[Poe, Edgar Allan.]

Large 12mo (201 x 128mm.), first English edition, half-title, publisher's brown horizontal-ribgrain cloth, spine gilt-lettered, covers with blindstamped arabesque, yellow-coated endpapers, minor wear and soiling to binding

"W.P.", inscription, 1 December 1853, on front free endpaper; name erased, inscription 18 January 1858

BAL 16201; Heartman and Canny 39-40; NYPL/Gordan 478; Yale/Gimbel 31

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The first of Poe's books to be printed in England. This was also the first of Poe's books to reach a second edition; for although Pym was never very popular in America, the English version was popular enough to be abridged and pirated in 1841.

The text of this edition varies substantially from the American version published three or four months earlier. In the English edition the final paragraph of the story, the climax as found in the American edition, is missing - the description of the mysterious figure that awaited Pym in the Antarctic: "But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow". This, it seems, had simply stretched the credulity of readers too far, and so the English version omitted the passage entirely, moving Pym's death up by one day, and explaining in a seven-line note added to the preface that "the narrative consequently breaks off abruptly in its most important part".