The Raven" in THE AMERICAN REVIEW: A Whig Journal of Politics, Literature, Art and Science, Vol. I.

by Poe, Edgar Allan writing as "Quarles

$7,500 · Offered by Biblio

First edition

New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. The first printing of "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49). Among the most famous works in American literature, the poem tells of a raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into madness. It appears anonymously on p.143-145 as "by ——— Quarles." The first appearance of "The Raven" is something of a bibliographical dispute. Heartman and Canny consider this form to be the first printing, maintaining that the January 29, 1845 appearance in The Evening Mirror is not the first. The American Review had announced that "No. II will bear date Feb. 1845, but will be issued early in January", thus, unless the publishers were unable to issue the work by the date promised, the present version clearly predates the late January appearance in The Evening Mirror. Octavo: [ii], iv, 656 pp. with a frontispiece portrait of Henry Clay. This volume contains other work by Poe, including the first printing of "Some Words with a Mummy" (p.363), as well as "Valley of Unrest" (p.392), and "The City in the Sea" (p.393). Original calf binding, with black morocco spine labels, gilt-stamped titles and decorations, four raised bands, blind-stamped borders, and marbled endpapers. Scattered light foxing to the contents, with a previous owner's pencil inscription to a prefatory blank leaf. The bookplate of American botanist and horticulturalist Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick appears on the front pastedown.

• Publisher: Wiley and Putnam
• Year: 1845
• Edition: First Edition
• Printing: first
• Binding: hardcover

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