,

You may have heard of me from Mrs. S. H. Whitman, as the author of some magazine papers on Edgar Poe, and as the collector of material towards a new biography of the poet. For fifteen years past I have been gathering information towards a new life of Poe but I have not been so industrious as I should otherwise have been in the matter, because of seeing, from time to time, announcements of your intention to produce a biography of America's great poet. From what I have lately heard, however, I presume you have relinquished your intention and are willing to dispose of your collection of papers relating to Poe to some one able & willing to do justice to his memory. As regards this latter necessity I think Mrs. Whitman, Providence, Rhode Island will satisfy you, whilst, if you are willing to see [sic] your collection, I will buy it if you can be contented with a reasonable price. I am not rich & cannot be sure of regaining what I expend in the matter but will do my best — even if only as a labour of love — to give the world a fair and correct life of Edgar Poe. If you will sell & have something worth buying perhaps you will, at your earliest convenience, kindly forward me your terms & state what it is you have to dispose of — Whether letters, or copies of letters, unpublished MSS., unreprinted papers, corrected dates, reminiscences & so forth — I dare say Mrs. Whitman will not object to be the medium of the transaction. If I send her the money, you can let her see the collection & receive the needful per her. If, however, you have disposed of your papers, or still purpose publishing a life kindly inform me, so that I may have the gratification of obtaining the work. Have you published anything about Poe? If so, perhaps you can kindly forward me a copy & I will send you copies of my magazine papers in exchange. I am sending this through Mrs. Whitman not knowing your address. Did you see Mr. Stoddard's paper in Harper's Monthly? It is not very satisfactory, repeating, as it does, much of Griswold's fabulous “Memoir,” and evidently annoyed about a boyish ode to a Flute having been rejected by Poe!(5) Did any number of his projected Stylus appear? I suppose not. Are the old numbers of Graham's Magazine, 1840-2 — [page 19:] or of Burton's Gentleman's Mag. 1838-9 — procurable? I would give a fair price for them, as for anything connected with Poe. Do you know what noms de plume he assumed? “Lyttleton Barry” was what he wrote under, sometimes in the Broadway Journal. Poe published his “Autobiography,” I fancy: is it obtainable? Was it in Brooks's Museum?(6) In 1833-4 Poe must have written a good deal — doubtless in the Baltimore papers — is any portion of it to be had? Anything of his — or copies of it — not contained in Griswold's 4-vol. collection would be very acceptable — poems especially — have you, or can you obtain any one of the earlier collections? Prior to 1845. Kindly write & tell me your intentions. I do not want to lose further time but to get out, as quickly as possible, a faithful work on the life & correspondence of Edgar Poe. By the way, did he ever go to Russia? My information would lead me to think not, but you may know. I will not trouble you with any more questions now, but hoping soon to hear from you, remain, believe me,

 

1. James Wood Davidson (1829-1905), a New York author and editor, formerly of South Carolina, had printed a defense of Poe, “Edgar Allan Poe,” in Russell's Magazine, 2 (Nov. 1857), 161-73. Item 525 in the Ingram Poe Collection. He later published Living Writers of the South (New York: Carleton & Co., 1869).

2. There is an article, “Edgar Allan Poe,” by Mrs. E. V. Smith in the North American Review, 84 (Oct. 1856), 427-55.

3. This reference is almost certainly to Horace Binney Wallace (1817-1852), whose Literary Criticism and Other Papers was posthumously published (Philadelphia: Parry and McMillan, 1856).

4. Edge-Hill, or The Family of the Fitzroyals. By a Virginian (Richmond: T. W. White, 1828). This novel was written by James Ewell Heath (1792-1862), sometime editorial adviser to T. W. White (1788-1843), printer, publisher, and founder of the Southern Literary Messenger in 1834.

5. Poe's refusal of Stoddard's poem was printed in the Broadway Journal, Aug. 2, 1845, without mentioning the author's name: “We doubt the originality of the ‘Grecian Flute,’ for the reason that it is too good at some points to be so bad at others. Unless the author can re-assure us, we decline it.” Ingram's expressed contempt for Stoddard took many forms, among them calling the poem “The Grecian Fiddlestick.”

6. Poe contributed “Ligeia” to the first number of N. C. Brooks's American Museum, Sept. 1838. Poe did not write an autobiography, as we know. It is generally accepted as fact that he did contribute to Henry B. Hirst's biographical sketch of himself that appeared, with a portrait, in the Philadelphia Saturday Museum, Feb. 25, 1843.