Text: John H. Ingram, “Edgar A. Poe a Plagiarist,” Notes and Queries (London, UK), May 6, 1876, p. 377, col. 2

[page 377, column 2, continued:]

EDGAR A. POE A PLAGIARIST (5th S. v. 336.) — UNEDA, in speaking of a Philadelphian, a certain Mr. Duffee, alleges, “Some years ago, Mr. Duffee proved that Poe (a most unprincipled man) was a plagiarist of his most celebrated story, The Gold Bug.” If your correspondent means, and the construction of his sentence is somewhat curious, that Edgar Poe stole the story from some one else, will she or he be good enough to state how, when, and where the charge was proved? As your readers are aware, similar charges have been frequently trumped up against the author of The Raven; but hitherto, upon examination, they have been proved utterly false. Speaking with a full knowledge of Poe's life and character, I emphatically deny that he was “a most unprincipled man.”

Whilst alluding to Philadelphia authors and plagiarism, can any of your readers solve this puzzle for me? In 1831, according to the title- page, Mr. Thomas T. Stoddart, a gentleman by no means unknown to fame, published in Edinburgh a poem styled The Death-Wake; or, Lunacy or, a Necromaunt: in Three Chimeras. In 1842 the same poem, verbatim et literatim, was republished at Philadelphia, in Graham's Magazine, as “Agathé; a Necromaunt: in Three Chimeras. By Louis Fitzgerald Tasistro.” The latter claimant, I believe, is still living, and Mr. Stoddart, I am glad to know, is, so there is a prospect of the puzzle being solved.

JOHN H. INGRAM.