The Museum Collection

Script for Veroni (Play Featuring Edgar Allan Poe's Mother)

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Creator:
Date:	1809
Format:	Script
Dimensions:
Source:	Gift of John W. Robertson
Collection:	Poe Foundation, Inc.
Publisher:
Place of Publication:	New York
Publish Date:	1809

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Description:

Edgar Allan Poe's mother, Eliza Poe, played the part of Veronica in this November 1809 performance of M.G. Lewis's Veroni: Or the Novice of St. Mark's. Eliza had already appeared in Lewis's play The Castle Spectre. Today Lewis is best known for his gothic horror novel The Monk.

Eliza Poe's husband, David Poe, had made his last known stage appearance about a month earlier and is believed to have abandoned her soon thereafter. At this point, Eliza became the sole source of support for her two sons, Henry and Edgar. About a year later, in 1810, she would give birth to a daughter, Rosalie. Poe's foster father, John Allan, and Allan's business partner, Charles Ellis, were among those who believed that David Poe was not Rosalie's father.