Edgar Allan Poe — “The Conqueror Worm”

Reading copy:

• “The Conqueror Worm” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “The Conqueror Worm” — about October-November 1842 — undated manuscript (Mabbott text G, although it was listed speculatively) (For a detailed examination and authentication of the manuscript, see Savoye, “Shadowy Things and Dying Forms,” listed in the bibliography, below)
• Text-02 — “The Conqueror Worm” — January 1843 — Graham’s — (Mabbott text A)
• Text-03 — “The Conqueror Worm” — February 25 and March 4, 1843 — Saturday Museum — (Mabbott text B)
  • Text-03a — “The Conqueror Worm” — February 25, 1843
  • Text-03b — “The Conqueror Worm” — March 4, 1843  (from February 25, 1843)
• Text-04 — “The Conqueror Worm” — February 15, 1845 — in “Ligeia,” New World — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-05 — “The Conqueror Worm” — May 24, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text D)
• Text-06 — “The Conqueror Worm” — September 27, 1845 — in “Ligeia,” Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text E)
• Text-07 — “The Conqueror Worm” — 1845 — RAOP — (Mabbott text F) (For Griswold’s 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)
• Text-08 — “The Conqueror Worm” — May 29, 1847 — Poets and Poetry of America (8th edition) — (Mabbott text H)
• Text-09 — “The Conqueror Worm” — 1849 — minor manuscript changes in the J. L. Graham copy of RAOP — (Mabbott text J)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text)

Reprints:

• “The Conqueror Worm” — about September 1849 — Richmond Examiner proof sheets — (the text given by Whitty matches Text 10 almost exactly. It may be surmised that the Examiner text was set from Poe’s copy of RAOP. Strangely, Whitty does not list the J. L. Graham copy of RAOP in his versions of this poem, although he does include two references to this volume in the variants.)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1850 — in “Ligeia,” WORKS — Griswold merely reprints Text 06  (Mabbott text K)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1850 — WORKS — Griswold merely reprints Text 07  (Mabbott text L)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — July 29, 1857 — Star of the North (Bloomsburg, PA), vol. IX, no. 25, p. 1, col.1 (with Poe’s name as author, and under the general heading of “Classic Poetry”)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — August 8, 1857 — Evening Star (Washington, DC), vol. X, whole no. 1,421, p. 4, col. 1 (with Poe’s name as author)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — May 5, 1866 — Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser (Rochester, NY), vol. XXIX, no. 106, p. 1, col. 1 (as by “Edgar Allen [sic] Poe”)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — about May 14, 1866 — Buffalo Evening Courier and Republic (Buffalo, NY) (with Poe’s name as author)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — May 28, 1867 — Gloversville Intelligencer (Gloversville, NY), p. 1 (Poe’s name is not given)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — November 5, 1870 — Buffalo Courier (Gloversville, NY), p. 1 (Poe’s name is not given)
• “Life” — November 25, 1870 — Columbia Herald (Columbia, TN), vol. XVI, no. 14, p. 1, col. 2 (with Poe’s name as author, but a curious title)
• “Life” — March 9, 1871 — Marshall County Republican (Plymouth, IN), vol. XV, no. 19, p. 1, col. 1 (with Poe’s name as author)
• “Life” — March 10, 1871 — The Conservative (M’Connelsville, OH), vol. V, no. 26, p. 1, col. 1 (with Poe’s name as author)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — October 8, 1873 — New-Hampshire Patriot (p. 4) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161.)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems  and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:21-22)
• “The Play” — February 1895 — Current Literature: A Magazine of Record and Review (New York, NY), vol. XVII, no. 2, p. 132. (with Poe’s name as author, although as “Edgar Allen [sic] Poe.” The poem is printed, with this new title, as part of “Treasure-Trove: Reviving Old Favorites”)
• “The Play” — April 3, 1895 — Naples Record (Naples, NY), vol. 27, no. 4, p. 4, col. 4
• “The Conqueror Worm” — April 3, 1895 — Grand Forks Herald (p. 2) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161. Although not noted, the title of this printed version is presumably “The Play,” in agreement with other reprints of this period.)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — April 3, 1895 — San Jose Mercury News (p. 2) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161. Although not noted, the title of this printed version is presumably “The Play,” in agreement with other reprints of this period.)
• “The Play” — April 5, 1895 — The Times (Owosso, MI), vol. XVII, no. 4, p. 2, col. 3
• “The Play” — April 11, 1895 — Middletown Daily Argus (Middletown, NY), p. 7
• “The Play” — April 24, 1895 — Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, NC), p. 2
• “The Conqueror Worm” — April 30, 1895 — Aberdeen Daily News (Aberdeen, SD) (p. 2) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161. Although not noted, the title of this printed version is presumably “The Play,” in agreement with other reprints of this period.)
• “The Play” — May 1, 1895 — Rock Island Argus (Rock Island, IL), vol. XLIII, no. 165, p. 4 (Poe is noted as the author)
• “The Play” — May 10, 1895 — Livonia Gazette (Livonia, NY), vol. XX, no. 30, p. 1, col. 5 (Poe is noted as the author)
• “The Play” — May 10, 1895 — Mohawk Valley Register (Fort Plain, NY), whole no. 2139, p. 1 (Poe is noted as the author)
• “The Play” — May 15, 1895 — Commercial Advertiser (Canton, NY), vol. XXIII, no. 7, p. 1, col. 8 (Poe is noted as the author)
• “The Play” — May 30, 1895 — Watkins Express (Watkins, NY), vol. XLII, no. 5, p. 4, col. 4 (Poe is noted as the author)
• “The Play” — June 21, 1895 — Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA), vol. XVIII, no. 36, p. 4, col. 3
• “The Conqueror Worm” — January 24, 1909 — The State (Columbia, SC) (p. 20) (this item is noted by George Monteiro, “Fugitive Reprints,” E. A. Poe Review, Fall 2010, p. 161.)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:33-34, and p. 182)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:87-88, and 10:204)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (pp. 36-37, and pp. 224-225)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1917 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 105-106, and pp. 242-243)
• “The Conqueor Worm” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (pp. 91-92, and pp. 257-258)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:323-328)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America) (pp. 77-79) (reprints the text from Stovall, 1965)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “The Conqueror Worm” — comparative text (RAOP-JLG) (This comparative text shows the changes Poe made in manuscript in his own copy of The Raven and Other Poems in 1845-1849.)
• “The Conqueror Worm” — comparative text (all)

Plain Text Files for Juxta:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Le Ver Vainqueur” — dated 2009, but available in late 2008 — Poèmes d‘Edgar Allan Poe, Paris: Publibook (translation by Jean Hautepierre)

Forgeries:

• “The Conqueror Worm” — (Fragment, 1 leaf, measuring 7 1/4 x 6 inches, beginning with the line: “[. . .] But see amid the mimic rout [. . .],” and continuing to the end of the poem. At the end appears Poe’s name and the notation “Decr. 9, 1842.” The text is written in what appears to be brown ink, running from left to right edges, on only one side of the page. Along the right edge of the page runs a note that reads “Published first in 1843 in Graham’s Magazine also in Broadway Journal,” with the signature of John R. Thompson. Although the appearance is somewhat convincing, there are several obvious problems. Thompson, for example, was the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger during Poe’s final years, and thus an odd choice to validate a manuscript with which he should have no plausible connection. More troublesome, the date of 1842 clearly indicates the earliest version, but the text includes variants made only later. The fragment was offered as a genuine Poe manuscript by New England Book Auctions, Sale Number 366, October 21, 2008, as item 205, with an estimate of $20,000-$30,000, but was promptly retracted from sale over doubts about its authenticity. It was in the collection of Richard Oinonen, who died in 2001, and is probably the work of Joseph Cosey. It may have been kept by Mr. Oinonen as an example of a forgery by someone who was notably notorious in the field, especially for his Poe forgeries.)

• 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.
• Lubbers, Klaus, “Poe’s ‘The Conqueror Worm’,” American Literature, 1967, 39:375-379
• Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.
• Routh, James, “Notes on the Sources of Poe’s Poetry: Coleridge, Keats, Shelley,” Modern Language Notes, March 1914, 29:72-75
• Savoye, Jeffrey A., “Shadowy Things and Dying Forms: Investigating an Original Manuscript of Poe’s ‘The Conqueror Worm’,” E. A. Poe Review, Vol. 15, no. 2, Autumn 2014, pp. 133-155.
• Tritt, Michael, “ ‘Ligeia’ and ‘The Conqueror Worm’,” Poe Studies, 1976, 9:21-22
• Whitty, James Howard, ed., The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1911