Text: James H. Whitty, “News for Bibliophiles,” The Nation (New York, NY), vol. XCV, whole no. 2455, July 18, 1912, p. 55, cols. 1-3

[page 55, column 1, continued:]

NEWS FOR BIBLIOPHILES.

New and important letters touching the early life of Edgar Allan Poe have come to light in the Library of Congress. They are among the Ellis-Allan papers, a collection of some 442 portfolios and volumes of office books, and letters of an old Richmond, Va., firm. The dates run from 1795 to 1889. John Allan, Poe's foster-father, was a member of the firm. Poe was also employed there in 1827, but doubtless received his sole pay in board and lodgings from Allan.

A letter from Poe's aunt, Eliza Poe, dated Baltimore, February 8, 1813, about two years after he had been taken into the Allan family, is addressed to Mrs. Allan, asking about the welfare of Edgar. A previous letter had met with no response. It should seem that up to that date there had been no intercourse between the two families. Eliza Poe afterwards married Henry Herring. It was her daughter, and Poe's cousin, Elizabeth Herring, to whom Poe made love and wrote verses about the year 1829.

John Allan wrote a letter to Poe's brother, William Henry Poe, dated November 1, 1824, but did not destroy the copy. At that date Poe was fifteen years old, a member of the Junior Morgan Riflemen, and very likely In a copy of a letter to his sister in knew something of the town. In this letter Scotland, Allan wrote under date of March Allan wrote: “I have just seen your letter of the 25th ult, to Edgar, and I am much afflicted that he has not written you. He has had little else to do for me he does nothing & seems quite miserable, sulky & ill-tempered to all the Family — How we have acted to produce this is beyond my conception why I have put up so long with his conduct is little less wonderful. The boy possesses not a spark of affection for us, not a particle of gratitude for all my care and kindness towards him. I have given him a much superior Education than ever I received myself . . . I fear his associates have led him to adopt a line of thinking & acting very contrary to what he possessed when in England.”

Allan seems to have been watchful of Poe's actions, and to have read his letters. Surely, the strife between the two which [column 2:] was to end in Poe's leaving his home some years later had now started. Mrs. Allan was suspicious of her husband, and not without cause. Most likely Poe kept her informed of some of Allan's secret movements. When Poe's mother died in Richmond, Allan took charge of the few family trinkets and a packet of letters. Several of these letters were always supposed to have told the story of a skeleton in the Poe family closet. Allan gave these effects to Poe, but as he was addicted to reading letters, he probably knew the contents of the entire packet. Mrs. Clemm, Poe's mother-in-law, and aunt, later on had possession of several of the letters, which she destroyed just before her death. She spoke of a dark Poe family secret, and left the impression that by her work all knowledge of this was now blotted out. Perhaps Allan wished Poe to feel that he held this family secret. In any event, there also appears in his letter to Poe's brother the following: “At least she [Rosalie Poe] is half your sister, and God forbid dear Henry that we should visit upon the living the errors and frailties of the dead.” Here the secret is evidently told for the first time. Poe's brother pretended to F. W. Thomas that he did not know what had become of his father, but an attorney of the family stated to Thomas that David Poe deserted his family in New York. It now seems a question whether this charge of Allan's was the cause for Poe's alleged desertion.

Poe's brother also stated to F. W. Thomas that the cause for Edgar's leaving Allan was a quarrel about the pittance of money he was receiving. This is now substantiated. Two letters to Allan from George W. Spotswood the University of Virginia are in evidence asking for pay for use of his servant — Poe not having, what other students had, a servant to look after his room. There is also a Charlottesville, Va., tailor bill from Samuel Leitch, which never seems to have been paid. An interesting letter to Poe is one from a friend named Edward G. Crump. It is dated March 25, 1827, and shows that Poe was in financial straits. The letter was evidently received by Ellis & Allan after Poe had left Richmond on his sea voyage. It is addressed to Poe, but endorsed on the back, probably by Allan: “To E. A. Poe, alias Henri Le Rennét.” This gives for the first time the assumed name of Poe for this period, and may lead to other discoveries.

In a copy of a letter to his sister in Scotland, Allan wrote under date of March 27, 1827: “I am thinking Edgar has gone to sea to seek his fortune.” How different this sounds from his letter dated May 6, 1829, to the Secretary of War at Washington, in which he asserted that Poe had Nation of May 2, giving an account of the left him because he refused to pay his gambling debts! All the circumstances indicate that Allan was aware that Poe was on his way to Europe, or had reached there towards the last of March. The mild sentence to his sister would seem to have been in the nature of a query. He was afraid that Poe might head for Scotland and tell her a tale of Allan's misdoings.

This new correspondence is likely to have an important bearing upon the unpublished letters of Poe held by the Valentine Museum of Richmond.

I was told many years ago by the custodian of personal papers of John Allan, [column 3:] that there existed other documents relating to Poe, which he had never taken the time to examine. He declined to hunt them up, and since his death his relatives have also put off an examination. But some day these papers are likely to see the light, and may bring other surprises.

J. H. WHITTY.

Richmond, Va., June 28.