Text: J. W. Ostrom, B. R. Pollin, and J. A. Savoye, “Illustrations 39-40,” The Collected Letters of Edgar Allan Poe — Vol. II: 1824-1845 (2008), between pp. 684 and 685, II-A (This material is protected by copyright)

39. Mrs. Frances Sargent Osgood, ca. 1842

Courtesy of Jeffrey A. Savoye

This engraving, based on a portrait by her husband, Samuel Stillman Osgood (1808-1885), was used as the frontispiece for an 1850 edition of her poems.

40. Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman, in 1838

Courtesy of the Athenaeum, Providence, RI

This painting was done by Cephas Giovanni Thompson (1809-1888). Left to Brown University in Mrs. Whitman's will, it was accidentally confused with another painting of her and sent in 1884 to the Providence Athenaeum Library instead (see Miller, Poe's Helen Remembers, p. 118, n 1).