Text: Edgar Allan Poe (?), Literary, Broadway Journal (New York), August 9, 1845, vol. 2, no. 5, p. ???, col. ?

[page 78, column 2, continued:]

Editorial Miscellany.

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MESS. Wm. D. Ticknor & Co., of Boston, have in press and will soon publish a volume of Poems by Mrs. Mary E. Hewitt, of this city. Mrs. Hewitt has written numerous short pieces, characterized by feeling and grace. We presume the forthcoming volume will comprise someone or two compositions of greater length than any she has yet published.

Mess. Clark and Austen have in preparation a collection of the poetical writings of Mrs. Osgood. Although the well-deserved celebrity of Mrs. O. is fully equal to that of any American poetess, there has hitherto been no compilation of her works — with the exception of the English “Wreath of Wild Flowers from New England.” She has been sadly neglectful, we fear, both of her interest and her fame. We shall give her new volume the most cordial of welcomes.

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GREAT preparations are being made in the way of giftbooks for the holidays. “The Missionary Memorial” is the title of a very elegant volume to be edited by Mr. Saunders, of this city. It is to be superbly printed on the finest paper, and bound in gilt silk. The illustrative title and frontispiece will be executed in the new process of oil colors by Baxter, of London, expressly for the work. Among the contributors will be Mrs. Sigourney, Miss Gould, Mrs. Osgood, Halleck, Whittier, Tuckerman, Lowell, Sprague, Drs. Alexander, Schroeder, Williams, Gardiner, Spring, S. H. Cone; Professors Mason and Fisher; Rev. Mess. Spalding, Dowling, Griswold, Charles; Colton, Hoffman, Poe, and some others. The title “Missionary Memorial” is used, we presume, to avoid the hackneyed term (or idea) Annual.

Mr. John Keese is preparing “The Opal,” which has now been in course of publication, we believe, for five years. It will be unusually rich, however, this year, its contributions are to be especially good, and the external book will be greatly improved.

Mr. T. S. Arthur, of Philadelphia, the well known editor of “Arthur's Magazine,” is also preparing an annual, which we have good reason to believe, will vie with any of the season. It will be issued by Ferret & Co.

Mr. Robert Hamilton, is getting ready “The May-Flower,” of which we have seen some specimen sheets which promise remarkably well. This souvenir will at least equal any of the others. Saxton and Kelt, of Boston, are the publishers.

“The Gift,” so long and successfully issued by Mess. [page 79:] Carey and Hart, is suspended — will not be published this season, if ever again.

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THE Corporation of Harvard University have invited, or voted to invite, the Hon. Edward Everett to assume the Presidency of the College. It is presumed he will accept the invitation.

In the “Times”

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IN THE “Times,” published at Columbus, Ga., we meet with a very remarkable story entitled “The Little Governess and the Authoress.” The narrative itself has great interest; but we call it “remarkable,” because we learn that it is the work of a girl of fourteen — Miss Annabella S. Phelps — a niece of Joseph Wallis, Esq., of this city. She is, or was, a pupil at the Moravian (Litiz) Seminary, (in Lancaster, Pa.,) of which the Rev. Eugene A. Freauff is principal. We have seen several of Miss Phelps’ MSS — all evincing a high order of talent.

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WE FIND the following in the Express (of this city,) where it is accredited to the New-York Correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette:

“There has been a flare-up in the Broadway Journal, which prevented the appearance of one number a week or two since. It originated in some difference between one of the Editors and the Publisher. The Editor undertook to get a new Publisher on the paper, and so the Publisher turned round and put the name of the other Editor on his sheet. Where the merits or demerits of the case lie, we do not pretend to determine. The Journal has force — some good criticism, and a good deal of bad. It needs more catholicity — more liberality, and a little less attempt at severity. With its flashy name exchanged for something more dignified, and its main plan retained, it would soon be the most able and entertaining weekly in the country.

“I forgot to mention that there has been a flare-up in the Democratic Review, also, between the Editor and Mr. Langley, one of the proprietors. Both better leave, for the paper cannot live with the management it has had for the past year or two. It lives by plunder of other people's brains — a rather uncertain mode of existence, we should imagine.”

We thank the New-York Correspondent of the Cincinnati Courier for his good opinion, although given cum grano salis — but we would thank him at the same time to stick to the truth. He is right only in the proportion of one word in ten. What does he mean by “catholicity”? What does he mean by calling “The Broadway Journal” “a flashy name”? What does he mean by “putting the name of the other editor on the paper”? The name of the “other editor” was never off the paper. What does he mean by his pet phrase “a flare-up”? There has been no flare-up either in the case of “The Broadway Journal” or of “The Democratic Review.”