Poe, Edgar Allan

Autograph letter signed ("E. A. Poe"), 1 page (7 7/8 x 10 in; 200 x 254 mm), [Philadelphia, n.d.], postmarked 18 July [1842], to the publishers J. and H. G. Langley in New York, in brown ink, addressed by Poe on verso, postmarks and a docket on verso; tipped to a quarto-size sheet, a little creased, slight marginal nicking and soiling, a minor marginal seal tear, remnant of red sealing wax.

Unnamed consignor (sale, Christie's, 29 May 1998, lot 77)

Letters, ed. J. Ostrom, 1966 edition, pp. 698–99 in supplement; D. Thomas and D. K. Jackson, The Poe Log (Boston, 1987), p. 375 (quoted); Kenneth A. Silverman, Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance (New York, 1992), p. 184 (quoted)

Autograph letter signed ("E. A. Poe"), 1 page (7 7/8 x 10 in; 200 x 254 mm), [Philadelphia, n.d.], postmarked 18 July [1842], to the publishers J. and H. G. Langley in New York, in brown ink, addressed by Poe on verso, postmarks and a docket on verso; tipped to a quarto-size sheet, a little creased, slight marginal nicking and soiling, a minor marginal seal tear, remnant of red sealing wax.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Poe, "desperately  pushed for money," apologizes for his drunken behavior. "On a trip to New York in June 1842 [circa 24 June], a few months after [his young wife] Sissy's first hemorrhage, Poe drank himself into an alcoholic amnesia. He went to the city [from Philadelphia] looking for work, and also hoping to get a new collection of his tales into print. He ended up giving a magazine publisher [the Langleys ] a review lacking half a page of the opening, and otherwise acted strangely enough to make him think the publisher must have formed  'a queer idea of me.' As he usually did, he explained that others had induced or forced him to drink ..." (Silverman, Edgar A. Poe, p. 184, quoting from this letter).

Here Poe submits an article to the Langleys (publishers of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review) and apologizes for his drunkenness: "Enclosed I have the honor to send you an article which I should be pleased if you would except for the 'Democratic Review.' I am desperately pushed for money; and, in the event Mr. [John L.] O'Sullivan's liking the 'Landscape-Garden' [the submitted article], I would take it as an especial favor if you could mail me the amount due for it, so as to reach me here by the 21^st, on which day I need it ... If you accept the paper I presume you will allow me your usual sum, whatever that is for similar contributions — but I set no price — leaving all to your own liberality ..."

"Will you be so kind enough to put the best possible interpretation upon my behavior while in N-York? You must have conceived a queer idea of me — but the simple truth is that [William Ross] Wallace [a young New York poet] would insist upon the juleps, and I knew not what I was either doing or saying. The Review of [the poetry of Rufus Dawes] which I offered you was deficient in a 1/2 page of commencement, which I had written to supersede the old beginning, and which gave the article the character of a general & retrospective review. No wonder you did not take it — I should have been very much mortified if you had. [Poe's 'The Poetry of Rufus Dawes. A Retrospective Criticism' appeared in the October 1842 issue of Graham's Magazine.]  I hope to see you at some future time, under better auspices ... Should the M.S. not be accepted, please return it as soon as possible, by mail, enveloped as now." The Langleys did return "The Landscape Garden" to Poe, but he was able to place it with The Ladies' Companion, where it was published in the October 1842 number. The United States Magazine and Democratic Review later took several contributions from Poe (in the years 1844–48).

A rare Poe letter, with fine content.