# Is "The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe: No. I. Containing The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Man That Was Used Up" by Edgar Allan Poe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe: No. I. Containing The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Man That Was Used Up by Edgar Allan Poe (William H. Graham, 1843) is identified by: Issued as a paper-wrappered pamphlet by Philadelphia publisher William H. 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Issued 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 magazines that first carried them
- Extraordinarily rare: an estimated 14 copies survive today, five with the title page intact and the rest incomplete, with much of the original stock believed destroyed in an 1845 fire at Graham's Chestnut Street offices
- A known presentation copy, inscribed by Poe to Francis J. Grund, survives at the Library of Congress and served as the basis for a 1968 facsimile
- Publisher imprint reads William H. Graham
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edgar Allan Poe |
| Publisher | William H. Graham |
| Year | 1843 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Issued as a paper-wrappered pamphlet by Philadelphia publisher William H. Graham around July 20, 1843, the earliest known advertisement for… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Issued 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 magazines that first carried them. Extraordinarily rare: an estimated 14 copies survive today, five with the title page intact and the rest incomplete, with much of the original stock believed destroyed in an 1845 fire at Graham's Chestnut Street offices. A known presentation copy, inscribed by Poe to Francis J. Grund, survives at the Library of Congress and served as the basis for a 1968 facsimile.

## Is this the true first?
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.

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

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe: No. I. Containing The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Man That Was Used Up* by Edgar Allan Poe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-prose-romances-of-edgar-a-poe-no-i-containing-the-murder
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.