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Author: zakyoung

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The Poe Museum Blog

Poe’s Actress Mother-Part One

“For my little son Edgar, who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, and where his mother found her best and most sympathetic friends.”

This line was written on a watercolor painting of Boston, painted by Eliza Poe in 1808, which was gifted to Edgar on her deathbed (Poe Boston). Although Edgar was not able to know his mother extensively, and despite his mother dying when he was just the age of two, he gathered information from relatives and friends who knew Eliza, and felt she was very much a part of him. To Edgar, his mother was an esteemed actress, who he was proud of and stated in his Broadway Journal, “The writer of this article is himself the son of an actress – has invariably made it his boast – and no earl was ever prouder of his earldom than he of his descent from a woman who, although well-born, hesitated not to consecrate to the drama her brief career of genius and of beauty” (EAPoe).

But who was Edgar’s mother? Who was this woman who most likely inspired her son with his writing and instilled a kind, gentle and empathetic character in him?

Elizabeth Arnold

Elizabeth Arnold, born in England, sailed to America with her mother in 1796 at the age of nine. Her mother, also Elizabeth Arnold, an actress, had been given an opportunity to perform in Boston under Charles Powell at the Federal Street Theater. Powell, suddenly out of a job, abandoned the elder Elizabeth and her young daughter, along with their pianist, Charles Tubbs, and left them in the new and unknown city of Boston. They, fortunately, were able to find work at the Federal Street Theater, hired almost immediately into a prestigious group. It is here that young “Eliza” made her first appearance in theater, singing “The Market Lass.” Thus began young Eliza’s apprenticeship, according to Geddeth Smith (15-20).

Federal Street Theatre

After the season closed, Eliza and her mother performed a week later in the theater’s ballroom, with Eliza singing “The Market Lass” and adding “Henry’s Cottage Maid.” Young Eliza was a success among the theater goers, and she was proclaimed an actress. In order to advance her daughter’s career, Elizabeth took her and Mr. Tubbs, now their manager, to Portsmouth. Upon arriving, they performed in a concert on August 3, and that September, Mrs. Arnold arranged to put on a production. By November, young Eliza impressively played twelve different roles. In the meantime, her mother had begun planning to build her own theater, and the three set off for Portland, Maine. After a successful period there, and Mrs. Arnold now married to Mr. Tubbs, the trio set back for Portsmouth, where they reunited with Joseph Harper and opened in the “Assembly Room” on February 1, 1797. Eliza played every night that their Assembly Room was opened. Her notable roles included Little Pickle from The Spoiled Child and Prince Edward in Margaret of Anjou (20-31).

A year after her debut, now ten years old, Eliza had performed successfully in a plethora of roles and was working under the direction of Louisa Fontenelle Williamson, who had taken Eliza’s role as Little Pickle, while Eliza performed as Little Pickle’s sister. Williamson had been praised by Robert Merry and Robert Burns, who wrote several poems for her, so Eliza was under someone with great influence. Despite her previous success as Little Pickle, Eliza considered it an honor working under Williamson, and she received a good amount of her training this way (33).

Leaving Hartford, where Eliza had worked with Williamson, Eliza and her parents moved to Charleston, South Carolina. She was met with disappointment; however, because Sollee, the gentleman who had been leading the group of actors from city to city during this time, chose another actress over Eliza to play the role of Little Pickle. Eliza did not debut in Charleston until a week later singing “The Market Lass.” Her last appearance with Sollee’s group was as Julia in Henry Siddon’s The Sicilian Romance.

A bitter dispute had occurred between Eliza’s step-father who claimed he, his wife, and Eliza were not being paid enough for their performances, among other dissatisfactions. Sollee eventually gave under pressure. That and other circumstances forced him to resign; and he handed the company over to three of his trusted actors.

Eliza and her parents, after a brief string of performances in Wilmington, North Carolina, returned to join the “Charleston Comedians”, which had been formed by the former actors and actresses who had rebelled and left Sollee’s company. The leader of this group was an Edgar, who cast Eliza in significant roles and most likely later inspired the name of her second son.  Now eleven years old, Eliza ended the season just before May, by performing alongside her mother in Rosina. According to Geddeth Smith, Eliza’s biographer, “She had stepped squarely into the professional world” (38-42).

Elizabeth Arnold Portrait, owned by the Harry Ransom Center

In 1798, eleven-year old Eliza and her parents set out for Richmond to find acting roles. By mid-July, however, in Halifax, North Carolina, Eliza’s mother had fallen ill. Elizabeth’s last recorded performance was Maria in The Citizen. That summer, Eliza lost her mother to what is believed to be a yellow-fever and came under the supervision of her step-father, Charles Tubbs, who was described as being temperamental (43-44).

In 1798, Eliza made her debut in Richmond, and it is said, “Eliza was able to find a place for herself very quickly in the Virginia Company’s repertory,” based on the guidance her mother had given her. Eliza soon landed what is said to be the most important opportunity yet to have come her way (45-46).

By 1799, the yellow-fever epidemic had subsided and Thomas Wignell, manager of the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, had noticed Eliza’s expertise as a young actress. Geddeth explains she had a repertoire of twenty-five parts and would prove to be an asset to Wignell, who hired her immediately. She now was playing with one of the most prestigious companies in the country, marking her independence from Tubbs.

Chestnut Street Theatre

In January 1799, Eliza arrived in Philadelphia, what was often called the “Athens of America” (47-49). She did not debut in Wignell’s company until March 18, however, when she played as Biddy Belair in Miss in Her Teens. This required Eliza to perform as a comedienne rather than a singing actress, however she took on the role of a sixteen-year old character swimmingly (49-50). At this time, Eliza was now completely on her own, having left Tubbs behind and with her mother deceased. Wignell took care of her, however, and guided her as an actress, offering for her to return for the following season in his company, which she accepted (51).

According to Geddeth,

When Eliza began her second season at the Chestnut Street Theatre, she was barely thirteen, and she was beginning to blossom into a very beautiful young woman with delicate features, abundant curling hair, and large, brown, glowing eyes. Her figure was small and graceful, as it was to remain for the rest of her life, and this was to prove an advantage for her, because it meant that she could continue to play children’s parts while she was growing into an ingénue and young leading lady (51-52).

During the middle of Eliza’s second season with the company, a young man, named Charles Hopkins, joined the company and would soon debut onstage. Hopkins played one of the most famous comedic roles, Tony Lumpkin in She Stoops to Conquer, and was very successful. He and Eliza soon began performing in productions together and the troop traveled to Washington in the summer of 1800. Their opening night was August 22, where they performed Thomas Otway’s tragedy Venice Preserved, in an historic event, the opening of Washington’s first theatre. Following the performance in the tragedy, Eliza again played the lead role of Little Pickle. The season ended in mid-September and the company returned to Philadelphia (52-54).

Eliza and Charles grew extremely fond of one another, frequently working beside each other in complimentary roles. Their company moved to Baltimore from late April to early June (55). Growing tired of feeling restricted with his current company, Charles accepted an offer with the Virginia Company for the 1801-2 season, which meant that he and Eliza would be separated. Charles left for Virginia and Eliza left for Philadelphia, in low spirits. The couple were separated for over a year until Eliza decided to leave her current group; and after four seasons of performing for Wignell, she joined Charles that summer in Virginia (57-58).

Southwark Theatre

Before joining Charles, Eliza performed briefly for Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia, which comprised of a majority of her fellow actors from the Chestnut Street Theatre (59). Due to a reported break out of yellow fever, Eliza immediately left immediately after two weeks of performing and joined Charles in Alexandria, Virginia. Eliza almost immediately married Charles; fifteen-year-old Eliza had become Mrs. Hopkins (59).

Follow Eliza’s adventure with her first husband, discover her second, and well known husband, and, finally, read about her three children, particularly Edgar, in the next installment! Meanwhile, you can visit the following links to learn more about Eliza Poe from the Poe Museum:
http://www.poemuseum.org/blog/a-tour-of-poe-sites-in-boston-and-providence/
http://www.poemuseum.org/blog/poes-mother-visits-unhappy-hour/
http://www.poemuseum.org/blog/poe-museum-acquires-documents-related-to-poes-parents/
http://www.poemuseum.org/blog/two-new-paintings-of-eliza-poe/
http://www.poemuseum.org/blog/bicentennial-of-poes-mothers-death-commemorated-at-poe-museum/
http://www.poemuseum.org/blog/new-exhibit-reveals-untold-story-of-poes-mother/
http://www.poemuseum.org/blog/debbie-phillips-as-eliza-poe/

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Poe’s Final Mystery Remains Unsolved

Coffin placed in the Poe Shrine, Richmond on the anniversary of Poe's funeral

Edgar Allan Poe is so famous he shows up almost everywhere. Whether it’s a Beatles album cover, an episode of South Park, or on the side of Raven Beer bottle; his face is so familiar, many people likely think they know him. Especially around this time of year, students across the country are learning about Poe’s life and work. So how is it that we still know so little about someone this famous? Maybe it began with his death.

This October 7 marked the 165th anniversary of the death of Edgar Allan Poe. After all these years scholars are still debating what caused his untimely demise at the age of forty. In fact, there are dozens of published theories, and the number continues to grow. Why the mystery? In today’s age of modern medicine, it is difficult to understand how little doctors in Poe’s time knew about internal medicine. Many diseases that medicine has since controlled were still unidentified or misunderstood. Poe died in Washington College Hospital where his attending physician John Moran paid close attention to the author’s condition, but Poe still died after four days in his care. According to the below record of 1849 Baltimore deaths, Poe’s cause of death is listed as “Phrenitis.” On this list, the date, name, and age are correct, but Poe’s occupation is incorrectly listed as “Physician” by whoever transcribed the information. (We are grateful to Sabrina Ricketts for finding and providing the Poe Museum a scan of this document.)

Phrenitis is an archaic medical term that means inflammation of the brain. The term was later replaced with the word delirium, and the symptoms are now most commonly associated with meningitis or encephalitis. The cause of these conditions may be attributable to a variety of different viral and bacterial sources. This means scholars are still not much closer to unraveling the mystery of Poe’s death.

Knowing what happened to Poe in the days immediately preceding his admission to the hospital might help determine the cause of his condition, but that information is also missing. We know that Poe had survived a bout of cholera in the summer of 1849 and that he was ill during his time in Richmond between July and September. On September 26, he visited his fiancée Elmira Shelton who later recalled, “He was very sad, and complained of being quite sick; I felt his pulse, and found he had considerable fever, and did not think it probable that he would be able to start the next morning, (Thursday) as he anticipated.”

Poe left Richmond on the morning of September 27 on a trip to Philadelphia, but his whereabouts are unknown until he was found in a Baltimore polling place on October 3. He was already very ill and was asked if he knew anyone who could help him, so he called for magazine editor Joseph Snodgrass.

Poe was delirious and unable to tell what had happened to him or why he seemed to be dressed in someone else’s clothes. That’s right–he appeared to be dressed in ill-fitting clothes that looked nothing like his usual mode of dress, so some people speculated he may have been beaten and robbed of his clothing. When he entered the bar-room of the tavern in which the voting was taking place, Snodgrass recounted he “instantly recognized the face of one whom I had often seen and knew well, although it wore an aspect of vacant stupidity which made me shudder…But perhaps I would not have so readily recognized him had I not been notified of his apparel. His hat — or rather the hat of somebody else, for he had evidently been robbed of his clothing, or cheated in exchange — was a cheap palm leaf one, without a band, and soiled; his coat, of commonest alpaca, and evidently “second hand”; and his pants of gray-mixed cassimere, dingy and badly fitting. He wore neither vest nor neckcloth, if I remember aright, while his shirt was badly crumpled and soiled. He was so utterly stupefied with liquor that I thought it best not to seek recognition or conversation…So insensible was he, that we had to carry him to the carriage as if a corpse. The muscles of articulation seemed paralyzed to speechlessness, and mere incoherent mutterings were all that were heard.”

After Poe’s death, Snodgrass clipped the small lock of Poe’s hair now in the collection of the Poe Museum. Snodgrass also wrote lectures and articles about Poe’s death to promote his agenda to ban alcohol in America.

At the same time, Poe’s attending physician wrote articles and a book contradicting Snodgrass’s account. If Snodgrass’s retellings were distorted in order to portray Poe as a hopeless drunk, Moran’s were skewed in order to show the poet as a perfect saint.

Both versions grew more colorful with each retelling. As just one example, we can cite Moran’s recollection of Poe’s last words. In a November 1849 letter, Moran said they were “Lord, help my poor soul.” In an 1875 article, Moran said they were “Self-murderer, there is a gulf beyond the stream Where is the buoy, lifeboat, ship of fire, sea of brass. Test, shore no more!” In his 1885 book, A Defense of Edgar Allan Poe, Moran recorded them as, “He who arched the heavens and upholds the universe, has His decrees legibly written upon the frontlet of every human being, and upon demons incarnate.”

If these accounts did not do enough to spread confusion about Poe’s death, Poe’s rival Rufus Griswold attempted to defame Poe’s character in a scathing obituary and memoir of the author. Griswold’s obituary begins, “…This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it.” His memoir of Poe became the first widely distributed biography of Poe but was so riddled with distortions and fabrications that some of those who had known Poe felt the need to come to the poet’s defense. Among these were John Moran and Poe’s fiancée Sarah Helen Whitman.

We will probably never know the exact cause of Poe’s death, but scholars will continue to try to solve Poe’s last mystery. If you would like to propose your own theory, you can read more about Poe’s death and submit your ideas here.

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Poe as a Popularizer of Nineteenth-Century Sceince

Sir Isaac Newton Working on Geometric Problem – 1795 Ink and Water Color by William Blake (Public Domain Image from www.blake.archive)

Poe as a Popularizer of Nineteenth-Century Science

Several important modern-day science historians have conceded that their present understanding of how Industrial Age technologies affected society is limited, and some have started to focus their research on this period. Bernard Lightman argues “Scholars have barely scratched the surface in their attempts to understand the popularization of Victorian [nineteenth century] science” (206). He writes, “As scientists became professionalized [during the nineteenth century] and professional scientists began to pursue specialized research highly, the need arose for non-professionals, who could convey the broader significance of many new discoveries to a rapidly growing…reading public” (187). He proposes that the nineteenth century “popularizers of science” may have been more important than that of Huxley or the Tyndall [important nineteenth-century scientists] in shaping the understanding [of science] in the minds of the reading public…” (188).

During this period, there was a need for a new class of writers who could write about emerging scientific information in a way the new consumers of science information could understand, and in ways that was relevant to their daily experiences. The newly emerging class of professional scientists in the United was neither equipped nor interested in communicating with the public. Lightman refers to those writers who did attempt to communicate to the public about science as the “popularizers of science,” and suggests that “Their success… was partially due to their ability to present the huge mass of scientific fact in the form of compelling stories…” (188). Therefore, he suggests that it is essential for our present understanding of nineteenth-century culture to explore writers like Edgar Allan Poe, who skillfully and prolifically commented on many of the important popular scientific trends of his lifetime. John Tresch asserts, “Poe’s writings force us to reconsider the relationship between science and literature” (The British Journal of Science, 275-276). Also, in Between Science and Literature, Peter Swirski argues that Poe’s “writing may be a suitable barometer of the role that science and philosophy had on nineteenth-century society… and that he threw “literary bridges over to the scientific mainland,” These bridges, he concludes, were just as important in helping is to understand how scientific changes influenced society as they are in helping us to understand how literature started to change to reflect scientific developments (X-XI). John Limon, writing in The Place of Fiction in the Time of Science writes that Poe engaged in literary “negotiation with science,” asserting that his works both foreshadowed and critiqued several emerging scientific developments and trends of the future (19). Faytor also argues “there was a two-way traffic between science and science-writers in the nineteenth century. He notes that many of the inventions and writings of professional scientists helped to shape science fiction and that many ideas imagined by science fiction writers found their way into actual scientific inventions. (256). Most scholars acknowledge that Poe was one of the most important leaders in developing both the genres of science fiction and detective fiction. His works in those areas provide abundant examples that he anticipated and forecasted future developments which are accepted today in a variety of technical areas such as exploration of the Poles, astronomy, physics, space travel, photography, electronic communications, replacement of body parts, and the forensic sciences.

During Poe’s lifetime, lay writers or those without “letters” who were interested in writing about science struggled with professional scientists to establish their authority to speak about the newly emerging scientific issues. Poe had not received much formal training as a scientist but had considerable exposure to science ideas in his early education, in his technical experiences in the military, and through his exposure to science news stories as a journalist. He believed that an observant and skilled writer (like himself) was more qualified to interpret and discuss the meaning and impact of the newly emerging sciences and technologies than most professional scientists.

Poe looked not only to the events of his era to inform his view of truth in his science writing, but he was also inspired and informed by several of the most renown philosophers and science writers of antiquity. In his 1848 culminating science narrative, Eureka A Prose Poem, he outlined the development of scientific thinking from antiquity through his era, and provided his own unique theories about the creation, operations, and destiny of humanity and the Universe. A list of the ancient writers of science and the philosophy of science he commented on in Eureka includes Archimedes, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Kepler, Francis Bacon, and Sir Isaac Newton. Also in Eureka, he discussed the works of philosophers and scientists closer to Poe’s lifetime such as Auguste Comte, Sir John Herschel, John Stuart Mill, Pierre Simon Laplace, and Friedrich Heinrich Humboldt – to whom Poe dedicated Eureka. Several contextual influences in the areas of literature and technology likely influenced Poe’s subsequent choice to embark on a career that emphasized science narrative writing. These will be discussed in the November 2014 posting. For comments, contact murray@poemuseum.org or ellisonms2@vcu.edu

Sources:
Faytor, Paul. “Strange New Worlds of Space and Time: Late Victorian Science and Science Fiction.” Victorian Science in Context. Ed. Barnard A. Lightman. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1997.
Limon, John. The Place of Fiction in the Time of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Lightman, Bernard. Victorian Science in Context. Ed. University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Swirski, Peter. Between Literature and Science: Poe, Lem, and Explorations in Aesthetics, Cognitive Science, and Literary Knowledge. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2000.
Tresch, John. “The Potent Magic of Verisimilitude: Edgar Allan Poe and the Mechanical Age.” The British Journal of Science 3.3 (1997): 275-90. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.
_______. The Romantic Machine. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012.
Sir Isaac Newton Working on Geometric Problem

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Nobody Does Halloween Like the Poe Museum

The Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia is excited to launch the historic reunion of iconic author Edgar Allan Poe and legendary horror actor Vincent Price over Halloween weekend, October 31, 2014 and November 1, 2014. This not-to-be-missed weekend kicks off with the family-friendly Poe Goes to the Movies on Halloween night, and culminates with a wine tasting experience like no other on Saturday, November 1 with The Author’s Appetite. Both events will be held at the Poe Museum located at 1914-16 East Main St. Richmond, VA 23223. Proceeds benefit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum’s educational programming.

Artwork by Abigail Larson

Poe Goes to the Movies takes place on Halloween night, Friday, October 31 from 6:00pm-10:00pm and includes a variety of fun and frightening activities including an appearance by Vincent Price’s daughter, Victoria Price who will introduce the film Tales of Terror starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone. A special slate of guests will join Price as jurors for the Poe “look-a-like” contest and costume contests. Guests will also have the opportunity to experience the opening of the museum’s newest gallery, The Raven Room that will showcase the ca. 1882 illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” created by artist James Carling. This will be the first opportunity that the public will get to experience these one-of-a-kind drawings since they were designated one of “Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts” in Virginia in 2013, and it will be the first opportunity to see the new book about the illustrations by Poe Museum curator Christopher P. Semtner. Cash bar sponsored by Richmond’s Triple Crossing Brewery. Tickets to the Halloween night event are $20 per person ($5 for children under 12) and can be purchased at the museum or through the Poe Museum Online Store by clicking here.

The Author’s Appetite follows on Saturday, November 1 from 6:00pm-10:00pm and will provide an unforgettable evening for wine and literary lovers alike. Highlighting Vincent Price’s love of Richmond and its cuisine this culinary adventure will be the first opportunity to sample the Vincent Price Signature Wine Collection with labels by artists Abigail Larson and Gris Grimly. Complimenting this unique wine experience will be hors d’oeuvre by Chef Ken Wall of the Dining Room at the Berkeley Hotel along with desserts by pastry chef Cornelia Moriconi of Can Can Brasserie, both of which are inspired by recipes from Vincent Price’s now renowned cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes. Throughout the event, Victoria Price will share memories of her famous father and sign copies of her recent memoir Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography. Guests will also be treated to the exotic live music of Richmond favorites, the Tim Harding Quartet, as well as a silent auction, private talk with the curator of the Poe Museum’s new exhibition The Raven Room, and performances of Poe’s works by historical interpreter Anne Williams. Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased at the museum or at through the Poe Museum online store by clicking here.

Additional programs highlighting Vincent Price at the Poe Museum Weekend include a guided walking tour at 10:00am on Saturday, November 1, featuring the graves of Edgar Allan Poe’s many friends and relatives buried at Shockoe Hill Cemetery, which is located at 4th and Hospital Streets in Richmond. There will also be a guided walking tour of Poe sites in Historic Shockoe Bottom at 2:00pm on Sunday, November 2. Please meet at the Poe Museum. Make Richmond a destination over Halloween Weekend at Richmond’s historic Linden Row Inn, which has partnered with the Poe Museum to create a fabulous weekend package including two nights’ accommodations and tickets to all of the weekend’s events. Visit www.lindenrowinn.com or click here for details about this special offer. If you would like a combined admission rate for the events without the hotel room, click here.

About Vincent Price:
Actor, writer, and gourmet, Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was born in St Louis, Missouri. He traveled through Europe, studied at Yale and became an actor. He made his screen debut in 1938, and after many minor roles, he began to perform in low-budget horror movies such as House of Wax (1953), achieving his first major success with the House of Usher (1960). Known for his distinctive, low-pitched, creaky, atmospheric voice and his quizzical, mock-serious facial expressions, he went on to star in a series of acclaimed Gothic horror movies, such as Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). He abandoned films in the mid-1970s, going on to present cooking programs for television and writing “A Treasury of Great Recipes” (1965) with his second wife, Mary Grant. He also recorded many Gothic horror short stories for the spoken-word label Caedmon Records. Vincent Price died at age 82 of lung cancer and emphysema on October 25, 1993. (Source: IMDB MINI BIOGRAPHY BY LESTER A. DINERSTEIN)

About Edgar Allan Poe:
Edgar Allan Poe is the internationally influential author of such tales of “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Black Cat.” He is credited with inventing the mystery genre as well as with pioneering both the modern horror story and science fiction. Poe died under mysterious circumstances at the age of forty. Although much of his life is known through contemporary documents, some areas of his life remain shrouded in mystery.

About Victoria Price:
Following in her father’s footsteps, Victoria has become a popular public speaker on topics ranging from the life of her famous father Vincent Price to interior/industrial design, as well as topics in the realm of the visual arts such as the role of the art collector in society and learning how to see. In 2012, she was delighted to be invited to be a TedX speaker at TedX Acequia Madre. Over the past fifteen years, Victoria has spoken around the world to audiences who have enjoyed her ease and erudition in sharing her enthusiasm for a joy-filled life in the arts. The 2014 edition of her book Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography was released in August 2014.

About the Edgar Allan Poe Museum:
Opened in 1922, the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond hosts the world’s finest collection of Poe artifacts and memorabilia. The five-building complex features permanent exhibits of Poe’s manuscripts, personal items, and a lock of the author’s hair. The Poe Museum’s mission is to interpret the life and influence of Edgar Allan Poe for the education and enjoyment of a global audience. Poe is America’s first internationally influential author, the inventor of the detective story, and the forerunner of science fiction; but he primarily considered himself a poet. His poems “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, and “The Bells” are considered classics of world literature. The Edgar Allan Poe Museum was recently recognized by TIME Magazine as Virginia’s “Most Authentic American Experience,” by Publishers Weekly as one of the “2013 Top Ten Literary Landmarks of the South,” and the “2013 Top Ten Things To Do in Richmond” on the Huffington Post.

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Did Poe Really Say That?

There are many popular Poe quotes circulating the Internet, quotes that are even printed on merchandise. Unfortunately, a majority of Poe quotes are falsely attributed to the literary genius. Some quotes are so bad Poe would be rolling in his grave! Take a look at our list and see which quotes you recognize as being falsely attributed to Poe.

1) “I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.” This is, frustratingly, one of the most misattributed quotes. If you look at the context, the grammar, the style of the quote, it most definitely is not “Poe-esque.”

2) “Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.” This quote is a Poe quote, just not as he stated it. Found in his short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether,” in the November 1845 issue of Graham’s Magazine, the statement is,  “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” It is surprising the quote needed to be simplified to the form it is in today, when it was already quite simple to begin with. One definitely should pay attention to what Poe is saying. And it is probably best when reading supposed “Poe” quotes, to believe only half of what you see.

3) “Sometimes I’m terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it is it wants. The way it stops and starts.” This came from a song written by the singer Poe. Confusing, yes; however, they are two distinctly different people. You can hear the song here.

4) “Sleep, those little slices of death—how I loathe them.” I have not been able to trace the origin of this quote, however the quote was attributed to Poe in Nightmare On Elm Street III. Another resource, the World of Poe, suggests it may have been derived from a line from the 1959 film, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” which states, “I don’t sleep. I hate those little slices of death.” Regardless of where it came from, this most definitely is not a Poe quote.

5) “All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.” According to the World of Poe, this quote derived from a Poe biographer, John Alexander Joyce, who also came up with such fallacies as “The Raven” being a copied work of an 1809 poem, “The Parrot.”

6) “The best things in life make you sweaty.” I found this little gem on Goodreads, while scanning through the list of misattributed quotes. I am not sure what to say about this, except that it quite obviously is not a Poe statement. You can see an article regarding why this isn’t here.

7) “I do not suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.” After heavy research, I sourced this quote to a few books—first making its debut in 1996.  This quote is often attributed to Poe, however I could only source this quote to the following books:
Leon Schuster’s Lekker, Thick South African Joke Book
He’s gonna toot and I’m gonna scoot: waiting for Gabriel’s horn
Uncle John’s Big Great Big Bathroom Reader
Crackers for Your Soup!
Roots
OnTheInternet
Toward Healthy Living: A Wellness Journal
More Modems for Dummies
Forbes

There is no evidence of its appearing before the later half of the twentieth century.

8 ) “The past is a pebble in my shoe.” According to the World of Poe blog, this quote derives from one of the singer Poe’s songs, “Today.”

9) “I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind.” There is not sufficient evidence to say Poe did not say this, however there is not sufficient evidence to say he did.

10) For some reason, the words in the “Come Little Children” song from Hocus Pocus have been attributed to Poe. The words do not match his style, and the lyrics are simplistic compared to his writing. The lyrics were written for the 1993 Halloween film, Hocus Pocus, by Brock Walsh, with James Horner composing the music. Sarah Jessica Parker, a star of the film, only wishes she were singing Poe’s words!

11) “If you run out of ideas follow the road; you’ll get there.” A search for this only brought me to Goodreads and Flickr. Either it is not well sourced, or he did not say it. Hint: He did not say it.

12) “Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chamber of my brain —
Quaintest thoughts — queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.”

Although this poem, “Lines on Ale,” has been attributed to Poe for a long, long while, recently it has been debated whether it actually is his or not. You can follow this link for the controversy.

13) “No one should brave the underworld alone.” This line is from the singer Poe’s song, “Hello.”

14) “Every poem should remind the reader they are going to die.” I found this quote on Goodreads, which is the only website/source where I have been able to properly find it. I am going to have a hunch and say Poe did not make this statement.

15) “Art is to look at not criticize.” The only place I have found this quote is in online links back to Goodreads. I am going to guess this, like the former, is not a Poe quote.

16) “If you are ever drowned or hung, be sure and make a note of your sensations.” Once again, while Goodreads proves to be a fantastic source of information regarding book titles, suggestions, and endless lists of quotes, sometimes quotes such as this one slip past the editors and are falsely attributed. Edit: According to an outside source, this is a paraphrased quote of, “Should you ever be drowned or hung, be sure and make a note of your sensations — they will be worth to you ten guineas a sheet,” as seen in Poe’s “How to Write a Blackwood Article.”

17) “The idea of God, infinity, or spirit stands for the possible attempt at an impossible conception.” According to the World of Poe, this is a paraphrased quote from a passage out of Poe’s “Eureka.” Better watch out for those paraphrases.

18) “The pioneers and missionaries of religion have been the real cause of more trouble and war than all other classes of mankind.” According to World of Poe, this is another fabricated quote attributed to Poe by John Alexander Joyce.

21) “I don’t believe in ghosts but they have been chasing me my whole life.” This was only sourced back to a Wikipedia article, which even questioned the authenticity of it.

22) “If a poem hasn’t ripped apart your soul, you haven’t experienced poetry.” Just because it appears on popular media sites like Tumblr and Pinterest doesn’t mean it is an authentic quote. I am firmly putting my foot down when I say Poe did not say this.

And there you have it. By the way, while we’re at it, “Allan” is not spelled with an “e.”

After reading through these, which falsely attributed Poe quote is your favorite? Which correctly attributed Poe quote is your favorite? Personally, my favorite Poe quote is, “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all,” from Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.”

If you have any questions whether a quote is truly a Poe quote, feel free to comment and I will try my best to prove, correct or debunk it.

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Edgar Allan Poe in Science # 2—September 2014 by Murray Ellison

Illustration courtesy of an M.S Office Royalty Free Clip

Perhaps Edgar Allan Poe’s most overlooked contribution to English literature is that he is one of the earliest American writers who commented on many of the ways that the emerging technological trends of the nineteenth-century effected everyday citizens.  Poe’s science writing reveals the relationships between a writer who was looking for an audience interested in expressing his attitudes about science writing, and an audience that was looking for a writer who could explain the emerging developments of nineteenth-century science to them. Thus, there was an important relationship between Poe’s science writing and the public: The topics that Poe chose to write about were often influenced by the public’s interests in science, and his writing inspired their continued interest in science. His works, then, not only reflect the range of scientific topics that the public was most enthusiastic about, but they also document their concerns about the ways that technology was changing their lifestyles. Although Poe’s science narratives show that he was excited about many of the new developments of nineteenth-century science, they also express an uncertain attitude about the value he placed in technology. He was also warned readers about the ways that some writers misrepresented the ‘facts of science.’ Interestingly, later in his career he became known as the king of scientific hoax writing. Despite his concerns and ambivalent attitudes, Poe became a significant nineteenth-century professional journalist who had immediate access to the most popular science news stories of the day, and wrote about science in each of his major writing styles, i.e., poetry, non-fiction, and fiction. Despite the existence of these factors, Poe’s importance as a nineteenth-century science writers has not been acknowledged even by his present-day followers, or by many scholars of literature or science history.  Therefore, the present blog will examine the themes and attitudes of Poe’s science narratives in each of his major styles of writing. My hope is that this series will provide both interested readers and scholars of Poe’s work, a clearer understanding of the complex ways that technology effected the lifestyles and culture of the nineteenth-century public.

I will consider a science narrative to be a work of Poe’s poetry, non-fiction, or fiction in which Poe provides an account of scientific inventions or issues, or where he tells a story that highlights popular scientific themes which he presented in journals or newspapers. For example, in his earliest published work of fiction, “MS Found in a Bottle,” Poe recounts a narrator’s experiences during a sea expedition. His vessel is dramatically propelled to the then unexplored waters of Antarctica and the South Pole. He records the scientific details of this story in the realistic style of a technical journalist assigned to the voyage, and at the same time explores issues of the uncertainties of this voyage and of the unexplored spaces between reality and imagination. Poe also added a touch of suspense and Gothic-style horror in his story, which likely helped help to generate additional strong public interest in this already popular topic. “M.S. Found in a Bottle” was first published in 1833 by the Baltimore Saturday Visitor Newspaper. This story first thrust Poe into national notoriety after it won the paper’s first place prize for fiction writing. This recognition undoubtedly encouraged him to write many other science narratives in each of his major styles of writing. In this Blog, I will explore Poe’s themes and attitudes about science as he expressed them in each of these styles, i.e., poetry, non-fiction, and fictional works. In addition, I plan explore: Poe’s educational background; his little-known experiences in the United States Army related to science; the scientific and literary contexts which were in place at the beginning of his writing career; his experiences as a journalist in Richmond, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston; and the extraordinary culminating and enigmatic science book he wrote at the end of his career and life—entitled, Eureka A Prose Poem. Poe believed that Eureka was the most important work of his career, and considered it “the culmination of his life’s work” (Broussard 52). He boasted that “Newton’s discovery of gravity was a mere incident compared to the discoveries revealed in this book” (Thomas and Jackson 731). He also wrote a letter to his aunt and mother-in-law, Maria Clemm, on July 7, 1848 stating, “I have no desire to live. Since I have done Eureka, I could accomplish nothing more” (Ostram 820). Ironically, Eureka also turned out to be the last work he published under his own supervision. There have been several attempts to evaluate the complex language and puzzles posed in Eureka, but most have come up short because the work is written in a complex, and almost cryptic language. When I get around to discussing Eureka, I plan to use some of the “code-keys” provided in several of Poe’s other writings to help unravel some of its mysteries. Please send comments and suggestions to me about this blog through murray@poemuseum.org or at ellisonms2@vcu.edu

Works Cited:
Broussard, Louis. The Measure of Poe. Norman: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1969.
Poe, Edgar A. The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. John Ward Ostram. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1948.
Thomas, Dwight, and David Jackson, Eds. The Poe Log- A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849. Boston: G.B. Hall and Company, 1987.

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Unique Evening Presented at the Poe Museum

On the anniversary of Poe’s final departure from Richmond (just ten days before his death), September 27, 2014 at 7P.M., the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia will honor this grim anniversary with unique dramatization of Poe’s works by historic interpreter Anne Louise Williams. An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe features dramatic recitations from memory of several writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Selections will include “The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Oval Portrait,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “Morella,” “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells,” “For Annie,” “A Dream within a Dream,” “Eldorado,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The recitations are framed in the context of the author’s life, interspersed with readings of excerpts from newspapers, letters, and observations of contemporaries. Admission is $5. Poe Museum members will be admitted free.

Anne Williams

About the Presenter:

Anne Louise Williams is a historic interpreter certified with the National Association of Interpreters. Anne is a volunteer with the National Park Service at Whitehaven (Grant Home) and the Old Court House for special events (since 2009) and a volunteer with the historic Daniel Boone Home (since 1996) in St. Louis, Missouri. Anne integrates her passion for history, literature, and drama to perform literature in the context of the author’s life. She is experienced in first person interpretation as well. She has portrayed Virginia Minor, recreating her testimony on Suffrage before the US Senate Committee. In 2011, Anne researched and reconstructed the testimonies in the infamous Lemp Divorce which were re-enacted at the Old Court House where the trial occurred in 1909, with a Lemp descendant portraying William Lemp and the audiences taking the roles of witnesses. Anne performed at the Poe Visitor Center in Fordham (Bronx) in January 2014. Anne will be performing at several venues in September and October, including the Poe Museum in Richmond, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Poe Visitor Center in Fordham, and the Lyndhurst Castle in Tarrytown, the Daniel Boone Home in Defiance MO, and the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis MO.

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Rufus Wilmot Griswold-Poe’s Literary Executor

Many may be familiar with the recent Drunk History episode featuring Edgar Allan Poe and a “Mr. Griswold.” But how many actually know who Griswold is? Yes, Drunk History, the popular Comedy Central show, portrayed him, but was he accurately portrayed?

It is true that many of the popular misconceptions about Poe derive directly from Griswold, the “defamer” of the poet. This editor and enemy of Poe was the source of many fallacies about Edgar’s alcohol and drug addictions, among other things. But why did Griswold go to such great lengths to destroy Edgar’s reputation? Who was this man and what did he have against Poe?

Rufus W. Griswold

Born February 13, 1815, in Benson, Vermont, Rufus Wilmot Griswold was one of the youngest siblings of fourteen children, son of Deborah Griswold and Rufus Griswold. After briefly moving out at the age of fifteen, and then at seventeen once more, he left for Syracuse, where he started The Porcupine, a newspaper. Under the pseudonym Toby Trinculo, he attacked the local citizenry. He then left for New York City in 1836, where he met, and later married in 1837, his first wife Caroline. Later that year, Griswold became a reverend.

Griswold and Caroline had three children, but he lost Caroline just three days after the death of their third child, a son, in the fall of 1842. Widowed at twenty-seven, the heartbroken Griswold occupied his time by creating numerous anthologies. He eventually married Charlotte Meyers but divorced her and remarried a woman named Harriet McCrillis.

It was in 1839, before the death of his beloved Caroline, that he first crossed paths with Edgar Poe. One of the first—if not the first—time Griswold mentioned Poe was when he ridiculed him in his July 19 issue of The Tattler, which stated,

Edgar A. Poe, Esq., Editor of the Baltimore Chronicle, and Brantz Mayer, Esq., of the same city, have been for several days exhibiting premonitory symptoms of blood-letting. The friends of the parties have brought about a settlement, however, and both gentlemen have concluded to live as long as the Lord will let them (Bayless 30).

It is said, however, that Griswold and Park Benjamin, who was coeditor of the paper with Griswold, should have aimed their attack at Neilson Poe, and the statement was corrected (30). Not too long after, Poe, who was working as an editor for Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine in Philadelphia, heard of Griswold when an announcement was made that Griswold was working on publishing an anthology of poetry by American writers. The budding poet, Poe, was interested and requested to see Griswold. The two men met and spoke for several hours discussing literature. It is said the “interview was mutually agreeable,” and Poe, shortly after, sent several poems and a memoir for Rufus’ book (35-36).

On April 18, 1842, the anthology, The Poets and Poetry of America, was published—Edgar was not pleased. Rufus had only included three of Poe’s poems, with comments that were described as “lukewarm praise of his poetry,” and an inaccurate memorandum (45). This was the first strike between Griswold and Poe.

Earlier that month, on the first, Poe had resigned from his position as Graham’s Magazine’s editor, and was replaced by the twenty-seven year old Rufus Griswold by the middle of May. This was the second strike (49-50). Not only was Griswold now being paid more than Edgar was paid, with his $800 yearly salary, but according to Joy Bayless,

There was a softness, a suavity, in the manner of the new editor which would ingratiate him with the writers whom Graham wanted to enlist. There was a pronounced contrast between this helper [Griswold] and the proud, scornful Edgar Poe, who had contributed the products of his creative mind to the magazine but who had been unable and unwilling to bend the knee to popular contributors. Griswold would be a better henchman. He was not obsessed with literary ideals; he was able to make friends easily; and he was eager to widen his acquaintance with writers (55).

Despite the warm regards first given to the exciting new editor, Griswold eventually burned important bridges, which would bite him in the end. By 1843, his mistakes included talking about Graham’s assistant, Ann Stephens, who already held great disdain for Rufus. It is said, “Years later when she had an opportunity to avenge herself of the real or fancied injury she took full advantage of it” (69).

Having been hurt by Griswold, Poe resented the editor and in June circulated the following after asking Dr. J. Evans Snodgrass, “Have you seen Griswold’s Book of Poetry? It is a most outrageous humbug, and I sincerely wish you would ‘use it up’” (69). It is said Poe hid his resentment for Griswold behind a friendly façade (70)

During the summer of 1842, Poe was paid to write a review of Griswold’s anthology. Despite his anger against Griswold, he wrote a rather complimentary review, regarding the book as, “…the most important addition which our literature has for many years received” (71). However, he objected to about two-dozen authors included in the anthology. Both men were at a standstill.

By the end of June, the two men were on friendly terms again, and Poe wrote to Griswold,

Dear Griswold: –Can you not send me $5. I am sick, and Virginia is almost gone. Come and see me. Peterson says you suspect me of a curious anonymous letter. I did not write it, but bring it along with you when you make the visit you promised to Mrs. Clemm. I will try to fix that matter soon. Could you do anything with my note? (74).*

Griswold’s “natural generosity” allowed him to accept Poe’s invitation to visit his house, and Griswold called on him. Mrs. Clemm brought the two enemies together as friends in summer of 1843, and Griswold wrote about Poe later,

It was while he resided in Philadelphia that I became acquainted with him. His manner, except during his fits of intoxication, was very quiet and gentlemanly; he was usually dressed with simplicity and elegance; and when once he sent for me to visit him, during a period of illness caused by protracted and anxious watching at the side of his sick wife, I was impressed by the singular neatness and the air of refinement of his home. It was in a small house, in one of the pleasant and silent neighborhoods far from the centre [sic] of the town, and though slightly and cheaply furnished, everything in it was so tasteful and so fitly disposed that it seemed altogether suitable for a man of genius. For this and for most of the comforts he enjoyed in his brightest as in his darkest years, he was chiefly indebted to his mother-in-law, who loved him with more than maternal devotion and constancy (75).

That fall, however, Edgar would scorn Griswold once more during a lecture tour of America in which he openly attacked the renewed enemy. Griswold retaliated and resigned from Graham’s Magazine in October 1843. He continued to assist Graham, however, and contributed to the magazine as late as 1848 (76).

In the fall of 1845, Poe had written a complimentary piece about Griswold in the Broadway Journal, which prompted Griswold to reconcile with the older poet. The following January marked a renewal of friendship, which would last for several months (96-97). In fact, Griswold even loaned Poe twenty-five dollars, in answer to Poe’s request for fifty dollars to support the Broadway Journal that he had taken over temporarily (99). Things seemed to be going well for the two. In the Prose Writers of America, Griswold exhibited his well-mannered feelings and had only positive things to say about Poe (120).

October 7, 1849 marked a shocking day for Griswold, when word reached him in New York that Edgar Poe was dead. Almost immediately, he started to write Poe’s obituary for the next morning’s Tribune, and signed it with his pen name, “Ludwig.” Horace Greeley, a fellow editor, admittedly would not have let the obituary run in the Tribune if he had known the trouble it would bring Edgar in the end (161).

By this time, Griswold, it is said, respected Poe’s literary genius, but the poet had scorned the editor, and Griswold would not forgive him—it was time to take revenge. Griswold’s memoir, which you can read here, is full of fabricated lies, and was largely pieced together using his previously written memoirs and a passage taken from Bulwer’s, The Caxtons, which he used because, “Francis Vivian [the character]…[seemed] to resemble Poe so closely that instead of spending time himself to characterize Poe he took Bulwer’s descriptions of his fictional character and used them in the sketch” (162-163).

Not too long after, Edgar’s mother-in-law and aunt, Maria Clemm, approached Griswold asking him to produce an edition of Poe’s works. It is unclear whether Clemm knew Griswold had written the infamous “Ludwig” obituary, but regardless, six days after Poe’s death, she had chosen him for the job. The works, which included memoirs written by N.P. Willis and James Russell Lowell, was, according to an announcement for the book printed in The New York Tribune on October 17, “among the last requests of Mr. Poe that Dr. Griswold should be his Editor…” (166). There is no evidence that proves whether or not this is the case, and the editor even went back and forth between stating he was indeed chosen by Poe for the job and that he took the opportunity only because of his revengeful plans.

In Griswold’s production of the books, N.P. Willis’ memoir opposes Griswold’s view, including Willis ultimately drawing the conclusion that Edgar actually had goodness in him. Henry Hirst, a friend of Poe, refuted Griswold in the Saturday Courier on October 20, saying that Poe did have many friends, in response to Griswold’s statement that Poe did not.

Griswold even confessed in a letter written to Sarah Helen Whitman, Poe’s ex-fiancée and a Rhode Island poetess, “I wrote—as you suppose—the notice of P. [Poe] in the Tribune—but very hastily. I was not his friend, nor was he mine, as I remember to have told you; but I endeavored always to do him justice; and though the sketch has deemed harsh, I did not mean that it should be so” (173). Whether this was truly the case, we do not know. Interestingly enough, Griswold also admitted he had seen little of Poe during the last years of Poe’s life; therefore it is debatable whether Griswold should have let the matter go and spare Poe’s reputation (173).

The first volumes of Poe’s writings were published about January 10, 1850, according to Joy Bayless, and contained many memoirs, articles about Poe, and a majority of Poe’s short stories and poems (175-176) You can view the editions here. Griswold soon published a third volume in September, 1850 (180).

After the third volume was published, Griswold made plans for a fourth volume, which was published in 1856. During the process of collecting information for this fourth book, however, Charles Godfrey Leland, a close friend of Griswold’s, threw out all of Griswold’s original material “to Poe’s discredit,” and then scolded the Reverend.  According to Joy Bayless, Griswold then lost interest in Poe until his fourth book release. By 1858, the book had become the standard anthology of Poe’s works and had undergone seventeen editions (196-197). Griswold admitted, according to Bayless, that he “…attempted to prepare several volumes which would attract buyers and do justice to Poe’s reputation” (197).

The last criticism Griswold gave regarding Poe was in the sixteenth edition of The Poets and Poetry of America, which states,

Unquestionably he was a man of genius, and those who are familiar with his melancholy history will not doubt that his genius was in a singular degree wasted or misapplied. His rank as a poet is with the first class of his times. “The Raven,” “Ulalume,” “The Bells,” and several of his other pieces, will be remembered as among the finest monuments of the capacities of the English language (200).

With Poe deceased and after successfully defaming the poet (or so he thought), Griswold continued to work on anthologies until his death by tuberculosis on August 27, 1857.

During his life, Griswold published numerous poems and anthologies, as well as provided sermons and editorial pieces. Some of his most notable works include The Poets and Poetry of America, The Poets and Poetry of England, and an important poem, “Five Days,” which can be viewed here, written for his first wife, Caroline, after her death.

It is ironic that Griswold made such great attempts to defame Poe, because his attacking memoirs and obituary only brought Edgar more fame and recognition, making him a notable literary figure for all time; whereas Griswold now is often forgotten or unknown. Perhaps if Griswold had not defamed the poet after his death, Griswold would now have a greater legacy in the literary world.

Today the Poe Museum owns several of Poe’s letters and manuscripts once owned by Griswold and given to the Museum by his grandchildren. The Museum also owns two letters written by Griswold, which you can see here and here.

*There is speculation as to whether this was actually written by Poe. Griswold was notorious for forging letters after Poe’s death, and this particular piece was challenged by John Ward Ostrom in his book, The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe – Vol. II: 1846-1849, which you can view here.

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Mathew Brady Photograph of Poe’s Mother-in-Law Discovered

Mathew Brady was perhaps the leading American photographer of the nineteenth century. Among the prominent figures who sat for his studio are eighteen United States Presidents including Abraham Lincoln. It has long been known that the Mathew Brady Studio sold copies of a “Brady Photo” of Poe in the early 1860s, but now a previously unpublished Brady photo of Poe’s mother-in-law Maria Clemm has been found and will soon be on public display for the first time.

From September 25 until November 30, 2014, the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia will exhibit a newly discovered photograph of Edgar Allan Poe’s mother-in-law from the studio of famed nineteenth century photographer Mathew Brady (1822-1896), best known for his iconic photographs of Abraham Lincoln and his documentation of Civil War battlefields. This is only the third image of Poe’s aunt/mother-in-law Maria Poe Clemm to come to light. Although Edgar Allan Poe’s face is well-known through photographs and paintings made during his lifetime, there are very few surviving images of the two people closest to him—his wife and mother-in-law. Maria Clemm helped support Poe by helping sell his poems and by taking on sewing work for extra money. Poe paid tribute to her in his poem “To My Mother.” After Poe’s death, Clemm depended upon the charity of Poe’s many admirers. Charles Dickens is among those who contributed to her care.

Newly Discovered Image

Stephen Montgomery, the owner of the photograph, an albumen print carte de visite, found the previously unpublished image in an album of nineteenth century photographs and contacted the Poe Museum to help him verify the discovery. The logo of the Mathew Brady studio is printed on the back of the photo with the words “Maria Clemm/ Edgar Allen [sic] Poe Aunt” written in pencil above it. Although the image was previously unknown to scholars, it bears a remarkable resemblance to the two other known photographs of Maria Clemm, one of which is in the collection of the Poe Museum. The newly identified image will be displayed alongside the Poe Museum’s fully authenticated photograph for comparison.

Authentic Images of Maria Clemm and the Newly Discovered Image
Face of 1868 Photo Superimposed Over Face of Montgomery Photo

For this exhibition, Montgomery has also loaned the Poe Museum two other photographs—Matthew Brady’s photograph of Poe (a retouched version of an 1848 photograph taken by another photographer sold from Brady’s studio in the early 1860s) and an albumen print photograph of the daguerreotype taken of Poe in Richmond a few weeks before his death.

Brady Photo of Poe
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Mary Allan’s 1920s Debut

The portrait of Mary Allan, which currently hangs in the Old Stone House, is a significant work of art purchased by the Poe Museum in 1928. The following recounts the history of this portrait, as well as its subject and the artist.

Mary Allan

Mary Allan was the older sister of Edgar Poe’s foster father, John Allan, and the eldest daughter of William and Elizabeth Galt Allan. Mary lived in the Allan Bridgegate home until her death in 1850 (Phillips 99).

Although Mary’s childhood and adulthood remain mysteries, we do have an interesting correspondence between a descendent of hers and the Poe Museum. On October 12, 1927, the museum was approached by a relative of the Allan family, who mentioned that her distant cousin was interested in selling a portrait of Mary Allan. This cousin was Sophie E. D. (whose name is not fully disclosed to protect her prvacy), of Fertshire, Scotland. Mary Allan, who Miss D. referred to as “Aunt Mary,” was Miss D’s great aunt. Upon contacting the museum, Sophie and the Poe Museum began what would be a year long process of organizing the painting’s shipment, payment, and display.

According to the April 26, 1928, “Board of Directors Minutes of the Annual Meeting”, there was a statement explaining that the same artist who painted John Allan’s portrait, also painted Mary’s, which hung on the wall of the Allan home in Ayrshire when the young Poe visited there.

This painter was James Tannock, a native of Kilmarnock. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Tannock was a distinguished artist who had success at Glasgow and Greenock as a painter of portraits and miniatures. He then moved to London and is notable for contributing forty-four portraits to the Royal Academy exhibitions between 1813 and 1841 (Armstrong). Tannock’s rich oil painting style can be seen in the Mary Allan painting.

On June 2, 1928, the portrait was purchased for seventy-five pounds, stirling [sic]. At that time, this would have been equal to $125.98. Today, the purchase price is estimated to be $1,755.93. On August 2, the portrait of Mary arrived. Martha R. Ford, the secretary of the Poe Museum at the time, stated in an August 10 letter,

I think she is lovely [Aunt Mary]. She must have been a very interesting person to know. She is very like her brother in feature; but oh so different in expression! I am no artist, and my opinion as to the merits of the portrait form an artistic point of view would be worthless. But from my plain human standpoint, I find the picture beautiful and interesting. Everybody who has seen it seems much pleased.

According to a September 14 letter, the Museum buildings were being renovated and “Aunt Mary” was waiting to be hung. Martha R. Ford relates, “’Aunt Mary’ is to come into the new building as soon as the workmen shall have provided for her adequate support.” The next day, everything was in place, and the sale was official. The Consular Invoice was produced, the official charge papers were found to be in order, the transaction was duly closed, and “Aunt Mary” was warmly welcomed into her new home.

Mary Allan

Now, thanks to the Poe Museum’s past employees and the gracious willingness of Sophie D. to sell her “Aunt Mary” to the museum, you can view the lovely painting, which gives insight into John Allan’s Scottish family, and, ultimately, into Poe’s world in Scotland.

To view the painting, please visit the following link: https://www.poemuseum.org/collection-details.php?id=105

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Poe Museum’s Object of the Month is “A **** Cheat”

Now one of the most valuable books in American literature, this humble volume could have easily ended up in a trash heap or floating down the Hudson River along with several other copies. Ben Hardin, Jr. (1784-1852), the first owner of this first edition of Poe’s third book Poems, scrawled abusive language on the end pages. Ben Hardin, Jr. was a Kentucky lawyer who had likely received the book from his son John Pendleton Hardin (1810-1842, Class of 1832, resigned 1832), one of Poe’s fellow cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point. John Hardin would have been one of the 131 out of the 232 cadets who contributed $1.25 toward the work’s publication in April 1831. Fewer than 1,000 copies were printed, and, judging by the cadets’ response to the book, it is not surprising that only about twenty survive. (Some of those cadets are said to have thrown their copies into the river in disgust.)

Dedication Page of Poems

One of the cadets, Allan B. Magruder, later recalled, “[The book] was a miserable production mechanically, bound in green boards and printed on inferior paper, evidently gotten up on the cheapest scale. The subscription was not fully paid until the book was delivered, and I remember a general expression of indignation at the inferior quality and condition of the book.”
Another cadet, Thomas W. Gibson, added, “The book was received with a general expression of disgust. It was a puny volume, of about fifty pages, bound in boards and badly printed on coarse paper, and worse than all, it contained not one of the squibs and satires upon which his reputation at the Academy had been built up.”
Ben Hardin, Jr., the owner of the Poe Museum’s copy, wrote on the front page, “This book is a damn cheat. All that fills 124 pages could have been compiled in 36.” Beneath this, someone wrote “lie.” Below that is written, “Calliope [the Greek muse of epic poetry] is a cheat/ any how–.”

Inscription

What little critical notice the book attracted was not overwhelmingly favorable, either. In the May 7, 1831 issue of the New-York Mirror, the reviewer (probably George P. Morris), complains that Poe’s poetry is incomprehensible:

The poetry of this little volume has a plausible air of imagination, inconsistent with the general indefinitiveness of the ideas. Every think in the language betokens poetic inspiration, but it rather resembles the leaves of the sybil when scattered by the wind. The annexed lines, which close a short poem, entitled the “Doomed City,” are less incomprehensible than most in the book, although the meaning is by no means perfectly clear…It sometimes happens that poetry, at first sight unintelligible, is discovered, upon a repeated and more careful examination, to be fraught with the treasure of thought and fancy. The “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” belongs to this class; but we cannot flatter Mr. Poe with any similar hopes respecting his own composition, although it occasionally sparkles with a true poetic expression, and sometimes a conflict of ¬beauty and nonsense takes place, in which the latter seems to have the best of it. It is indeed encumbered by numerous obscurities, which we should be pleased to see either very much brightened or entirely expunged. What is the meaning of this?

In anticipation that the meaning of his poetry would confound some critics, Poe wrote in the volume’s introduction,

Poetry, above all things, is a beautiful painting whose tints, to minute inspection, are confusion worse confounded, but start boldly out to the cursory glance of the connoisseur…A poem, in my opinion, is opposed to a work of science by having, for its immediate object, pleasure, not truth; to romance, by having for its object an indefinite instead of a definite pleasure, being a poem only so far as this object is attained; romance presenting perceptible images with definite, poetry with indefinite sensations, to which end music is an essential, since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception. Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music without the idea is simply music; the idea without the music is prose from its very definitiveness.

By the time Poems was released in April 1831, Poe was living in New York after having been expelled from West Point in February. Even though Poe was no longer at the academy, he remained the subject of the cadets’ scorn and ridicule for some time after his departure. As Gibson recalled, “For months afterward quotations from Poe formed the standing material for jests in the corps, and his reputation for genius went down at once to zero. I doubt if even the ‘Raven’ of his after-years ever entirely effaced from the minds of his class the impression received from that volume.”
After the commercial failure of Poems, Poe still considered himself primarily a poet and continued to write poetry, but he would not publish another volume of his poetry for fourteen years when he issued The Raven and Other Poems in 1845.

Listing from Chamberlain Catalog

The Poe Museum’s copy of Poems eventually entered the collection of scientist Jacob Chester Chamberlain (1860-1905) who worked in Thomas Edison’s laboratory during the early 1880s and contributed to Edison’s pioneering work with electric lighting. The book was #706 in the auction of Chamberlain’s collection on February 16, 1909 at the Anderson Auction Company in New York when the formerly $1.25 book sold for $315. The piece next entered the library of book collector Walter Thomas Wallace of South Orange, New Jersey. He sold his collection at auction on March 22-24, 1920 at the American Art Galleries in New York. This time, the book sold for only $140. The next owner was the California psychologist John Wooster Robertson, whose special interest in Poe led him to compile a bibliography of Poe first printings and to write the book Edgar A. Poe: A Psychopathic Study. Robertson donated Poems, along with the rest of his large collection of Poe first editions, to the Poe Museum in 1927.

Listing from Wallace Catalog

Although some readers in the author’s time could not appreciate it, Poems is now considered one of Poe’s most important collections. Among the soon-to-be classic poems first printed in this volume are early versions of Poe’s classics “To Helen,” “Lenore” (under its original title “A Paean”) and “Israfel.” Poe’s biographer Arthur Hobson Quinn summed up the significance of the book as follows:

If the volume of 1829 [Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems] contained poetry unlike any that had as yet appeared in the United States, the volume of 1831 gave us in “To Helen,” “Israfel,” “The Doomed City,” “The Valley Nis” and “Irene,” poetry of a kind that had not yet been written in the English language.

The Poe Museum is fortunate Ben Hardin, Jr. decided not to discard his copy of Poems. Thanks to collectors like Robertson, Wallace, and Chamberlain, the book has been preserved for future generations to study and enjoy. That is why this first edition of Poems is the Poe Museum’s Object of the Month.

Walter Wallace Bookplate in Poems
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The Poe Museum Blog

Vincent Price and Edgar Allan Poe Reunite for Halloween

During “Vincent Price at the Poe Museum,” legendary horror actor Vincent Price and iconic author Edgar Allan Poe reunite this Halloween Weekend (October 31-November 1, 2014) at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia.

Victoria Price

The weekend kicks off Halloween night, October 31, from 6-10 P.M. with Poe Goes to the Movies, a costume contest and film screening hosted by Vincent Price’s daughter, Victoria Price. Ms. Price and a panel of special guests will help judge the costume contest and Poe Look-Alike Contest. Then Victoria Price will introduce the movie Tales of Terror starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone. The evening will also include the opening of the Poe Museum’s newest gallery, The Raven Room, featuring James Carling’s original ca.1882 illustrations for Poe’s poem “The Raven.” Poe Goes to the Movies will be a fun, frightening evening with games, tricks, and treats for the whole family. Admission for the evening is $20, and proceeds benefit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum’s education programming.

The following evening, November 1 from 6-10 P.M., the Poe Museum will host The Author’s Appetite, featuring the new Vincent Price Signature Collection wines in addition to Vincent Price’s foods prepared from recipes in his own cookbook. Victoria Price will share some her memories of her famous father. The evening will also feature performances of Poe’s works by Anne Williams, a book signing by Victoria Price, curator talks in the new Raven Room. Admission for the evening is $50 and will benefit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum’s educational programming.

For more information, contact the Poe Museum at 804-648-5523.