Edgar Allan Poe — “MS. found in a Bottle”

Reading copy:

• “MS. found in a Bottle” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1833, no original manuscript or fragments are known to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02)
• Text-02 — “MS. found in a Bottle” — October 19, 1833 — Baltimore Saturday Visiter — (Mabbott text A)
• Text-03 — “Manuscript found in a Bottle” — 1835 — The Gift for 1836 — (Mabbott text B)
• Text-04 — “MS. found in a Bottle” — December 1835 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text C)
• Text-05 — “MS. found in a Bottle” — about 1839 — (although these pages in the Duane copy of the Southern Literary Messenger show no sign of changes, the version published in TGA shows numerous modifications, which suggests an intermediary form. It is likely, therefore, that Poe made changes in copies other than those which were ultimately owned by Duane, and that those copies have not been located and possibly have not survived. Poe appears to have attempted to erase his changes in the Duane copies, and it is possible that a copy exists in which these erased changes have been overlooked. This missing text is presumably reflected in text-06.)
• Text-06 — “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1840 — TGA — (Mabbott text D)
• Text-07 — “Manuscript found in a Bottle” — 1842 — TGAPP — (Mabbott text E)  (This version is a modified form of Text-06)
• Text-08 — “MS. found in a Bottle” — October 11, 1845 — Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text F)
• Text-09 — “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1850 — WORKS — (Mabbott text G)  (This is Mabbott’s copy-text)

Reprints:

• “MS. found in a Bottle” — October 26, 1833 — The People’s Advocate (Newburyport, MA)
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — October 19, 1849 — Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner, p. 4, cols. 1-3 (noted as “From the late Edgar Poe’s ‘Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque’.”  (H&C lists October 10, 1849 and October 19, 1849, with the earlier date apparently an error.)
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — November 9, 1833 — Cincinnati Mirror, and Western Gazette of Literature, Science, and the Arts (Cincinnati, OH) (Acknowledged as a reprint from the Baltimore Saturday Visiter)
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — August 1855, The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, UK, vol. III, pp. 193-198. The introductory note reads: “[This story (which here appears for the first time in England) is remarkable as being that which first brought the author, then in the very uttermost depths of poverty, into public notice. The proprietors of a Baltimore magazine offered a prize for the best story. Poe’s beautiful caligraphy [sic] attracted attention; his story (the ‘MS’ Found in a Bottle’) was perused, and it was decided to give the prize to the ‘first of geniuses who had written legibly.’]”)
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1858 — Sea Stories, New York: G. P. Putnam, pp. 171-183, (part of “Putnam’s Library of Choice Stories”) (Curiously, Poe’s name is given no where in the book. Indeed, the names of none of the authors of any of the stories are provided.)
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1867 — Prose Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, first series (New York: W. J. Widdleton), pp. 150-160 (This collection is extracted from the 1850-1856 edition of Poe’s Works. It was reprinted several times.)
• “MS. Found in a Bottle” — 1874 — Works of Edgar A. Poe, edited by J. H. Ingram, vol. 1, pp. 138-149 (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1894-1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry (Chicago: Stone and Kimball), 2:222-236
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales I, ed. J. A. Harrison (New York: T. Y. Crowell), 2:1-15 and 2:307-313
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales & Sketches I, ed. T. O. Mabbott (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press), 2:130-148
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America), pp. 189-199

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• “Manuscript Found in a Bottle” — Study Text (TGAPP)
• “MS. found in a Bottle” — Comparative Text (Broadway Journal and WORKS)

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• “Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille” — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)
  • “Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille” — January 21-22, 1855 — Le Pays
    • “Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille” — Part I  (January 21, 1855)
    • “Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille” — Part II  (January 22, 1855)
  • “Manuscrit trouvé dans une bouteille” — 1856 — Histoires extraordinaires, Paris: Michel Lévy frères
• “Trovato in una Bottiglia” — 1876 — Racconti Incredibili, Milano, Italy: Tipografia Editrice Lombarda  (Italian translation, with several illustrations)
• “Ms. Found in a Bottle” — October 19, 1914 — New York: Winthrop Press (edited by John H. Eggers) (miniature edition, illustrated, in color) (copyrighted October 8, 1914)
• “MS. Found in a Bottle” — March 1934 — Amazing Stories, vol. 8, no. 11
• “MS. Found in a Bottle” — 1972 — a reading by Martin Donegan as part of volume X of Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, issued on the CMS Records label (CMS-655)
• “Message Found In a Bottle” — 2008 — Audio book (unabridged), read by Chris Aruffo

• Guilds, John C., Jr., “Poe’s ‘Manuscript Found in a Bottle’: A Possible Source,” Notes & Queries, October 1956, 201:452
• 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 (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.
• Pollin, Burton R., “Poe’s Use of Material from Barnardin de Saint-Pierre’s Etudes,” Romance Notes, 1971, 12:1-8
• Richard, Claude, “ ‘Manuscript Found in a Bottle’ and the Folio Club,” Poe Newsletter, January 1969, 2:23
• Scherting, Jack, “The Bottle and the Coffin: Further Speculations on Poe and Moby-Dick,” Poe Newsletter, October 1968, 1:22
• Stauffer, Donald Barlow, “The Two Styles of Poe’s ‘Manuscript Found in a Bottle’,” Style, Spring 1967, 1:107-120
• Thomas, J. D., “Composition of Wilde’s The Harlot House,” Modern Language Notes, November 1950, 65:485-488
• Weber, Jean-Paul, “Edgar Poe on the Theme of the Clock,” La Nouvelle Revue Francais (August-September 1958), 68:301-311 and 69:498-508.
• Wyllie, John Cooke, “A List of the Texts of Poe’s Tales,” Humanistic Studies in Honor of John Calvin Metcalf, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1941, pp. 322-338.