Edgar Allan Poe First Editions

• Tamerlane and Other Poems — 1827 · Calvin F. S. ThomasFirst edition: a thin pamphlet of 40 pages (collation [i-iv], [5]-40), roughly 6.75 x 4.5 in., in plain printed paper wrappers variously described as tan, drab, or 'tea-colour,' attributed only to 'A Bostonian' (Poe's name nowhere present); imprint of Calvin F. S. Thomas, Boston, 1827. Poe, then eighteen, paid to have it printed by Thomas, himself an eighteen-year-old jobbing printer. The text is the early,…. The 1827 Thomas (Boston) pamphlet is the true first and one of the rarest landmarks in American literature -- for a donor's purposes it is effectively unobtainable, the few copies that reach the market doing so only at major auction. It must not be confused with Poe's 1829 Baltimore book 'Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems' (Hatch & Dunning), a separate, later collection that reprints a revised 'Tamerlane.'. Facsimiles and reprints exist from the 19th century onward -- a typeset facsimile by George Redway (London, 1884), photographic facsimiles (e.g., 1923), the Jacob Schwartz / Ulysses Bookshop facsimile (1931), and the Facsimile Text Society (Columbia University Press, 1941), among others. Any copy not matching the 1827 collation, wrappers, and paper is a facsimile or later reprint, not the 1827 first.
• Poems by Edgar A. Poe: Second Edition — 1831 · Elam BlissIssued in spring (probably April) 1831 by New York publisher Elam Bliss and printed by Henry Mason, the title page calls it 'Second Edition' even though it was actually Poe's third book of verse, following the anonymous 1827 Tamerlane and Other Poems and the 1829 Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (which did carry his name); bibliographers have never established why Poe numbered it 'Second' rather than…. Poe's 1831 poems were not gathered into a standalone volume again until The Raven and Other Poems (Wiley and Putnam, 1845), which reset the type completely, dropped or substantially revised many of the earlier poems, and does not reproduce the small 1831 cloth format or its printing errors, including the page-105/'150' misnumbering.
• Adventures of Gordon Pym (The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket) — 1838 · Harper & BrothersPoe's only novel. US first: Harper & Brothers, New York, July 1838, in original cloth; verify the Harper imprint and the publisher's advertisement catalogue. The US Harper text includes the concluding editorial 'Note' explaining Pym's death and the supposedly lost final chapters. The first English edition (Wiley & Putnam, London, October 1838) is a separate, slightly later issue: it OMITS the final March 22 diary…. US Harper edition (July 1838) is the true first and precedes the London Wiley & Putnam edition (October 1838). The London edition is textually altered, dropping the final diary entry and modifying the preface. Verify by imprint and the presence of the original ending. Later reprints lack the 1838 Harper cloth and ad catalogue. The London issue is distinguished by its cut ending, altered preface, and British spellings, not by an 'added' note.
• Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque — 1840 · Lea and BlanchardFirst edition, two volumes, published by Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, issued in November 1839 though the title pages are dated 1840, Poe's first collected book of short fiction, in a printing generally accepted at 750 copies. Bound in purple muslin, each volume's spine carrying a paper label reading 'TALES / OF THE / GROTESQUE / AND / ARABESQUE / BY / E. A. POE.' A key first-issue point: during printing, the…. Most of the twenty-five tales collected here had already appeared individually in periodicals, chiefly the Southern Literary Messenger during Poe's 1835-1837 tenure there, so this two-volume set is the true first appearance of this particular collection, not the true first publication of the individual stories. Poe's later 1845 Wiley and Putnam collection titled simply Tales draws on some of the same stories but is a distinct, differently selected volume from a different publisher; it should not be confused with this earlier 1839/1840 Lea and Blanchard collection.
• The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe: No. I. Containing The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Man That Was Used Up — 1843 · William H. GrahamIssued as a paper-wrappered pamphlet by Philadelphia publisher William H. Graham around July 20, 1843, the earliest known advertisement for it appearing in the Philadelphia Public Ledger that day; it was intended as the first of a projected uniform series that was never continued, hence its title-page designation 'No. I.' Contains only two tales, both newly typeset for the pamphlet rather than reprinted from the…. Both tales had prior magazine publication: 'The Man That Was Used Up' first appeared in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, August 1839, and 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' first appeared in Graham's Magazine, April 1841. This 1843 Graham pamphlet is therefore the tales' first appearance in separate book/pamphlet format, not the true first publication of either text. The 1968 facsimile edition, based on the Grund presentation copy, is explicitly identified as a modern facsimile and should not be mistaken for an original 1843 Graham pamphlet.
• Tales (1845) — 1845 · Wiley & PutnamVolume in Wiley & Putnam's 'Library of American Books,' New York, 1845, containing 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' 'The Purloined Letter,' 'The Gold-Bug,' 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' and others (BAL 16146; Queen's Quorum 1). Combined run of about 750 copies, issued in tan printed wrappers and in cloth, with NO established priority between wrappered and cloth copies. Two states are recorded, one with and…. US first, 1845, Wiley & Putnam, New York. Both wrappered and cloth states, and both printer/stereotyper states, are first edition with no priority established. Do not assume the wrappered copies precede the cloth. Later Poe collections reprint these tales. The genuine first is the 1845 Wiley & Putnam volume with the three-line copyright notice and 'Library of American Books' half-title; binding state alone does not establish priority.
• The Raven and Other Poems — 1845 · Wiley & PutnamFirst book appearance of 'The Raven,' issued November 19, 1845 in Wiley & Putnam's 'Library of American Books' (No. VIII). The volume was first issued separately in printed pink paper wrappers (the rarest and earliest state); it was also issued, and from early 1846 bound together with Poe's 'Tales' (1845), in publisher's dark green cloth stamped in blind with gilt spine lettering. Earliest copies include the…. US true first, 1845. The original separate issue in pink printed wrappers is the earliest and most fragile state; the cloth-bound form (often combined with 'Tales') followed. The 'London' association reflects only Wiley & Putnam's Waterloo Place address on the imprint, not a separately printed London edition, so no distinct simultaneous London issue should be asserted. Later collected-Poe editions reprint the text; the genuine first is the 1845 Wiley & Putnam 'Library of American Books' issue with pink wrappers (or the correct dark green cloth) and the series and advertisement leaves.
• Eureka: A Prose Poem — 1848 · Geo. P. PutnamFirst edition, issued about July 11, 1848, by 'Geo. P. Putnam, of late firm of "Wiley & Putnam," 155 Broadway,' New York, dated MDCCCXLVIII on the title page. Poe's ambitious cosmological prose-poem, which he hoped would sell tens of thousands of copies but which was printed, by most accounts, in only about 500. Small 12mo, pages [1]-143 plus a rear publisher's catalogue, bound in black cloth of two recorded…. The New York Putnam printing, issued about July 11, 1848, is the true first edition. A London listing under John Chapman's imprint appeared in the Manchester Courier in September 1848, but no copy bearing a separate Chapman imprint has been located, so it likely reflects a distribution arrangement for Putnam-printed sheets rather than an independent London printing. Later reprintings of Eureka appear only within collected editions of Poe's works and are distinguishable by their series bindings and the absence of the original 1848 Putnam rear advertisement catalogue.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edith Wharton, Edna Ferber, Edna Lewis, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Edwidge Danticat.

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