Disputed Poe attribution: letter to Charles Edwards Lester — 1846-01-10
Disputed attribution: inspect the locally preserved manuscript addressed to Charles Edwards Lester. Scholarly doubts and digitization limits are stated.
Repository image 1 of 2 — disputed attributionEnlarge image ↗Repository image 2 of 2 — disputed attributionEnlarge image ↗
About this source
Disputed attribution. The scholarly correspondence checklist records Thomas Ollive Mabbott’s doubts about this document’s validity. The Harry Ransom Center catalogues and digitizes the manuscript, but digitization does not resolve authorship. This record preserves the historical object for research and does not establish that Poe wrote it. Its date is the purported or assigned date, not independently authenticated. All 2 supplied repository images are preserved. The original supplied JPEG files and an exact-image PDF are local. Images retain handwriting, later annotations, folds, mounting and discoloration. No full transcription or handwriting OCR is claimed. This item is listed among general Poe research holdings, separately from the correspondence collection and its map.
Original publication
Disputed Poe attribution: letter to Charles Edwards Lester — 1846-01-10
Date
Purported 1846-01-10
Credits
Writer unidentified; attributed to Edgar Allan Poe (disputed). Source images: Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
Where to find it
2 supplied images
Reference collection
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Collection reference
MS-03283; Box 2, Folder 4
Repository identity, supplied-image extent and public-domain designation checked. Scholarly authenticity doubts are unresolved and explicitly disclosed. Not included as verified Poe correspondence.
HOW FAR THIS HAS BEEN CHECKED
File / copy authenticity
Preserved files carry a SHA-256 fingerprint fixed at ingest; whether those bytes match the original capture is not independently verified.
Transcription / extraction
Each reading-text file shows its recorded review status below.
Local PDF — disputed attribution; all supplied images
Disputed attribution. The scholarly correspondence checklist records Thomas Ollive Mabbott’s doubts about this document’s validity. The Harry Ransom Center catalogues and digitizes the manuscript, but digitization does not resolve authorship. This record preserves the historical object for research and does not establish that Poe wrote it. Its date is the purported or assigned date, not independently authenticated. All 2 supplied repository images are preserved. The original supplied JPEG files and an exact-image PDF are local. Images retain handwriting, later annotations, folds, mounting and discoloration. No full transcription or handwriting OCR is claimed. This item is listed among general Poe research holdings, separately from the correspondence collection and its map.
Machine-extracted text — RCL-610a-disputed-manuscript.pdf
Text extracted on 2026-11-08 from RCL-610a-disputed-manuscript.pdf using optical character recognition (ocrmypdf/tesseract). Not human-corrected; may contain recognition errors. Read alongside the source images.
Disputed attribution. The scholarly correspondence checklist records Thomas Ollive Mabbott’s doubts about this document’s validity. The Harry Ransom Center catalogues and digitizes the manuscript, but digitization does not resolve authorship. This record preserves the historical object for research and does not establish that Poe wrote it. Its date is the purported or assigned date, not independently authenticated. All 2 supplied repository images are preserved. The original supplied JPEG files and an exact-image PDF are local. Images retain handwriting, later annotations, folds, mounting and discoloration. No full transcription or handwriting OCR is claimed. This item is listed among general Poe research holdings, separately from the correspondence collection and its map.
Disputed attribution. The scholarly correspondence checklist records Thomas Ollive Mabbott’s doubts about this document’s validity. The Harry Ransom Center catalogues and digitizes the manuscript, but digitization does not resolve authorship. This record preserves the historical object for research and does not establish that Poe wrote it. Its date is the purported or assigned date, not independently authenticated. All 2 supplied repository images are preserved. The original supplied JPEG files and an exact-image PDF are local. Images retain handwriting, later annotations, folds, mounting and discoloration. No full transcription or handwriting OCR is claimed. This item is listed among general Poe research holdings, separately from the correspondence collection and its map.
Compare reading text with the preserved source. Line breaks and spacing are retained; long lines wrap to fit the screen. A file's role does not establish that its text has been checked.
Machine-extracted text — RCL-610a-disputed-manuscript.pdf
Machine-extracted OCR text · Review label: Machine produced / unreviewed
Tose
PA
Vohecrole M4 Le | D
iden: (Ok a
‘ne ’ fay & Faia Hoh op wort
abe ate Ae ae:
Ane
Nece. | Hes
Scellanis ntl call
¢
-
“Disputed Poe attribution: letter to Charles Edwards Lester — 1846-01-10.” Purported 1846-01-10. Disputed Poe attribution: letter to Charles Edwards Lester — 1846-01-10. Crypt of Echoes evidence ID LED-2026-864d225627de467ebf7a3c53a4c25691. https://cryptofechoes.com/evidence/LED-2026-864d225627de467ebf7a3c53a4c25691. Accessed [date].
Catalogue citation: Manuscript attributed to Edgar Allan Poe (disputed), Letter to C[harles] Edwards Lester, 1846 January 10. Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, p15878coll102/132. Correspondence checklist RCL-610a.
Harry Ransom Center repository rights statement: No Copyright — United States (NoC-US 1.0).
