Edgar allan poe died in 1849 then why are some of the stories on ur site dated 1850? according to my research on Poe "The Narrative of Aurthor Gordon Pyn" was originally publish July 1838 not in 1850 like ur site is persenting

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2002

Answers

If you are referring to the www.eapoe.org website I believe the nature of the publications containing textual variants is discussed enough to answer the question. Poe was always recycling and revising old material and in his last years final revisions and anthologies were well under way. His death obviously ended the revisions so that finally,authoritative, or at least the latest versions could be published.

That is true of any opus, especially when the artist is always revising up until his death. Some of the flaws of the early publication, as in the case of "... Pym" where the British editors committed some atrocities, do not make them the best representative texts.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2002

I think erica means Stefan Gosmer's site, the one which is responsible for this particular series of thread. While one might have a text of Pym from 1856, there was no 1850 version. (Volume 4 of Griswold's edition came out three years after the first three.)

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2002

Any reference to an 1850 edition of Poe's works implies a definitive text, as compiled, posthumously, by Griswold, with, probably, some authority,for the NY Redfield publisher.The first two volumes ("Tales"; "Poems & Miscellanies") appeared in January,1850, copyrighted "1849". The third volume, initially an independant one, was out in the last days of September, 1850, copyrighted "1850", and containing "The Literati..." a selection from Poe's various critical writings and Marginalia, together with the "Fifty Suggestions". These three volumes were reissued in sets copyrighted "1850". The last volume, the fourth one, beginning with "A. G. Pym" (together with some humorous tales neglected by Griswold, as well as several essays and reviews) appeared six years later, in 1856, copyrighted "1856". When so completed, the four-volumes set of the Griswold/Redfield corpus of Poe's works were regularly republished, often with the "1850" copyright for the first three ones, and with the "1856" copyright for the vol.IV. Note that this is not at all an abolute rule, and we may find, even in 1913, some reprints (in ten volumes!) all copyrighted...1849! A confusing and confused matter, to say the least. But probably a sign to point out both the popularity and the "triviality" in which editors kept Poe's marvellous works... Yours sincerely, Raven's Shade (Belgium).

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2002

Actually, Griswold's texts are not always definitive since he did not have access to Poe's revised version of Tales (1845) and The Raven and Other Poems (1845) until after the first two volumes came out. There are a number of interesting, though not extravagant, changes for several poems. The most notable changes for the tales are for "The Gold Bug." There is some debate as to whether Griswold's changes in Pym are from a corrected copy left behind by Poe (but not specifically noted in any surviving documentation) or by Griswold as editor.

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2002