Last Update: Oct. 15, 1998         Navigation:   Main Menu     Poe's Letters    RCL 586

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Dear Sir,

New-York: Nov. 30. 45.

Since the period when (no doubt for good reasons) you declined aiding me with the loan of $50, I have perseveringly struggled, against a thousand difficulties, and have succeeded, although not in making money, still in attaining a position in the world of Letters, of which under the circumstances, I have no reason to be ashamed.

For these reasons -- because I feel that I have exerted myself to the utmost -- and because I believe that you will appreciate my efforts to elevate the family name -- I now appeal to you once more for aid.

With this letter I send you a number of "The Broadway Journal" of which, hitherto, I have been merely editor and one third proprietor I have lately purchased the whole paper -- and, if I can retain it, will be a fortune to me in a short time: -- but I have exhausted all my resources in the purchase. In this emergency I have thought that you might not be indisposed to assist me. The loan of $200 would put me above all difficulty.

I refrain from saying any more -- for I feel that if your heart is kindly disposed towards me, I have already [. . .]

[The full text of this letter was published by Arthur Hobson Quinn and Richard Hart in Edgar Allan Poe: Letters and Documents in the Enoch Pratt Free Library, New York: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1941, pp. 23. It is printed here with permission of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.]

[The rest of the letter has been cut off, presumably Mrs. Clemm who often gave Edgar's signature to friends and supporters.]

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