Nevermore:
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Edgar Allan Poe. Tamerlane and Other Poems. By a Bostonian. Boston: Calvin F. S. Thomas, printer, 1827. [zoom] Poe’s first published book is one of the rarest books in American literature. The first known copy of Tamerlane was discovered by Henry Stevens in 1859 among a collection of Boston imprints he purchased from Boston bookseller Samuel G. Drake. Today, only twelve copies are known to exist. The copy in the Tane collection, the most recent to come to light, was found by a book collector in 1988 among vintage agricultural pamphlets in a New Hampshire antiques shop. The collector purchased it for $15. |
The Boston Directory. Boston: Hunt and Stimpson, and J. H. A. Frost, 1827. [zoom] The printer of Tamerlane is listed in this Boston business directory as “Calvin F. S. Thomas, printer, 70 Washington.” Little is known about Thomas, who was just a teenager when Poe approached him to print his first book. No other books with his imprint are known. |
The United States Review and Literary Gazette. New York: G. & C. Carvill; Boston: Bowles & Dearborn, August, 1827. [zoom] | Additional images: The first printed notice announcing the publication of Tamerlane appeared in this issue of The United States Review and Literary Gazette. |
Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. By Edgar A. Poe. Baltimore: Hatch & Dunning, 1829. [zoom] Although Tamerlane was published two years earlier, Poe considered Al Aaraaf the first published edition of his poetry and revised its entire contents substantially in preparation for this publication. Although the volume did not sell well, it received several favorable reviews, most significantly from the critic John Neal in the December issue of The Yankee. Poe would later call Neal’s favorable critique “the very first words of encouragement I ever remember to have heard.” There are fewer than twenty known copies of this edition of Al Aaraaf, only twelve of which survive in their original covers. |
John Neal. “Unpublished Poetry.” In The Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette. December, 1829. [zoom] | Additional images: John Neal had been introduced to Poe by a fellow member of the Delphian Club of Baltimore. Neal’s article in The Yankee provided Poe with his first meaningful exposure as a writer. Neal ends his essay with high praise: “What more can we do for the lovers of genuine poetry? Nothing. They who are judges will not need more; and they who are not-Why waste words upon them? We shall not.” |
Register of the Army and Navy of the United States. No. I, 1830. Washington: Peter Force, 1830. [zoom] | Additional images: Poe is listed on page 84 as a student at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, where he spent several months waiting for his foster father, John Allan, to help him pay the fees required to resign. When Allan refused, Poe intentionally neglected his military and academic duties, leading to a court-martial in January 1831 and dismissal the following month. |
Edgar Allan Poe. Tamerlane and Other Poems. London: George Redway, 1884. [zoom] This is the second edition of Tamerlane, containing a long preface recounting the publishing history of the book, along with a facsimile of the British Museum’s copy of the original edition. Limited to 100 copies, this is the first separate printing of Tamerlane in England. |
View a photo of this exhibition case |