[page lvi:]

SPECIAL ELEMENTS IN PARTS 1 AND 2

1. Every page of volume 1 is given a folio page number next to the heading and has been given line numbers in the left margin, in an ascending series of fives. The notes, reflecting this treatment, are all given a number cluster, divided by a slash: to the left of which is the corresponding folio page number of Poe's text (in the facsimile of volume 1) and to the left, the line or lines discussed in the note. A modified right-hand bracket sign always separates the number from the text of my note in volume 2. Cross references to these number clusters designate the note volume, in general, unless a bracketed “Facsimile text” is included. In that case, the reference is to Poe's words in volume 1. Please do not confuse the indicated original pages of the Broadway Journal with my numbered folio pages; the former are given next to the dates in boldface print at the top of each separate part of Poe's original columns simply to indicate the continuity and chronology of his articles.

2. As is explained in the Introduction: “Typographical Errors in the Main Text,” Poe's text has been reproduced with minimal changes, and these are invariably recorded in the Introduction.

3. The spellings of English words are not changed unless there is clear warrant for listing the words as “typos.” British or uncommon spellings, allowed in the period, are retained. Allowed forms, although inconsistent, are retained without change. Some seeming errors in proper nouns, such as “Pinckney” and “Clarke,” are kept unchanged, but discussed in the related note. For Poe's peculiar handling of the dieresis and, to a smaller extent, of the digraph (sometimes called diphthong), see Introduction, under “Typographical Errors” and The Brevities, Introduction, pp. xxxvi-xi.

4. The system of multi-volume or periodicals/volume/page citation is uniform, with arabic numbers for both, separated by a period, not by a colon. Thus, for a volume of Harrison's set of Poe's works, 10.135 means volume 10, p. 135, and for Poe Studies, 15.713, means volume 15, pages 7-13. Where the topic of the reference is clear, the title of the article cited is often omitted. In general arabic rather than roman numerals are used for all act/scene/line citations of plays and for (poetic) book/stanza/line citations.

5. Pages are frequently cited without “p.” or “pp.” especially for basic texts, such as TOM's Tales or A. H. Quinn's biography of Poe or Pollin's Dictionary of Names or Word Index to Poe's Fiction. Note that TOM is often used for the text of Tales and Sketches, sometimes [page lvii:] alone, without the book title. This does not refer to TOM's comment, only to the text, which is regarded as definitive. For other Poe texts, especially of reviews, besides the reference to the original magazine loci, the Harrison text is given simply as “H” without any period. For a newspaper, (e.g., Evening Mirror), “2/4” means “p. 2, column 4.” For a tale “364/13” means “p. 364, line 13.”

6. Space is saved and unnecessary clutter avoided through the use of obvious abbreviations (all listed) and through dropping the month of most periodical publications in cited criticisms. Almost all dates are cited in arabic numerals, with slashes, thus: month/day/year: e.g., 6/13/36 = June 13, 1836. A two-digit figure for the year is, assumedly, 18 —. All other centuries require a fourdigit figure, i.e., 1756 or 1910.

7. A reference to the composite facsimile text of the BJ uses solely my folio page number (without a volume number). Any reference to the BJ using a volume number (1 or 2) plus a page number implies the text of the original two volumes only. The articles by Briggs, Watson, and other contributors — not printed in my volume — can be consulted in the two-volume facsimile reproduction published in 1965 by AMS Press (New York) in an edition of 500 copies, and not as yet exhausted. Less convenient but found in more libraries is the microfilm of the BJ which is part of the American Periodicals series. The catalogue, Union List of Serials (1968), locates original two-volume sets in eleven major libraries (two of which are, in reality, facsimile copies); Brown University also owns a set. All are deemed “rare books.”