The Opal
$350,000 · Offered by Biblio
First edition · Signed
8o. (Some minor occasional foxing.) Engraved frontispiece, additional title, and 7 plates. Original publisher's plum cloth, sides decorated in gilt and blind, spine gilt-decorated, edges gilt (spine lightly sunned, minor wear to extremities, first gathering sprung). Provenance: THOMAS HOLLEY CHIVERS (1809-1858), poet and friend of Poe (presentation inscription in pencil from Poe on title-page); J.H. Whitty, Poe bibliographer and scholar (ink provenance note laid in). FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY POE TO HIS FRIEND AND FELLOW-POET THOMAS HOLLEY CHIVERS on the title-page: "E.A.P. to T.H.C." Contains the first printing of Poe's sketch "Morning on the Wissahiccon" (pp. 249-256), which was later renamed "The Elk" when republished after Poe's death. Thomas Holley Chivers was an American doctor-turned-poet from Georgia. Poe showed an interest in the young poet and encouraged his work. The first interaction between the two was in 1840 though they did not meet until 1845 in New York. "Chivers's own poetry at this time dwelt on shrouds, coffins, angels, and celestial reunion with lost loved ones, his The Lost Pleiad (1845) featuring sonnets with such titles as 'Death,' 'The Grave,' and 'On Hearing of the Death of my Mother.' Not surprisingly, Poe praised the volume as 'the honest and fervent utterance of an exquisitely sensitive heart,' and particularly admired a poem of Chivers whose refrain was 'She came from heaven to tell me she was blest.' (He often recited it, wi
- Publisher: John C. Riker
- Year: 1844
- Edition: First Edition
- Printing: first
- Binding: hardcover
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