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  The Miscellanea of Edgar Allan Poe





Within these selections, all original punctuation, abbreviations and spellings have been retained. Where these spellings differ greatly from modern spellings, the most current form is noted in brackets immediately following the word. A number of obvious variants, such as "colour" for "color," reflect conventions to which we no longer adhere, but which were considered acceptable during Poe's lifetime and are left to stand without additional commentary. For manuscript material, including Poe's own corrections to printed sources, text contained within angle brackets "<...>" shows annotations made by Poe himself for the main text given. Reversed double-angle brackets ">>...<<" show text that Poe has canceled by striking or scratching out. Text contained within square brackets "[...]" is not part of the original. This text is intended as notes or corrections of typographical errors. In the original printings, some text occasionally appears within square brackets "[...]." In such cases, these have been changed to standard parentheses to avoid confusion. (Note: Over time, we will be changing our previously stated policy concerning square brackets to retain Poe's usage and distinguish our own editorial notes by enclosing these in double-square brackets "[[...]]".)

At the end of each selection, beyond the "End of Text" tag, is a code, such as "[S:1]". This code is intended as an internal marker for keeping track of verification of the text.  In general, a value of "[S:0]" or the total absence of the code notes that the text has been entered, but not yet verified. Anyone who has ever tried to proofread a large volume of text will appreciate the inherent difficulties.








The Collections and Books:

Poe published only one book which fits this category (although it ran through three editions), and was perhaps involved with another book of a similar vein. He did work on Literary America, and apparently considered publishing a book of Marginalia. A number of items were first collected in the posthumous collection edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, incorporating some additional manuscript changes and other material. These collections are listed chronologically. 
  • Wyatt's Natural History  (1839 — WNH) (Poe is thought to have helped with the book, and perhaps written or rewritten the introduction.)
  • The Living Writers of America   (1846-1847 — LVW)  (Manuscript plans for an expansion of Poe's "Literati" series, incomplete and generally superceded by Literary America)
  • Literary America   (1848 — LTAM)  (Manuscript expansion of Poe's "Literati" series, incomplete and unpublished during Poe's lifetime)







Miscellanea:

    These items are arranged alphabetically by name. Within each name, entries are listed chronologically. Some of these items were not published under any specific title and most are, therefore, given here under a title deemed appropriately descriptive. The authorship of some items is a topic long researched and debated. Most of the items included here were signed, but for some, the attribution to Poe is necessarily the result of conjecture. 
 
Scroll down, or select letter:  A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z



 

~~ A ~~

  • Autobiographical Note   (written @1842)
    • Manuscripts, Authorized or Significant Printings:

  • Autography
      • "Autography" (1836, text "BA" from "B" — The Metropolitian)
        • "Autography" - Part I (September 21, 1836)
        • "Autography" - Part II (October 7, 1836)
        • "Autography" - Part III (October 10, 1836)
        • "Autography" - Part IV (October 12, 1836)
      • "A Chapter on Autography" (November 6, 1841, text "CA" — New World) (pp. 290, cols. 3&4 - 293, cols. 1&2)
      • "A Chapter on Autography" (1853, abridged and re-arranged by C. G. Leland — Illustrated News)
        • "A Chapter on Autography" - Part I (January 15, 1853)
        • "A Chapter on Autography" - Part II (January 22, 1853)
        • "A Chapter on Autography" - Part III (January 29, 1853)
        • "A Chapter on Autography" - Part IV (February 5, 1853)
      • "A Chapter on Autography" (1874-1875 — Works (Ingram), vol. II)




~~ C ~~

  • "Cabs" and "A Moving Chapter"
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • "Cabs"
        • Cabs (April 1, 1840, text "A"  — Alexander's Weekly Messenger)
      • "A Moving Chapter"
  • Chapter of Suggestions   (Written 1844)

  • The Conchologist's First Book
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
    • Reprints:
      • "Preface" (from the first and second editions) (1880 — The Select Works of Edgar Allan Poe, W. J. Widdleton, pp. clxxi-clxxviii, as an "Appendix" to Stoddard's introductory "Life of Poe." Includes a comparison with Captain Thomas Brown's book on Conchology, implying plagiarism on Poe's part.)




~~ D ~~

  • Desultory Notes on Cats
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:

  • Doings of Gotham   (written 1844)
    • Manuscripts, Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • Doings of Gotham   (text "A" — manuscript material)
        • Letter IV  (June 4, 1844 — "Bowen" manuscript, noted in the New York Times, January 14, 1912, but now presumably lost.)
        • Letter V  (June 12, 1844 — "Rosenbach" manuscript)
        • Letter VI  (June 18, 1844 — "Bowen" manuscript)
      • Doings of Gotham   (text "B")




~~ F ~~






~~ I ~~

  • Intemperance
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:





~~ L ~~

  • Literary Small Talk
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • "Literary Small Talk" (1839, text "A" — American Museum)
  • The Literati of New York City
    • [An Index of Authors in "The Literati"]
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • "The Literati of New York City" (about February 1846, text "A" — six "roll" manuscripts, not seen since 1846 and almost certainly lost.) (There seem to be no surviving manuscripts from the original series. Several items which have appeared in exhibition and auction catalogues as manuscript fragments from "The Literati" are generally from "Literary America," noted below. All we know about the manuscripts is what is contained in the printed texts, and a pleasant recollection by Francis Sargent Osgood: "I recollect, one morning, toward the close of his residence in this city . . . I found him just completing his series of papers entitled 'The Literati of New York.' 'See,' said he, displaying in laughing triumph several little rolls of narrow paper (he always wrote thus for the press), 'I am going to show you by the differences of length the different degrees of estimation in which I hold all you literary people. In each of these one of you is rolled up and fully discussed. Come, Virginia, help me!' And one by one they unfolded them . . " (F. S. Osgood, quoted in Woodberry, 1885, p. 261 and 1909, II, pp. 181-182).)
      • "The Literati of New York City" (1846, text "B")
      • "The Literati of New-York  — S. Anna Lewis"
      • "Literary America" (text "C" — manuscript material, generally used by Griswold in WORKS)
      • The Literati (text "D" — misc. manuscript material)
        • "Henry B. Hirst"  (@1848, "Griswold" Manuscript)  (Possibly intended for "Marginalia" 1848)
        • "Frances S. Osgood"  ("Griswold" Manuscript fragments)
      • The Literati (1850, text "D" — WORKS)
      • (Note that "The Literati" material is closely tied to some "Marginalia" items and a few reviews. Some revisions may be from Poe's projected but never completed books, The Living Writers of America (@1846) and Literary America (1848).)
    • Reprints:
      • "Lydia M. Child"  (August 29, 1846, reprint of "A" — Baltimore Saturday Visiter)
      • "William Ross Wallace"  (October 22, 1849, reprint of "D" — New York Tribune)
      • "Margaret Fuller, Marchesa D'Osoli"  (Aug. 6, 1850, reprint of "D", the one item only — International Weekly Miscellany, pp. 162-165)




~~ M ~~

  • Marginalia   (written 1844-1849)
    • Manuscripts, Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • Marginalia   (text "A" — fragmentary manuscript material)
        • Manuscript of Installment IV  (from Godey's Lady's Book)  (Sept. 1845, "Dreer" Manuscript of the full installment)
        • Manuscript of item 2 from Installment IX  (from Graham's)  (1846, "Patterson" manuscript, apparently replaced by the next item.)
        • Manuscript of item 2 from Installment IX  (from Graham's)  (Nov. 7, 1846, "Martin" manuscript, apparently sent after the rest of the December 1846 installment.)
        • Manuscript items from Installment XIV (from Southern Literary Messenger) (May 1849, "Koester" manuscript fragments)
        • Manuscript items from Installment XV (from Southern Literary Messenger) (June 1849, "Thompson" manuscript fragments)
        • Manuscript Fragments (presumably from the unpublished selections left with J. R. Thompson in 1849, intended for the Southern Literary Messenger)
        • Manuscript (1848 — "Stedman" manuscript)
        • Manuscript notice of Henry B. Hirst
      • Marginalia   (1844-1849, text "B" — printed text)
      • Marginalia   (text "C" — manuscript corrections to printed text)
        • Corrected pages of Installment I  (from US Magazine and Democratic Review)  (revised Dec. 1845 - July 1847, "Gilman" Manuscript notes on printed text)
        • Corrected pages of Installment VI  (from Democratic Review)  (revised Dec. 1845 - July 1847, "Gilman" Manuscript notes on printed text)
        • Uncorrected pages of Installment VII  (from Democratic Review)  (Although they contain no manuscript changes, these pages were apparently kept by Poe along with the two items above.)
      • Marginalia   (1850, text "D" — WORKS) (This revision of "Marginalia" includes many changes and additional selections, mostly culled from earlier reviews. These changes and the selection of additional items were all presumably made by Poe, and merely adopted by Griswold.)
      • (Note that some of the "Marginalia" material is closely tied to a few "Literati" items and reviews.)
      • Marginalia  (1874-1875, text "E"  — Works (Ingram)) (Ingram restored some items which were not included in the Griswold edition. The selection is not entirely complete, however, as Ingram continued to omit some items which were more fully represented in the form of the criticism in which they originally appeared.)
    • Translations:
      • "Marginalia" — 1882 — Contes Grotesques par Edgar Poe, Paris: Paul Ollendorff  (French translation by Émile Hennequin)


  • Miscellaneous articles from Columbia Spy
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • Literary Theft  (?) (July 31, 1844, text "A"  — Columbia Spy)  (doubted by Mabbott)
      • Puffing  (rejected by Mabbott)
        • Puffing (Part I)  (???) (November 23, 1844, text "A"  — Columbia Spy)  (rejected by Mabbott)
        • Puffing (Part II)  (???)  (November 30, 1844, text "A"  — Columbia Spy)  (rejected by Mabbott)
  • Miscellaneous articles from the Mirror (New York) (also New Mirror, Evening Mirror and Weekly Mirror) (See the bibliography for The Mirror.)
  • Miscellaneous articles from the Saturday Museum (Philadelphia)
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:

  • Miscellaneous articles from the Southern Literary Messenger
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • "Palaestine" (February, 1836, text "A"  — Southern Literary Messenger)
      • "The Gourd of Jonah" (February, 1836, text "A"  — Southern Literary Messenger)
      • Miscellaneous brief filler items (1835-1837, text "A"  — Southern Literary Messenger)
      • "Excerpta" (1848, text "A"  — Southern Literary Messenger) (Repeats some of Pinakidia)
        • "Excerpta" - Part I (February, 1848 — Southern Literary Messenger)
        • "Excerpta" - Part II (June, 1848 — Southern Literary Messenger)





~~ O ~~

  • Obituaries (possibly by Poe)
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • Obituary of William Henry Leonard Poe (August 2, 1831 — Baltimore American)
      • Obituary of Elizabeth Poe (widow of David Poe, Sr.) (July 8, 1835 — Baltimore American)
      • Obituary of Virginia Eliza Poe
        • [Obituary of Virginia Eliza Poe]  (February 1, 1847 — Herald (New York))
        • [Obituary of Virginia Eliza Poe]  (February 1, 1847 — Tribune (New York))
        • [Obituary of Virginia Eliza Poe]  (February 6, 1847 — Weekly Tribune (New York))
  • Omniana
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • "Omniana"  (1840, text "A"  — Burton's)
        • "Omniana" - Part I (April, 1840)
        • "Omniana" - Part II (May, 1840)
        • "Omniana" - Part III (June, 1840)
        • "Omniana" - Part IV (July, 1840)
        • "Omniana" - Part V (August, 1840)




~~ P ~~

  • Pinakidia
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • "Pinakidia"  (August 1836, text "A"  — Southern Literary Messenger)
      • "Pinakidia"  (1874-1875  — Works (Ingram))

  • Prospectus of the "Penn" (Later the "Stylus")
    • Authorized or Significant Printings:
      • Prospectus for an unspecified literary magazine (about 1835) (In Our Press Gang, L. A. Wilmer comments that Poe "proposed to join me [Wilmer] in the publication of a monthly magazine of a superior intellectual character, and he had written a prospectus, which he transmitted to me for examination" (Mabbott, Merlin (1941), p. 26). Before Wilmer could act on the plan, Poe apparently accepted a position at the SLM.)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (June 1840, prior to June 4 — broadside)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (June 6, 1840 — Saturday Evening Post)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (June 12, 1840 — Spirit of the Times)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (June 13, 1840 — Saturday Chronicle and Mirror of the Times (Philadelphia)) (noted by J. Albert Robbins, PS, V, 2, 1972, p. 48)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (June 13, 1840 — Saturday Courier (Philadelphia))
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (June 20, 1840 — Columbia Spy (Columbia, PA))
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (August 1840 — broadside)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (September 1840 — broadside)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (September 12, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, September 14, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, September 16, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, September 17, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, September 18, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, September 22, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, September 25, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, October 12, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, October 16, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, October 19, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, October 28, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, October 31, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (reprint of above, November 2, 1840 — Daily Chronicle and General Advertiser)
      • Prospectus of the Penn Magazine  (January 1, 1841 — broadside)
      • Prospectus of the Stylus  (February or March 1843 — broadside)
      • Prospectus of the Stylus  (February 25 1843 — Saturday Museum)  (No copy of this issue is known. The text is presumably identical to that reprinted in the March 4, 1843 issue.)
      • Prospectus of the Stylus  (March 4, 1843 — Saturday Museum)
      • Prospectus of the Stylus  (March 11, 1843 — Saturday Museum) (An apparently unique copy in a private collection. The text is identical to that reprinted in the March 4, 1843 issue. Based on the curious presentation in Gill's biography of Poe, there has been some speculation that this copy was illustrated with the picture of the hand holding a stylus and writing the Greek word for "Truth." First-hand examination of this issue, however, confirms that the prospectus has no illustration. It would appear that Gill merely reproduced the picture from the proposed cover Poe sent to E. H. N. Patterson.)
      • Prospectus of the Stylus  (excerpts April 29, 1843 — Boston Notion)
      • Prospectus of the Stylus  (January 1848 — broadside)
      • Prospectus of the Stylus  (April 1848 — broadside)




~~ S ~~

  • [Summer and Winter] (? manuscript fragment)
    • Manuscripts, Authorized or Significant Printings:







Related Items:
  • A chronological index   (in preparation)




Bibliography:
  • Brigham, Clarence S., Edgar Allan Poe's Contributions to Alexander's Weekly Messenger, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, April 1943. (Also reprinted separately.)
  • Edsall, Thomas, ed., The Poe Catalogue, Baltimore: The 19th Century Shop, 1992. (This catalogue includes a few reprints of material which are not noted elsewhere.)
  • Harrison, James A[lbert]., ed, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 17 vols, New York: T. Crowell, 1902.
  • Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bilbiography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943. (The best overall bibliography of Poe, although it does contain errors and is somewhat outdated.)
  • 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. (Second printing 1979)
  • Pollin, Burton R., ed., The Collected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe; Vol II - The Brevities (Including "Marginalia," "Pinakidia," "Fifty Suggestions," and "A Chapter of Suggestions," New York: Gordian Press, 1985) and Vols. III and IV - The Broadway Journal: Non-fictional Prose (New York: Gordian Press, 1986).
  • Spannuth, Jacob E. and T. O. Mabbott, Doings of Gotham, Pottsville, PA: Jacob E. Spannuth, 1929. (Collects Poe's contributions to the Columbia Spy.)
  • Vines, Lois D., ed., Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999. (An extremely useful compendium of articles by various authors, divided by country or region.)
  • Woodberry, George E[dward]. and Stedman, Edmund Clarence, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 10 vols, Chicago, 1894-1895. (Reprinted in 1903 and 1914.)


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