About this source
Historical letter reading from George E. Woodberry, The Life of Edgar Allan Poe: Personal and Literary, volume II (1909). Catalogue identity RCL-503. The record heading uses the scholarly checklist date; the historical text retains the edition’s dateline and wording. This is a later printed transcription, not a manuscript facsimile or a modern critical text. Historical postscript and address material are retained where printed; source footnote callouts and modern website apparatus are omitted. The text has not been independently proofread word by word. William Duane’s endorsement is separately identified in the historical text and is retained as part of this witness.
- Original publication
- Edgar Allan Poe to William Duane Jr. — 1844-10-28
- Date
- 1844-10-28
- Credits
- Edgar Allan Poe (letter); George E. Woodberry (1909 editor)
- Publisher
- Houghton Mifflin Company
- Published in
- Boston and New York
- Reference collection
- Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore (electronic transcription of Woodberry 1909)
Catalogue identity, edition citation, source section boundaries and prior holdings checked. Known possible identity duplicates excluded. No claim of word-by-word proofreading.
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.
- Claim corroboration
- Not independently verified
Download this source
Local historical letter transcription — Woodberry 1909
Historical letter reading from George E. Woodberry, The Life of Edgar Allan Poe: Personal and Literary, volume II (1909). Catalogue identity RCL-503. The record heading uses the scholarly checklist date; the historical text retains the edition’s dateline and wording. This is a later printed transcription, not a manuscript facsimile or a modern critical text. Historical postscript and address material are retained where printed; source footnote callouts and modern website apparatus are omitted. The text has not been independently proofread word by word. William Duane’s endorsement is separately identified in the historical text and is retained as part of this witness.
Text · 2.3 KB
Download ↓
Reading text
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.
Local historical letter transcription — Woodberry 1909
Reading transcription · Review label: Known limitations
Edgar Allan Poe to William Duane Jr. — 1844-10-28
Historical letter reading from George E. Woodberry, The Life of Edgar Allan Poe: Personal and Literary, volume II (1909). Catalogue identity RCL-503. The record heading uses the scholarly checklist date; the historical text retains the edition’s dateline and wording. This is a later printed transcription, not a manuscript facsimile or a modern critical text. Historical postscript and address material are retained where printed; source footnote callouts and modern website apparatus are omitted. The text has not been independently proofread word by word. William Duane’s endorsement is separately identified in the historical text and is retained as part of this witness.
NEW YORK, October 28, 44.
MY DEAR SIR, — Owing to my absence from this city (where I am now residing), I did not receive your letter of the 15th until this morning.
I regret exceedingly that circumstances should have led you to think me negligent, or uncourteous, in not returning the volume of the “Messenger” — for one or the other (perhaps both) you must long since have considered me. The facts are these: Some eight months ago, I believe, I chanced to mention, in Mr. Hirst's hearing, that I wished to look over a particular article in the “Messenger.” He immediately volunteered to procure me the desired volume from you. I would much rather have borrowed it personally — but he seemed to make a point of the matter and I consented. Soon afterwards he handed me the book, which I retained a very short time. It is now certainly more than seven months since I returned it to Mr. Hirst, through my mother-in-law (Mrs. Clemm), who informs me that she left it at his office, with one of his brothers. Most probably it was deposited in a book-case, and thus overlooked and forgotten. May I trouble you to send for it.
Very truly yours,
EDGAR ALLAN POE.
WILLIAM DUANE, Esqr.
Endorsed by Duane: N. B. The statement contained in this letter that the volume of “The Southern Literary Messenger” in question was returned to Henry B. Hirst, Esqr. was pronounced by Mr. Hirst to be “a damned lie,” and subsequent events showed that Mr. Hirst was right in denying it — Mr. Poe having sold the book — I hope unintentionally — to William A. Leary, the book seller on Second St.
W. D.
Download this text file with its original spacing ↓
