Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 072: John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman, Nov. 10, 1874,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 222-225 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 222, continued:]

72. John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman

My very dear Friend,

I just send a few words to acknowledge yours dated 22nd Ulto. re. Mr. Harris's kind offer & to recount my usual little budget. First, let me convey my sincere thanks to Mr. Harris for promising me a sight of the 1831 edition of Poe's Works. I shall not need the copy many days & will take every care of it. If Mr. Harris wants anything done in London will you mind asking him to rely upon me — it will be a pleasure to do [page 223:] my best for him. I wish I could have seen the book some months ago, but, better late than never.

I am grieved to have so poor an account of your health, and shall look forward all the more eagerly for your dear letters — but don’t overexert yourself — send me a few lines at the time. I’m unwell, depressed & sad. The loss of that dear friend I have told you of has been a sad blow — often when walking the streets, or when alone, in bed at nights, the tears start to my eyes & utter dreariness comes over me. Alas! the prizes of this life are so mean, and the winners of them so much meaner, that I often wonder what is the use of striving for them — were I not goaded on by the knowledge that others rely upon my exertions, I feel that I could so gladly put my head on the pillow & pass away to “that bourne whence no traveller returns.” But let me not weary you with my dreary platitudes.

Have you received either, or both, of the copies I sent you of Vol. 1 of Poe's Works? I hope, I long for & yet fear to hear your verdict. It seems that I have made so much cry about such little wool. And yet, I do believe I have succeeded in giving a different view of Poe's character to his English admirers, & that is something. Never mind the inartistic style. I have already, I believe, told how, at the last moment, this “Memoir” was patched up & strung together — how my illness had upset everything. However, if life & mind are spared we may hope that someday I shall produce a life of Edgar Poe which shall be worthy of him. I send you two copies because you may have some dear friend you would like to give one copy to. I shall also shortly send you, per Mr. Davidson, two copies of Poe's portrait, not cut down to the book size but suitable for framing. I send them unframed because of the glass &c. getting broken. What do you think of the likeness — is it good? Give me your candid opinion & suggestions on all points.

While I think of it — If you do not want it, could you let me have the slip I sent you from E. Benson's critique on Poe & Hawthorne? I might have a use for it some day. Don’t trouble if you’ve not got it, or can’t find it.

I enclose a review from the Echo — ’tis only a 1/2 penny paper, but has a very large circulation. Will try to send also a notice from the Civil Service Review — a notice that may do much good. I sent you copy of the Scotsman & will try & get copy of the Edinburgh Daily Review, which had a still longer critique. You will see that they all accept my version as incontrovertible. Hope in a few days to get the leading London views of the subject.

J. Hewitt Key, who was Mathematical master at Virginia University in 1826, is alive & Head Master of London University.School. He answers my inquiry, “I do not recollect whether he {Poe} attended my classes. ... Dr. Blattermann has been dead many years. Mr. George [page 224:] Long {Professor of Ancient Languages} is still alive and, I believe in hearty health. He lives near” ——— a name I cannot make out, but his London bookseller will give it.(1)

I hope you’ll be able to alter your mind about deferring the new edition of E.P. & His Critics until after you have been translated. These things can be done so much better by oneself than by unsympathizing people. Page 27, I notice you say Mrs. Poe (Virginia) died a year (it should be quite two years) before “The Raven” was published.

It is a great disappointment to hear that this edition of the Works cannot be sold in United States. Black's agent in Boston says the American copyright extends first for 28 years & then to the publisher's family for 14 more years. Do you know anything of this? I’ll send you some prospectuses for friends. Mr. Campbell, bookseller, Toronto, has copies. The price is little over half the American edition — only about 5 dollars.

When last I heard of Miss Peckham, she was about to move to more convenient quarters.

Kindly distribute the prospectuses. I will send you the various English reviews of the book & shall be glad to see any American ones. I shall see that in the Home Journal. I shall be anxious for your private opinion, but don’t tire yourself to write a long letter. My correspondence on the matter of Poe's works is truly enormous. I am now expecting to hear from the South again.

How is your sister, Miss Power? Does she suffer still from the effects of the ivy poison?

Did I not once tell you that two branches of the Poë family still held landed estates in Ireland? I was informed a few days ago that one of the family bore the name of “Edgar.”

I am anxious to hear Swinburne's idea of my “Memoir.”

I fancy we shall unearth some real information in the South some of these days. If I live I shall make a pilgrimage to America to gather information.

For two Saturdays I have been making a pilgrimage over some spots sacred to me — the places I had last visited with my late friend, and last Saturday I took his three dear little boys with me to the Zoological Gardens.

Harry Curwen, who edited Hotten's selection from Poe, has written me some nice letters. He has a vol. in the press, Sorrow & Song, taking Poe, Petöfi, Munger, &c. as representatives. I’m trying to convert him to our views. He never liked Griswold's, but does not think my “Memoir” will quite convert him, but we shall see. I’ve sent him a copy. Miss Fanny Kortright, a friend of the Hawthorne's, & who knows Mrs. E[llet], has had a terrible idea of Poe, but I think she's coming [page 225:] over. Oh, my dear, dear friend, thanks to your kindness, more than anything else, I shall prove my case. Never mind if I am a little “passionate,” there will be time to cool down hereafter, when, in the coming times, a noble name shall have been rescued from infamy, and replaced in its honorable niche in the Temple of Fame by the combined action of one who proudly & affectionately presumes to couple his name with yours, and by you. Ever my friend I shall hold you to be — ever be the friend of yours in all sympathy.

P.S. Do you know anything of a Mrs. Nichols? — now in England, and professing to have been a friend of Poe's & desirous of seeing justice done to his character. I’m going to write to her.(2)

 

1. J. Hewitt Key's letter to Ingram of Nov. 6, 1874, is Item 180 in the Ingram Poe Collection.

2. This was Mrs. Mary Sargeant Neal Gove Nichols (1810-1884), author, water-cure physician, mesmerist, spiritualist, Fourierist, advocate of temperance and dress reform, and a vegetarian, who knew the Poes in Fordham in 1847. Poe wrote about her in his “Literati” in 1846. She married for the second time in 1848, and she and her husband, Thomas Low Nichols (1815-1901), left America for England at the beginning of the Civil War.