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Notes:
William Drayton (1776-1846) had been a Colonel in
the War of 1812 and
had served in the U.S. Congress as a representative of South Carolina
(1825-1833).
According to A. H. Quinn, Poe may have met Drayton towards the end of
1828,
when Poe was stationed with at Fort Moultrie (Quinn, p. 129. Quinn
references
a letter from October 29, 1940 written by Dr. William Drayton, Jr.
relating
the family tradition.) T. O. Mabbott states that "Drayton had been
Poe's
commanding officer at Fort Moultrie, and the poet as sergeant-major had
constantly dealt with him directly" (Mabbott, Tales, p. 472).
Specifically
disagreeing with Mabbott, Thomas and Jackson (The Poe Log, p.
xxii)
strongly note that "There is no truth in the tradition that he was
Poe's
commanding officer at Fort Moultrie in 1827 and 1828." It seems
reasonable
that Drayton could hardly have simultaneously sever as a Congressman
and
a military commander. 1833, Drayton had moved, as noted in the
dedication,
to Philadelphia. At this time, Poe was also living in Philadelphia,
working
as an editor for Burton's Gentleman's Magazine.
The first line of this dedication is printed in an
"Old English" font.
The page is unnumbered, but based on a counting backwards from the
first
numbered page falls as page 2, with the cover page being page 1 and the
table of contents being page 7. |
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[S:1 - TGA, 1840]
- Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Tales - Tales of the
Grotesque and Arabesque [dedication] |
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