Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849). "The Raven" in The American Review. Volume I, number II. New York: Edward O. Jenkins for Wiley and Putnam, February 1845 [but early January].

8vo (229 x 147 mm). (Light spotting throughout, a few leaves creased at corners.) ORIGINAL PRINTED WRAPPERS (spotting to covers, light wear to upper cover fore-corners and spine ends); folding case.

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door...."

THE FIRST PRINTING OF "THE RAVEN" IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS. The poem appears anonymously on pp.143-145 as "by ——— Quarles." The first appearance of "The Raven" is a matter of some bibliographical dispute. Heartman and Canny consider this form to be the first printing, maintaining that the 29 January 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.

The Raven is Poe’s most famous and enduring poem, a masterwork of American Gothic literature whose haunting refrain—“Nevermore”—quickly entered the cultural imagination. The poem recounts a grief-stricken narrator’s midnight encounter with a mysterious raven that perches above his chamber door, gradually transforming mourning into psychological torment. Heartman & Canny, p.100; Tane Poe 177. A VERY BRIGHT COPY IN THE RARE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS.

This lot is located in Chicago.

Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849). "The Raven" in The American Review. Volume I, number II. New York: Edward O. Jenkins for Wiley and Putnam, February 1845 [but early January].