Text: John C. Miller, ed., “Entry 171: John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman, Feb. 14, 1877,” Poe's Helen Remembers (1979), pp. 473-476 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 473, continued:]

171. John H. Ingram to Sarah Helen Whitman

My dear Providence,

Yours dated 2nd is just to hand. I seem to have a large budget to unfold if I can but remember all.

As you will have already learned, from mine of 3rd Instant, I have received Didier's book. I have already spoken of its contents so need not go over ground again, but I beg you will not accept a single unproved statement of his. I do not credit the story of widowhood, & feel assured that I shall be able to disprove it, as easily as the death in the theatre is disprovable. Mrs. Poe died several days before the Richmond theatre was burned, as, indeed, Stoddard pointed out — reprinting the obituary record from Richmond Enquirer.(1) I cannot think Didier can have had any personal communication with the Poes, as his book directly contradicts their written statements — statements which [page 474:] contemporary evidence confirms. Only last Saturday an English poet lent me some letters (unpublished) of Poe's, & in one of them, dated June 1836, he informs Kennedy of his marriage having just taken place — this is correct, but Didier's date is given incorrectly on purpose to make the letter he got from my “Memoir” agree with his theory.(2) Old Clarke's testimony is all humbug & the book is one mass of mistakes, some, indeed, caused by blindly following my “Memoir”, & knowing so little of the subject.

I have lent the book to several of Poe's admirers here & expect some reviews which I will get copies of for you. The book had a rather severe “skull dragging” in Athenaeum for last Saturday 10th.(3) This you will see.

I have just turned up Didier's letter to me & send it to you for comparison with the facsimile poem in Scribner's — Ed[itor] of which wrote me that Didier acknowledged having written the date & signature!! After that, I fear “Alone” is shaky — not, indeed, that I, for one moment, believe Didier to have composed the lines. Please return Didier's letter.(4) You will see what he says about Poe's mother in his Life; he has only gone by an anonymous newspaper slip.

I think it not improbable that Miss Arnold (a woman of no small talent, apparently) was born at sea — but all will be revealed.

By the way, did I tell you that the Allen who gave the story of Poe working in the brickyard “late in the fall of 1834” was a witness against Poe in the West Point courtmartial, & that the Gibson who wrote the account of Harper's “Poe at West Point” was tried at the same time as Poe was?

Oh, for a few hours chat! I could tell you so much — much that I can never print. More than half Poe's letters, unfortunately, are so personal — affect so many living people — that I can not print them.

I have heard several times lately from Mrs. Richmond. She is very kind, and has placed a large number of letters, &c. at my service. Gill's description of Poe by the young schoolgirl was from her — by her sister — & the MS. of “The Bells,” which he announced himself owner of, was only borrowed from Mrs. R[ichmond].

Do you ever see Mr. Harris? I should be glad to hear, if, at any time, he knew of Poe's early vols. for sale, for an English poet. Do you think he would permit a copy of Diabolus’ Musiad to be taken in MS. for me? If so, could you press anyone into your service to do it for me? It is, I believe, only 8 pps. Title page, &c. Doubtless, I could find out something by it.

Having recently discovered Miss Anna Blackwell's address, I wrote to her, and this morning received her reply — and very strange it is! Some mistake somewhere. I will quote some portions: [page 475:] Your letter greatly surprised me... I never saw him {Poe} but twice, & really know nothing about him, except from hearsay. Some lady (whose very name I have forgotten) once invited me to go with her to take a basket of delicacies, suitable for an invalid, to Mr. Poe, who was then recovering from illness, & in very straitened circumstances. I ... went with her to a little place in the country (I have not the slightest remembrance where) in which he & his wife were living. The visit was a short one & I remember nothing of the incidents ... short time afterwards Mr. Poe returned my visit. Those, to the best of my remembrance were the only times I saw him. I left New York shortly afterwards, & returned to England, the following year {1848}.

Do you not think there must be some mistake about Miss Blackwell having ever stayed at Fordham, as you have described? Who could have given you the information? Nothing one gets about Poe seems to be reliable. Sometimes I fancy that he never lived & sometimes, I think there must have been two Poes!

Without giving name of my informant to Miss Blackwell, I alluded to a letter I had seen copy of to her from Poe, & asked if she had any other letters of his. She says, “I do not think I ever received a line from him ... there must be some mistake ... the extreme slightness of my acquaintance with him precluding all probability of his having ever written to me,” & so forth. And you have seen the letter!(5)

I hope Davidson will send you another copy of Didier's [book], as I may never get my copy back.

I am thankful you have got the Corbeau at last. Did I tell you that I had obtained the Latin translation of “The Raven”? I will enclose the Academy notice of Bruckmann's portrait.(6) Your always & ever,

P.S. I have found Mr. Wellford's address & will try him — but I want letters! letters! Do you know any American autograph collectors?

 

1. Edward V. Valentine had copied the notice of Elizabeth Arnold's death from the Richmond Daily Enquirer, Dec. 10, 1811, and had sent it to Ingram on July 2, 1875. See Item 236 in the Ingram Poe Collection.

2. Ingram printed portions of this letter from Poe to John P. Kennedy in his 1880 Life, I, 140-41. For a complete text see Ostrom, I, 95-96.

3. The “severe skull dragging” accorded Didier's book is reproduced following these notes. It is unsigned, but John Ingram wrote it.

4. Oct. 1, 1874. Item 174 in the Ingram Poe Collection.

5. Miss Blackwell lies throughout her letter to Ingram, which is Item 315 in the Ingram Poe Collection. See Ostrom, II, 369-71, for complete text of the letter Poe addressed to her from Fordham, June 14, 1848, the letter which Miss Blackwell gave to Mrs. Whitman, who copied it verbatim for Ingram.

6. On Jan. 13, 1877, p. 40, under “Notes on Art and Archaeology,” an Academy writer said of Poe's portrait: “Mr. F. Bruckmann of 17 Southampton Street, has published a ‘Memorial Portrait’ of Edgar Poe. It is a well-taken sightly photograph, head and shoulders, [page 476:] of about two-thirds the size of life; ... it clearly represents the poet in the later period of his life, and does not give a very agreeable idea of his face, ... here he looks somewhat jaded, shifty, and supercilious.”

The adjectives used disqualify Ingram as the author of this paragraph.