The Museum Collection

Book Autographed by Edgar Allan Poe for Lousia Ann Lynch

ID #:	77.44.1
Creator:	Autograph of Edgar Allan Poe
Date:	ca.1836
Format:	Book
Dimensions:
Source:	Presented by the estate of Mary Elizabeth Morton
Collection:	Poe Foundation, Inc.
Publisher:	Whittaker and Co.
Place of Publication:	London
Publish Date:	1836

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Description:

Edgar Allan Poe presented this copy of The New Gift and Juvenile Souvenir for 1836 to Louisa Anna Lynch. He inscribed the book "To/ Miss Louisa Ann Lynch/ with the compliments of her/ sincere friend/ Edgar A. Poe." Because the book is meant for a "juvenile" reader, we can infer the recipient was young, possibly the daughter of a friend. Poe would have been living in Richmond and working for the Southern Literary Messenger from 1835 until early 1837.

Louisa Ann Lynch should not be confused with Anna Charlotte Lynch, who hosted a popular literary salon Poe attended regularly during his time in New York.

This book was presented, along with Louisa Ann Lynch's autograph album and a photograph of the Lynch home in Richmond, by the estate of Mary Elizabeth Morton by W.C. Chewing, executor, Richmond, Virginia on November 6, 1979.