William W. Caldwell Jr. to Edgar Allan Poe — October 20, 1845

William W. Caldwell Jr. to Edgar Allan Poe — October 20, 1845 Independent local reading of the complete letter text across the two written faces displayed by the Poe Museum, object 81.19.91 (online record 369, images 1867 and 1868). Caldwell encloses three dollars for the Broadway Journal, requests missing issues, and urges Poe to publish the Messenger Star following criticism by the Boston press. The continuation, closing, signature and recipient are included. Punctuation and line wrapping are normalized, and underlining is not represented. The later inverted filing docket is not transcribed. Public text only; no locally held facsimile, postal address face or enclosed payment is claimed. Newbury port. October 20. 1845. Dear Sir, Enclosed are three dollars, entitling me to the honor of being, with your sovereign permission, a subscriber to your very excellent Journal! Part of the back numbers I have — will you send me No’s 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 12, 15! of the present vol including them in my subscription! The no’s that I have, I obtained of a paper-monger here, who obtained them from Boston. But they came so irregularly, that I soon gave it up. Will you gratify your friends at the East, by publishing the “Messenger Star” in the Journal? The silly abuse of the Boston Press, would then need no other champion — opponent — Like “Hesper in the glowing west”, let it rise pure and clear from out their “muddy impurities”. Yours very truly, William W. Caldwell Jr. Newbury port Massachusetts. E. A. Poe esq. Source: The Poe Museum, online object 369, catalogue number 81.19.91, images 1867 and 1868. Checklist RCL-573a. Reading visually checked November 8, 2026.