Edgar Allan Poe — “Politian”

Reading copy:

• “Politian” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “Politian” — 1835 — “Politian” Manuscript — (Mabbott text A)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text for scenes I, II, V, VIII, X, and XI)
• Text-02 — “Scenes from an Unpublished Drama” — December 1835 and January 1836 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text B)
  • “Scenes from an unpublished Drama” — [scenes IV, VI and VII] — December 1835
  • “Scenes from an unpublished Drama” — [scenes III and IX] — January 1836
• Text-03 — [“Scene from Politian”] — March 29, 1845 — lines from scene IV, quoted in “Imitation — Plagiarism”— Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-04 — “Scenes from ‘Politian’” — 1845 — [scenes III, IV, VI, VII and IX] — RAOP — (Mabbott text D)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text for scenes III, VI, VII, and IX)
• Text-05 — “Scenes from ‘Politian’” — 1846-1849 — [scene IV], very minor manuscript revisions to the directions at the beginning of the scene III in Graham copy of RAOP-JLG — (Mabbott text E)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text for scene IV)

Reprints:

• “Scenes from ‘Politian’” — 1850 — scenes III, IV, VI, VII and IX — WORKS — Griswold merely reprints Text-04  (Mabbott text F)
• [“Scene from Politian”] (lines from scene IV, quoted in “Mr. Longfellow and Other Plagiarists”) — 1850— WORKS — Griswold merely reprints Text-03 (Mabbott text G)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems  and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:36-52)  (Ingram reprints Text-03)
• [“Scenes from Politian”] — November 1875 — in “Poe’s ‘Politian‘” by John H. Ingram, two printings of the same article: — (Mabbott text H)
  • [“Scenes from Politian”] — November 1875 — Southern Magazine (10:588-594)
  • [“Scenes from Politian”] — November 1875 — London Magazine of Light Literature
• “Politian” — 1888 — The Poetical Works of Edgar A. Poe, London and New York, edited by John H. Ingram — (Mabbott text J)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:49-74, and pp. 187-188)  (this edition reprints the same scenes included in RAOP)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:59-79, and 10:194-197)  (this edition reprints the same scenes included in RAOP)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (pp. 40-59, and pp. 226-230)
• [“Transcript of a scene from ‘Politian‘”] — Nov.-Dec. 1912 — The Autograph (features a somewhat innacurate transcript of scene XI) — (Mabbott text L)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — about May 1917 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (pp. 40-59, and pp. 258-262, with additional material pp. 324-327) (second edition)  (This version adds scene XI from the manuscript) — (Mabbott text M)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 80-100, and pp. 227-233)
• “Politian” — 1923, text “N” — Politian  (This version was edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott) — (Mabbott text N)
• “Politian” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (pp. 63-84, and pp. 245-251) (This version was edited by Floyd Stovall, and sequences the scenes somewhat differently than does Mabbott) — (Mabbott text P)
• “Politian” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:241-298)  (This version was edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, relying on the various parts to create the full text)
• “Scenes from ‘Politian’ ” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (pp. 107-122) (reprints Text-04)

Instream Comparative Texts:

• None

Plain Text Files for Juxta:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Scenes de Politian” — 1908 — Bibliothèque des poètes fraçais et étrangers: Edgar-A. Poë, Paris: Louis-Michaud (French translation by Victor Orban)
• “Politien” — 1926 — Politien: Drame Romantique Inedit Paris: Emile-Paul Freres (French Translation by H. R. Woestyn, presumably based on the English edition prepared by T. O. Mabbott in 1923) (issued in a limited edition of 1,500 copies) (The translator is probably Henri Roger Woestyn, who is noted as one of the partners of publishing firm of Ransom, Woestyn, and Coy in the London Gazette of October 11, 1898. The firm was disolved on Oct. 5, 1898, with Woestyn assuming all financial obligations.)

• 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.