Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Editions - The Poets and Poetry of America (1842)

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There were a number of anthologies of American poetry published during the 19th century, but the most important and enduring such collection was The Poets and Poetry of America, first printed in 1842 and running through many editions until about 1877. The original editor was Rufus Wilmot Griswold, but beginning in 1872, it was updated by Richard Henry Stoddard.

The poems by Poe included in the 1st edition of 1842 are:

The poems by Poe included in the 8th edition of 1847 are:

“Coliseum” (reprinted from previous editions)
“The Raven”
“The Conqueror Worm”
“The Haunted Palace” (reprinted from previous editions)
“The Sleeper” (reprinted from previous editions)

The poems by Poe included in the 10th edition of 1850 are:

“The City in the Sea”
“Annabel Lee”
“Ulalume: A Ballad”
“To Zante”
“To —— —— ——”
“Dream-Land”
“Lenore”
“Israfel”
“For Annie”
“To One in Paradise”
“The Raven” (reprinted from previous editions)
“The Conqueror Worm” (reprinted from previous editions)
“The Haunted Palace” (reprinted from previous editions)
“The Sleeper” (reprinted from previous editions)

The editions are as follows:

Printed by Philadelphia: Carey & Hart
- 1842 (1st edtition and 2nd edition) (The preface is dated March 1842. An additional note on the second edition is dated July 1842) (According to Joy Bayless, p. 42, the first edition was published on April 18, 1842)
- 1843 (3rd edition and 4th edition)
- 1844 (5th edition)
- 1845 (6th edition)
- 1846 (7th edition)
- 1847 (8th edition) (the revised preface is dated April 1847, published May 29, 1847)
- 1848 (9th edition) (Officially, there was no edition in 1849, although the printing with 1850 on the title page was actually available in December of 1849, in time for Christmas. An edition may have been delayed because Griswold was busy preparing the Female Poets of America )
- 1850 (10th edition) (the newly revised preface is dated October 1, 1849) (According to a notice in Literary World , it was published by Dec. 15, 1849)
- 1851 (11th edition)
- 1852 (12th edition)
- 1853 (13th edition)
- 1854 (14th edition)
- 1855 (15th edition) (preface is dated 1855)

Printed by Philadelphia: Parry & Mcmillan (successors to A. Hart, Late Carey & Hart)
- 1855 (16th edition)
- 1856 (16th edition, and 17th edition)
- 1858

Printed by New York: James Miller
- 1873
- 1874
- 1877

The edition was also printed in London by Scott, Webster, and Geary, 1842 (2nd edition, revised)

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Bibliographic Data:

1842: royal 8 vo. (9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in). Pages [i-xxvii], [1]-476. Bindings: pictorial and embossed, ribbed cloth, with gold stamping.

1847: royal 8 vo. (9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in). Pages [i-xxix], [1]-544. Bindings: pictorial red leather, with gold stamping.

1850: royal 8 vo. (9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in). Pages [1]-550, [steel engravings], [advertisements, 2 pp.]. Bindings: various.

1852: royal 8 vo. (9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in). Pages [1]-550, [steel engravings]. Bindings: various.

1855: royal 8 vo. (9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in). Pages [1]-622, [advertisements, 14 pp.]. Bindings: various.

1856: royal 8 vo. (9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in). Pages [1]-622, [advertisements, 14 pp.]. Bindings: various.

1872: royal 8 vo. (9 1/2 in x 5 3/4 in). Pages [1]-???, [12 steel engravings]. Bindings: various.

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Census of Copies:

There are many surviving copies, sufficient that it would be impractical to attempt a complete census of copies. There were 1,000 copies printed of the first edition (Bayless, p. 266), and 500 of the second (BAL, 3:289).

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Bibliography:

Blanck, Jacob, “Edgar Allan Poe,” Bibliography of American Literature ; volume 3: Edward Eggleston to Brett Harte, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1959, p. 289. (This book is item 6644.)
Heartman, Charles F and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe , Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 1943, pp. 97-108. (Reprinted, Millwood, New York: Kraus Reprint Co., 1977.
Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, volume I: Poems (1969); volumes II & III: Tales and Sketches (1978), Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

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