Edgar Allan Poe — “A Prediction”

Reading copy:

• “A Prediction” — reading copy

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:

• Text-01 — “[A Prediction]” — February 29, 1848 — manuscript (written as part of a letter from Poe to George W. Eveleth) (Eveleth appears to have made and sent out as many as four transcripts of the letter, from 1878-1895.)

Reprints:

• “[A Prediction]” — 1880 — Edgar Allan Poe: Life, Letters, and Opinions, by John H. Ingram (New York: Library of America), 2:139-142 (mentioned but not printed as a portion of Poe's letter to Eveleth. Ingram states “These addenda would occupy a dozen or so pages and are, therefore, clearly unsuitable for our citation; besides, Poe's theory is much better explained in ‘Eureka’ — a work available for all.”)
• “[A Prediction]” — October 1, 1878 — (Transcript of the letter made by George W. Eveleth for John H. Ingram. Eveleth's letter to Ingram is in the Ingram Collection of the University of Virginia, item 340, with the transcript as item 41.)
• “[A Prediction]” — 1884 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: A. C. Armstrong, 5:150-156 (presumably printed from a transcript sent by Eveleth, although the introductory note states only that it was written in February 1848 to “a correspondent ... whose name is not recorded.”)
• “Edgar A. Poe's Addenda to his ‘Eureka,’ with Comments” — January 1896 — Methodist Review (New York), vol. 78, pp. 9-11 (noted as “being Extracts from Siftings, by Sieve. Copyrighted in 1889, but not hitherto published.” The original source of the text is not specified beyond the curious note, with Sieve not being identified. As there are slight variations and omissions from each of the texts published at this time, it seems that Eveleth made several transcripts, which no longer survive except the one for Ingram.)

Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:

• “A Prediction” — 1895 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 9: Eureka and Miscellanies, eds. E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (9:293-295) (The editors do not specify the source of their text beyond saying that it “is now published from a copy of the manuscript.” It seems likely that a transcript was provided by Eveleth. Alternatively, it may have been printed from the same transcript that Stoddard had.)
• “A Prediction” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 16: Marginalia and A Prediction, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (16:337-346) (noted as reprinted from Methodist Review, January 1896, although Harrison's note clearly shows that he also referred to the Stedman and Woodberry edition of 1895.)
• “[A Prediction]” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America), pp. 1368-1369 (printed in the notes to “Eureka”
• “A Prediction” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales & Sketches I, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (3:1319-1323)
• “Appendix: Poe's Postscript to a Letter about the Lecture Eureka — 2004 — Stuart and Susan F. Levine, eds., Chicago: University of Illinois Press, pp. 107-115
• “[A Prediction]” — 2008 — The Collected Letters of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. II: 1846-1849, ed. J. W. Ostrom, B. R. Pollin and J. A. Savoye, New York: Gordian Press (2:650-657) (J. W. Ostrom printed the text of the letter in his 1948 and 1966 collections of Poe's letters, but omitting the text of “A Prediction.”.)

Instream Comparative and Study Texts:

• None

Miscellaneous Texts and Related Items:

• None

• Levine, Stuart and Susan F., eds., Eurkea, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004  (Poe's text, edited and with an introduction, notes and textual variants)
• 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.