Text-01 — “The Spectacles” — early 1844, no original manuscript or fragments are known
to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text-02) (see also the surviving manuscript of the revised form, as Text-03)
Text-03 — “The Spectacles” — March or April 1844
— “Horne” manuscript — (Mabbott text B) (This manuscript was formerly in the collection of William
Koester, and is curently in the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.) (Poe may have written out a full new
manuscript for two reasons. He might have done so because he wished to make so many small changes throughout the text, and marking
the printed text would be confusing. Alternatively, he might have preferred not to draw attention to the fact that it was just
recently printed in the Dollar Newspaper, particularly because he was asking Horne to seek out an English publisher. Horne
did not find a publisher for the story, and he did not return the manuscript to Poe. This text, accordingly, was not printed during
Poe's lifetime, and most of the changes were abortive, presumably because Poe did not retain a copy. Poe returned to the
earlier text in printing the tale in the Broadway Journal, with relatively minor revisions.)
Text-04 — “The Spectacles” — 1844-1845 — (speculated copy of the Dollar
Newspaper with revisions by Poe, probably in preparation for the reprinting in the Broadway Journal. This copy has not
survived, but is presumably reflected in text-05. Changes are minor enough that they might have been made in proof in setting the
Broadway Journal text.)
Text-05 — “The Spectacles” — November 22, 1845
— Broadway Journal — (Mabbott text C) (For Griswold's 1850 reprinting of this text, see the entry below, under reprints.)
Reprints:
“The Spectacles” — May 3, 1845 — British reprint in Lloyd's Entertaining
Journal
“The Spectacles” — 1850 — WORKS
— Griswold reprints Text-05 (Mabbott text D) (This is Mabbott's copy-text) (The differences are mostly
in matters of italics and accents, which are probably more editorial than authorial.)
“The Spectacles” — August 27, 1850 — Examiner (Richmond, VA)
“The Spectacles; or, Love at First Sight” — 1852 — Tales of Mystery and Imagination
and Humour; and Poems, London: Henry Vizetelly (An undated edition appears about the same time, published by Charles H. Clark
and Samuel Orchart Beeton, and their name appears as publisher for the second series), second series pp. 66-93. (with 2 woodcut
illustrations) (Apparently, some British editor thought that the tale benefitted from the addition of a subtitle, although it
appears only in the running page headers.)
“The Spectacles” — 1855 — Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Halifax: Milner and
Sowerby, pp. 284-312
“The Spectacles” — 1867 — Prose Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, second series (New
York: W. J. Widdleton), pp. 26-50 (This collection is extracted from the 1850-1856 edition of Poe's Works. It was
reprinted several times.)
“The Spectacles” — 1874 — Works
of Edgar A. Poe, edited by J. H. Ingram (vol. II, pp. 234-260) (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)
Scholarly and Noteworthy Reprints:
“The Spectacles” — 1894-1895 —
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (3:256-288)
“The Spectacles” — 1902 — The
Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 5: Tales IV, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (5:177-209, and 5:324-325)
“The Spectacles” — 1978 — The
Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales & Sketches II, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press (3:883-919)
“The Spectacles” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, ed. Patrick F. Quinn
(New York: Library of America), pp. 618-642
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Comparative and Study Texts:
Instream Comparative and Study Texts:
“The Spectacles” — Comparative Text (Dollar
Newspaper and Horne MS)
“The Spectacles” — Comparative Text (Dollar Newspaper and BJ)
“Les lunettes” — 1862 — Contes inedts d‘Edgar Poe, Paris: J. Hetzel, pp.
165-209 (French translation by William L. Hughes)
“[The Spectacles]” — 1881 — Underliga historier (Stockholm) (Swedish
translation, noted by Anderson, p. 54)
“Les lunettes” — 1934 — Les Sphinx et autres contes bizarres par Edgar Poë,
Paris: Galliard (French translation by Maurice Sachs)
“Les lunettes” — 1950 — Histories grotesques et sérieuse par
Edgar Poe, Paris: Classiques Garnier (French translation by Léon Lemonnier)
Forgeries:
“The Spectacles” — supposedly 1830 — source uncertain, claiming to have been published
by Carey & Lea in Philadelphia. (This text was printed in Liberty magazine for September 24, 1938 and was reprinted as a
pamphlet by Richard Gimbel in 1938. It is certainly a modern fake, see Savoye. The text appears to have been taken from a reprint of
the story in Godey's Lady's Book for April 1836.)
“The Spectacles” — supposedly 1842 — source uncertain, claiming to have been published
by Carey & Lea in Philadelphia. (This item is currently in the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, which
acknowledges it as certainly a modern fake, see Savoye. The text is identical to the other fake, noted above.)
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Bibliography:
Anderson, Carl L., Poe in Northlight: The Scandanavian Response to His Life and Work, Durham, NC: Duke
University Press, 1973.
Hayes, Kevin, Poe's ‘Spectacles’ and the Camera Lens, Baltimore: Edgar Allan Poe
Society, 2007
Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan
Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
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.
Moldenhauer, Joseph, “Poe's ‘The Spectacles’: A New Text from Manuscript Edited, with
Textual Commentary and Notes,” Studies in the American Renaissance, 1977, ed. Joel Myerson, Boston: Twayne, 1978, pp.
179-234.
Mooney, Stephen L., “The Comic in Poe's Fiction,” American Literature, January 1962,
33:433-441.
Pollin, Burton R., “ ‘The Spectacles’ of Poe — Sources and Significance,”
American Literature, 1965, 37:187-190
Salzberg, Joel, “Preposition and Peaming in Poe's ‘The Specatcles’,” Poe
Newsletter, June 1970, 3:21
Savoye, Jeffrey A., “Focusing on a Pair of False ‘Spectacles’,” Edgar Allan Poe
Review, Spring 2009, vol. X, no. 1, pp. 98-102
Varner, Cornelia, “Notes on Poe's Use of Contemporary Materials in Certain of his Stories,”
Journal of English and Germanic Philology, January 1933, 32:77-80.
Wyllie, John Cooke, “A List of the Texts of Poe's Tales,” Humanistic Studies in Honor of
John Calvin Metcalf, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1941, pp. 322-338.
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[S:0 - JAS] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Tales - The Spectacles