Poe, Edgar Allan | The earliest Poe manuscripts still in private hands

Poe, Edgar Allan

Autograph manuscript of two poems, "In an Album To ——" [a revision of “Song” from 1827]. [And:] "In an Album To the River," Baltimore, circa 1828 or 1829

2 pages, 4to (202 x 164mm). Paginated "31" and "32" by the author at upper corners, the second poem with his addendum "4 lines omitted see last page" (not present and now lost); a few unobtrusive mends and some very light spotting. Orange morocco gilt case.

Poe prepares works for his second book, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.

From the now dispersed and largely lost Wilmer Manuscript—the earliest Poe manuscripts still in private hands.

In preparation for the December, 1829 publication of Al Aaraaf… Poe made fair copies of some of the poems from his neglected 1827 first publication, Tamerlane, revising the earlier versions of the poems including "Song" (now titled "To——" and on verso of the present leaf), "Dreams," "Spirits of the Dead," "The Lake," and "To ——" ("Should my early life seem," completely rewritten from the original titled “Imitation”). He also composed two new poems, "To the River" (on the recto of the present), and "To M—" ("I heed not"). These were issued in Al Aaraaf with minor variants from the present manuscript.

The new poem "To the River" was a popular success, appearing in the Gentleman's Magazine (1829), the Saturday Museum (1843), and the Broadway Journal (1845). It was also one of those collected for The Raven and Other Poems (New York 1845).

Critic, journalist, and author Lambert Wilmer began his decade-long friendship with Poe in Baltimore. It was either Wilmer, or perhaps William Gwynn, who penned a positive review of Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems in a Boston newspaper (see Thomas and Jackson, p. 101). That it was Wilmer who gave praise might explain how he came into the possession of the manuscripts—Poe either gave them to him in response to a good review or as a token of their relationship. Or perhaps Wilmer saved them from being discarded after the type was set for publication.

In any case, most of the Al Aaraaf manuscript remained in the possession of Wilmer's heirs in 1894-1895, when it was used by Stedman and Woodberry in preparation for their famed collection of Poe's works. Unfortunately, the pages began being dispersed as gifts, or sold to autograph collectors, shortly afterwards. All that remains from what Stedman and Woodberry recorded is as follows:

1) "Tamerlane," 10pp., later in the Stephen Wakeman Collection and now in the Pierpont Morgan Library;

2) A leaf containing the poems "Dreams" and "The Lake," also at the Morgan Library;

3) A leaf (pp.35 & 36) containing lines 4 to 41 of the poem "Spirits of the Dead," later in the H. Bradley Martin Collection, now in the Tane Collection (see Nevermore: The Edgar Allan Poe Collection of Susan Jaffe Tane, plate 1);

4) The present 2pp.

PROVENANC:

Lambert A. Wilmer, obtained from Poe or the printer in 1829 — Bishop John Fletcher Hurst (sale, Anderson Galleries, 20 March 1905, lot 3481 — Oliver Barrett of Chicago — John F. Fleming, New York (sold to William Self) — Dr. Rodney P. Swantko, purchased at the auction of William E. Self, Christie’s, New York, 4 December 2009, lot 154 (realized $362,500)