Read the 1842-11-19 letter from J. R. Lowell to Edgar Allan Poe in a locally hosted transcription from Harrison’s 1902 edition. Historical dating and text limitations are stated alongside the reading.
Historical printed text from James A. Harrison, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, volume XVII (1902). Catalog identity: RCL-400. The heading uses the checklist date; the transcription retains the historical edition’s dateline and wording. The edition may contain older readings, omissions or date assignments. This is a printed transcription, not a manuscript facsimile. Modern website corrections in double brackets and navigation are omitted. Independent word-by-word proofreading has not been completed. The source citation is 120-121. No matching date/correspondent identity was found in the published archive; known ambiguous matches were excluded.
Original publication
LOWELL TO POE.
Date
1842-11-19
Credits
J. R. Lowell (letter); James A. Harrison (1902 editor)
Publisher
Thomas Y. Crowell & Company
Published in
New York
Reference collection
Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore (electronic transcription of the 1902 edition)
Matched by correspondent and exact date or the checklist’s explicit volume XVII page citation. Historical summaries, identified partial readings and possible duplicate letters were held out. This record preserves the historical edition’s text and does not certify the accuracy of every word.
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Local historical letter transcription — Harrison 1902
Historical printed text from James A. Harrison, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, volume XVII (1902). Catalog identity: RCL-400. The heading uses the checklist date; the transcription retains the historical edition’s dateline and wording. The edition may contain older readings, omissions or date assignments. This is a printed transcription, not a manuscript facsimile. Modern website corrections in double brackets and navigation are omitted. Independent word-by-word proofreading has not been completed.
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 — Harrison 1902
Reading transcription · Review label: Known limitations
J. R. Lowell to Edgar Allan Poe — 1842-11-19
Historical printed text from James A. Harrison, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, volume XVII (1902). Catalog identity: RCL-400. The heading uses the checklist date; the transcription retains the historical edition’s dateline and wording. The edition may contain older readings, omissions or date assignments. This is a printed transcription, not a manuscript facsimile. Modern website corrections in double brackets and navigation are omitted. Independent word-by-word proofreading has not been completed.
LOWELL TO POE.
[Scribner's Monthly, August, 1894.]
BOSTON, Nov. 19, 1842. NO. 4 Court St.
MY DEAR FRIEND, — Your letter has given me great pleasure in two ways; — first, as it assures me of the friendship and approbation of almost the only fearless American critic, and second (to be Irish) since it contains your acquiescence to a request which I had already many times mentally preferred to you. Had you not written you would soon have heard from me. I give you carte blanche for prose or verse as may best please you — with one exception — namely I do not wish an article like that of yours on [Rufus] Dawes, who, although I think with you that he is a bad poet, has yet I doubt not tender feelings as a man which I should be chary of wounding. I think that I shall be hardest pushed for good stories (imaginative ones) & if you are inspired to anything of the kind I should be glad to get it.
I thank you for your kind consideration as to terms of payment, seeing that herein my ability does not come near my exuberant will. But I can offer you $10 for every article at first with the understanding that, as soon as I am able I shall pay you more according to my opinion of your deserts. If the magazine fail, I shall consider myself personally responsible to all my contributors. Let me hear from you at your earliest convenience & believe me always your friend
J. R. LOWELL.
E. A. POE, Esq.
I am already (I mean my magazine) in the press — but anything sent “right away” will be in season for the first number, in which I should like to have you appear.
Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. “J. R. Lowell to Edgar Allan Poe — 1842-11-19.” 1842-11-19. LOWELL TO POE.. Crypt of Echoes evidence ID LED-2026-d3144d772076497fa7d66af3161702a0. https://cryptofechoes.com/evidence/LED-2026-d3144d772076497fa7d66af3161702a0. Accessed [date].
Catalogue citation: James A. Harrison, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, volume XVII (1902), jah17l06.htm, printed page anchor pg0120. Correspondence identifier RCL-400.
Historical letter text and 1902 printed edition are public domain in the United States. Modern navigation, website notes and the 2008 critical edition are not included.
