Text: Anonymous, “[Review of Select Works of Edgar Allan Poe],” Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), vol. VII, no. 178, October 16, 1880, p. 16, col. 2

[page 16, column 2, continued:]

SELECT WORKS OF EDGAR ALLEN [[ALLAN]] POE. — Poetical and prose, with new memoir. By R. H. Stoddard. Household edition. New York: W. J. Widdleton. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co. $2.

This is a handsome volume of 676 pages, and contains the gems of Poe's writings, both poetic and prose. The memoir which is prefixed is written in admirable spirit. Its author says: “Its object is to narrate the life of Poe — not as it appeared to his friends or enemies, or as it, perhaps, appeared to him, but substantially as it was — a simple, straight-forward history of his brief but brilliant career, in which nothing is extenuated, nor aught set down in malice.” In view of the fact of much that has been written of Poe, and the unjust estimate of his character. such a book, calmly and honestly dealing in known facts, is most timely. It is fully time to set at rest and silence some of the calumnies of Poe's enemies, as well as correct the over-wrought expressions of partisan friends, by the methods of the author. Edgar A. Poe was a genius, full of faults. That he holds a large place in literature none will deny. The collection offered by Mr. Stoddard will prove this to the most skeptical. The book in its style of publication, in the good judgment employed in the selections, and in the admirable memoir of his life, should make it the standard work for literary use.