# Is "Poems by Edgar A. Poe: Second Edition" by Edgar Allan Poe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems by Edgar A. Poe: Second Edition by Edgar Allan Poe (Elam Bliss, 1831) is identified by: Issued 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 'Third.' Small duodecimo of pages [1]-124, more than twenty of them blank, issued in cloth recorded as olive-green or tan, with gray and black cloth copies also noted by bibliographers.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Issued 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 'Third.' Small duodecimo of pages [1]-124, more than twenty of them blank, issued in cloth recorded as olive-green or tan, with gray and black cloth copies also noted by bibliographers
- Two textual states are recorded: state 'A' has 'THE END' printed at the bottom of page 124, absent in state 'B.' Further first-edition points include the poem title misprinted as 'Al Araaf' on page 83, a footnote on page 88 that omits the chapter-and-verse citation for its scriptural quotation, and page 105 misnumbered as page '150.' The dedication reads 'To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated.'
- Publisher imprint reads Elam Bliss
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edgar Allan Poe |
| Publisher | Elam Bliss |
| Year | 1831 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Issued in spring (probably April) 1831 by New York publisher Elam Bliss and printed by Henry Mason, the title page calls it 'Second… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Issued 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 'Third.' Small duodecimo of pages [1]-124, more than twenty of them blank, issued in cloth recorded as olive-green or tan, with gray and black cloth copies also noted by bibliographers. Two textual states are recorded: state 'A' has 'THE END' printed at the bottom of page 124, absent in state 'B.' Further first-edition points include the poem title misprinted as 'Al Araaf' on page 83, a footnote on page 88 that omits the chapter-and-verse citation for its scriptural quotation, and page 105 misnumbered as page '150.' The dedication reads 'To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated.'

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems by Edgar A. Poe: Second Edition* by Edgar Allan Poe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-by-edgar-a-poe-second-edition
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.