Eureka: A Prose Poem.
$17,500 · Offered by Biblio
First edition
New York: George P. Putnam, 1848. First edition, first issue of Poe's classic work. Duodecimo, original publishers blind stamped black cloth with gilt lettering to the spine. First issue, without the review for Eureka on page 2 of the 16 page catalogue at the end of the book, but reads simply: “Poe. — Eureka, A Prose Poem: Or the Physical and Metaphysical Universe. By Edgar A. Poe, Esq.” In very good condition, with some light rubbing to the extremities, contemporary inscription to the front free endpaper. Housed in a custom clamshell box. An exceptional example of this rare and important text. Poe considered Eureka his magnum opus, but Putnam only agreed to publish 500 copies due to the unique nature of the material. Eureka has often been misunderstood and ridiculed, but it is in fact a remarkable precursor of several modern theories of physics and a powerful essay on the material and spiritual universe. Poe hypothesized that the universe began at a set point in the past and was finite rather than infinite. In arguing that the Universe of Stars must be finite, he appeals to the evidence of observed experience. Poe wrote, “Were the succession of stars endless, then the background of the sky would present us an uniform luminosity, like that displayed by the Galaxy–since there could be absolutely no point, in all that background, at which would not exist a star. The only mode, therefore, in which, under such a state of affairs, we could comprehend the voids which our telescopes
- Publisher: George P. Putnam
- Year: 1848
- Edition: First Edition
- Binding: hardcover
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