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THE LITERATI
The “Literati of New York City” Poe probably planned as a result of his attendance at the salons of Miss Anne Charlotte Lynch in 1845. There, for the first time in his life he often mingled in the society of a great many other writers. Mrs. Whitman says Poe was also a frequent visitor at the house of the Hon. John R. Bartlett, who received “intellectual society” informally.
The sketches, however, are foreshadowed in the earlier “Autography” papers, although done on a larger scale; and from a letter of April 28, 1846, to Dyckinck it appears that Poe wished to give facsimiles of the subjects’ autographs with his discussions. Indeed, when the opening instalment of May was reprinted in the June number, the signatures of the first seven authors were given.
On April 16, Poe wrote Phillip Pendleton Cooke that he was writing a series for Godey on “The N. Y. City Literati” that “will run through the year;” apparently he received $5 a printed page. That he hoped to have them ready to include in a book, “The Living Literati of the U. S.,” in December is also mentioned in the letter.(1) [page vii:]
Thirty-eight sketches of the Literati appears in Godey's Lady's Book for May through October, 1846.(2)
Griswold said that he collected them “in the same order” (actually he changed the place of one — Dr. English being placed after Miss Lynch) in the third volume of Poe's Works, issued in 1850. In thirty three cases he followed the Godey texts, but he substituted for Mrs. Osgood the review Poe printed of her poems in the Southern Literary Messenger of August 1849, and gave four new sketches (Briggs, Dr. English, Mrs. Hewitt, and Lawson) from MSS, of which the second and fourth survive.
In the present edition both the Godey and Griswold texts are collected (save insofar as the later Osgood paper is given in its place among the criticisms) and two more later MS versions which Griswold had but did not use (Cary and Osborn) are taken into account. Finally a paper on Mrs. Lewis headed as one of the Literati papers in the Democratic Review, October 1848, has been inserted; as os a brief sketch of Mrs. Ellet, first published by Griswold, and obviously intended by Poe for the series. There is now no doubt about the authenticity of the Griswold texts, save that a brief interpolation is suspected in the paper on Briggs.(3)
Poe said the names were taken “at random.” Here an alphabetical order is adopted. [[Mabbott's notes are not in alphabetical order — JAS.]] The original order was as given in the table of contents. [page viii:]
From Poe's letters to Duyckinck, January 30 and April 28, 1846, may be listed 38 more worthies considered for inclusion among the Literati:
1 Arthur ? Brisbane *
2 W. C. Brownlee
3 Ellery Channing
4 Cooley *
5 Deming *
6 Orville Dewey
7 Theodore S. Fay
8 Albert Gallatin
9 Parke Godwin
10 Mrs. Godwin *
11 Horace Greeley
12 Harro Harring
13 J. T. Headley
14 H. W. Herbert (“Frank Forrester”)
15 John Inman
16 Theodore Irving
17 W. A. Jones
18 James Kent
19 Charles King
20 Tayler Lewis
21 J. H. Mancur *
22 Edward Maturin
23 G. P. Morris
24 John L. O'Sullivan
25 James K. Paulding
26 H. J. Raymond
27 Prof. Edward Robinson
28 John O. Sargant
29 Henry R. Schoolcraft
30 Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith
31 Seba Smith
32 Gardner Spring
33 John Stephens
34 Count L. Fitzgerald Tasistro *
35 Tellkampf *
36 Henry T. Tuckerman
37 J. Willis
38 Thomas Ward (“Flaccus”)
[[Here, Mabbott adds a note “Literary — Proofsheet. See Whitty page lvi. A curious problem.” This note presumably refers to the item on Henry B. Hirst, from a manuscript which Whitty mentions on that page. The problem would be that Hirst was a resident of Philadelphia and not New York. The meaning of the asterisks in this list is not defined. — JAS]]
A curious little document concerning the Literati papers has reached us. It is a fragment of a letter to “Louis A. Godey, Esq., Philadelphia,” docketed as from “W. Patton, of 72 Main Street, Brooklyn,” and postmarked in May, exact date illegible. It reads:
P. S. — I would respectfully suggest to Mr. Poe not to suffer Mr. Finikin of the Knickerboeck to escape his notice, in his gallery of the N. Y. Literati. W. P.
Nothing of Finikin seems to be remembered today. The MS is now in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[[As a note, “Finikin” appears as a word in Bolle's 1845 dictionary, meaning something small or slight, and overly nice. Here it may be an intentionally obscured and pejorative reference to L. G. Clark. (Fininkin as a word or name does not appear in the Knickerbocker for 1845 or 1846 — JAS]]
Text
Poe's texts are set up from photocopy of the original printings Emendation is kept to a minium, although two or three bad misprints are corrected.
Commentary
The commentary is based on two independent collections of notes — one was made over the years by the senior editor; the other by Professor James B. Reece, for use in his doctoral dissertation at Duke University, 1954.
The commentary is as complete as possible for matters referred to by Poe, but is otherwise highly selective. Rather less is given for persons adequately treated in the Dictionary of American Biography, or in separate books, than for others.
Our debt to the D. A. B. is great and should be gratefully recorded — especially since two or three of the lives mentioned are described as inadequate. We are also much indebted to the card index of the Old American periodicals at New York University, from which Professor Nelson Adkins has sent dozens of items; and also to the index of Annuals compiled by Professor A. Booth at the University of California at Los Angeles. [page xi:]
Of the Literati papers Poe wrote Eveleth, December 15, 1846:
Do not trust, in making up your library, to the “opinions” in the Godey series. I meant “honest” — but my meaning is not as fully made out as I could wish. I thought too little of the series myself to guard sufficiently against haste, inaccuracy, or prejudice. The book will be true — according to the best of my abilities. [page xii:]
The following notices are extracted from Godey's “Editors’ Book Table.”
The first number of our union is presented to the readers of Godey's Lady's Book and Arthur's Magazine. The union combines all the great contributors to both publications. Mr. Arthur, it will be seen, contributes to this number; and Mr. E. A. Poe commences No. 1 of the New York Literati. We are much mistaken if these papers of Mr. P. do not raise some commotion in the literary emporium. (May 1846, p. 240)
The Authors and Mr. Poe. — We have received several letters from New York, anonymous, and from personal friends, requesting us to be careful what we allow Mr. Poe to say of the New York authors, many of whom are our personal friends. We reply to one and all that we have nothing to do but publish Mr. Poe's opinion, not our own. Whether we agree with Mr. Poe or not is another matter. We are not to be intimidated by a threat of the loss of friends, or turned from our purpose by honeyed words. Our course is onward. The May edition was exhausted before the first of May, and we have had orders for hundreds from Boston and New York, which we could not supply. The first number of the series (with autographs) is republished in this number, which also contains No. 2. The usual quantity of reading matter is given in addition to the notices.
Many attempts have been made and are making various persons to forestall public opinion. We have the name of one person. Others are busy with reports of Mr. Poe's illness. Mr. Poe has been ill, but we have letters from him of very recent dates; also a new batch of the Literati, which show anything but feebleness either of body or mind. Almost every paper that we exchange with has praised our new enterprise — the Union — and spoken in high terms of No. 1 of Mr. Poe's opinions. (June 1846, p. 288)
We have been forced to reprint No. 1 of Poe's Literary Opinions. The demand for the May number we could not supply by some hundreds of copies. It will be found in this number. (June 1846, p. 288) [page xiii:]
We hear of some complaints having been made by those writers who have already been noticed by Mr. Poe. Some of the ladies have suggested that the publisher has something to do with them. This we positively deny, and we as positively assert, that they are published as written by Mr. Poe, without any alteration or suggestion from us. (September 1846, p. 144)
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page vi:]
1. What is now available of the little ever done on this projected book appears below at page oxo.
2. The May number of Godey's magazine came out about April 15; Poe must have been at work on his series in March or earlier.
3. The quarrels following upon the papers about Briggs and English are dealt with in an Appendix, page oxo.
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Notes:
The original page notations of oxo were used as place holders since the actual page numbers could not be determined until the text was fully formatted for printing. In Mabbott's notes, the only title for this section is “The Literari.” In the current presentation, the designation “Editorial Introduction” has been adopted to differentiate it from Poe's own introduction to the series.
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[S:0 - TOM4L, 2026] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Editions - The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (T. O. Mabbott) (Editorial Introduction)