Edgar Allan Poe — “To F——s S. O——d”

Reading copy:

• “To F——s S. O——d” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “To Elizabeth” — about 1833 — manuscript — (Mabbott text A)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text for “To Elizabeth”) (This version was written in the album of Elizabeth Rebecca Herring, Poe’s cousin)
• Text-02 — “[To E. W.]” — about August 1835 — manuscript — (Mabbott seems to dismiss the idea that any version was actually written down for Eliza White, commenting in his notes that the tradition was apparently “based merely on the title of the first printed version” (Poems, 1:233, n 2). This comment is apparently itself based on the somewhat equivocal statement by Ingram (1880, 1:130). Mrs. E. O. Smith, however, claimed to have actually seen this version of the poem written “in the delicate chirography of Edgar Poe, with date, etc., in the hands of Lizzie White,” with the title “To. E. W.” Her comment is recorded in “Autobiographical Notes: Edgar Allan Poe,” Beadle’s Monthly, February 1867, p. 149. Although Mrs. Smith is not an entirely reliable witness, her comments in this case seem detailed, specific and quite plausible.)
• Text-03 — “Lines Written in an Album” — September 1835 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text B)
• Text-04 — “To —” — August 1839 — Burton’s — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-05 — “To —” — about 1841 — “Herring” manuscript (copied and signed by Virginia Poe) — (Mabbott text D)  (This version was written in the album of Mary Estelle Herring, Elizabeth’s younger half-sister)
• Text-06 — “To F—” — September 13, 1845 — Broadway Journal (excerpt, lines 1-4 only) — (Mabbott text E)
• Text-07 — “To F——s S. O——d” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text F)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text for this early version)
• Text-08 — “To ——” — 1848 — The Lover’s Gift, for 1849 — (Mabbott text G)
• Text-09 — “To F——s S. O——d” — 1850 — WORKS — (Mabbott text H)
• Text-10 — “To — —” — date uncertain — “Chapin” manuscript — (Mabbott text J)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text for the final version)

Reprints:

• “To F——s S. O——d” — January 1846 — Knickerbocker (printed as part of a review of RAOP)
• “To ——” — 1852 — The Poetic Gift; or, Tributes to the Beautiful, edited by Mrs. E. O. Smith (Hartford: Wm. Jas. Hamersley), p. 99
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems  and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:22)
• “Lines written in an Album” — 1880 — John H. Ingram, Edgar Allan Poe: His Life, Letters and Opinions, London: John Hogg (1:130)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:81, and p. 192)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:93, and 10:207-208)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (p. 33, and p. 222)
• “To Elizabeth” — about May 1917 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (p. 324)  (This is the first time this early version was collected, the manuscript having surfaced fairly recently. The manuscript is currently unlocated, and thus Whitty’s printing is an important resource, although it contains one clear typographical error.)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (p. 80, and pp. 226-227)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (p. 62, and pp. 244-245)
• “To Frances S. Osgood” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:233-236)  (Mabbott gives three texts, one for “To Elizabeth,” one for “To F——s. S. O——d,” and one for the manuscript of “To — —”)
• “To F——s S. O——d” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (p. 73) (reprints Text-07)

Instream Comparative Texts:

• None

Plain Text Files for Juxta:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “A F—s S. O—d” — dated 2009, but available in late 2008 — Poèmes d‘Edgar Allan Poe, Paris: Publibook (translation by Jean Hautepierre)

• Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.