The Stylus, originally intended to be named The Penn, was a would-be periodical owned and edited by Edgar Allan Poe. It had long been a dream of Poe to establish an American journal with very high standards in order to elevate the literature of the time. Despite attempts at signing up subscribers and finding financial backers and contributors, the journal never came to be.
Though Poe thought of creating the journal as early as 1834, he first announced his prospectus in June 1840 immediately after leaving Burton's Gentleman's Magazine . [1] Originally, Poe intended to call the journal The Penn, as it would have been based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the June 6, 1840, issue of Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post , Poe purchased advertising space for his prospectus: "PROSPECTUS OF THE PENN MAGAZINE, a Monthly Literary Journal, to be Edited and Published in the city of Philadelphia, by Edgar A. Poe." [2] Many were looking forward to the magazine, including Connecticut-born journalist Jesse Erskine Dow, editor of the Index, who wrote: "We trust that he will soon come out with his Penn Magazine, a work which, if carried out as he designs it, will do away with the monopoly of puffing and break the fetters which a corps of pensioned blockheads have bound so long around the brows of young intellects who are too proud to pay a literary pimp for a favorable notice in a mammoth six penny or a good word with the fathers of the Row, who drink wine out of the skulls of authors and grow fat upon the geese that feed upon the grass that waves over their early tomb stones". [3]
Poe soon realized he needed to "endeavor to support the general interests of the republic of letters, without reference to particular regions — regarding the world at large as the true audience of the author". [4] Georgia poet Thomas Holley Chivers claimed he suggested it to Poe. It was renamed The Stylus , a pun on the word "Penn" ("pen") and specifically "the Pen with which the Greeks used to write". [5]
F. O. C. Darley signed a contract on January 31, 1843, to create original illustrations for The Stylus. The contract requested at least three illustrations per month, "on wood or paper as required," but no more than five. Darley would have earned $7 per illustration. The contract was through July 1, 1844. [6] Shortly after this contract was put in place, Darley illustrated Poe's tale "The Gold-Bug". [7] On February 25, 1843, another announcement for The Stylus was made which took up an entire page. In it, Poe's status as a poet was emphasized and it included the first published image of Poe; Poe wrote of it, "I am ugly enough God knows, but not quite so bad as that." [8]
In a letter to James Russell Lowell dated March 30, 1844, Poe outlined the kind of journal America needed:
How dreadful is the present condition of our Literature! To what are things heading? We want... a well-founded Monthly Journal, of sufficient ability, circulation and character, to control, and to give tone to, our Letters. It should be, externally, a specimen of high, but not too refined Taste:-I mean, it should be boldly printed, on excellent paper, in single column, and be illustrated, not merely embellished, by spirited wood designs in the style of Grandville. Its chief aims should be Independence, Truth, Originality. It should be a journal of some 120 pp. and furnished at $5. It should have nothing to do with Agents or Agencies. Such a Magazine might be made to exercise a prodigious influence, and would be a source of wealth to its proprietors. [9]
Poe wrote a letter to his cousin Neilson Poe on August 8, 1845, in which he stated very confidently, "In January I shall establish a Magazine." [10] Even so, he never saw his dream come true despite having several published solicitations for subscribers. He came close, however, when he became the owner and editor of the Broadway Journal in October 1845. It ceased publication shortly thereafter when its final edition appeared on January 3, 1846. [11] In a letter to Sarah Josepha Hale in January 1846, Poe wrote that, "The B. Journal had fulfilled its destiny... I had never regarded it as more than a temporary adjunct to other design." [12]
That great design, Poe said, was to continue his plans for the establishment of his own magazine. By August 1846, he called The Stylus "the one great purpose of my literary life." He prophetically added, "Undoubtedly (unless I die) I will accomplish it." [13]
Poe was not able to support the founding of his magazine out of pocket, in part because of the after-effects of the Panic of 1837, [14] and sought out investors. On January 17, 1840, Poe wrote a letter to friend and fellow writer John Pendleton Kennedy asking for his help in funding the magazine: "Since you gave me my first start in the literary world... you will not feel surprised that I look anxiously to you for encouragement in this new enterprise", he wrote. [15] George Rex Graham offered financial support and hired Poe as an editor for his magazine, suggesting he would help with The Penn after six months. After Poe began work on Graham's Magazine , Graham published an announcement in the Saturday Evening Post that The Penn was to be "suspended". [16]
Another possible financial backer was fellow poet Thomas Holley Chivers, a wealthy friend of Poe who would later defend Poe's posthumous reputation. Chivers at the time believed Poe was under-appreciated, especially for his work with Graham's Magazine, but was concerned with his harsh literary criticism. [17] Chivers may also have been offered the position of co-editor. [18] He turned down the proposition because of the distraction caused by the death of his three-year-old daughter. [19]
In early 1843, Poe contacted Thomas C. Clarke, publisher of Philadelphia's Saturday Museum. [20] A contract was signed on January 31, 1843, with the agreement that the first issue would be issued on July 1. [21] They considered purchasing the subscription list of the Southern Literary Messenger around February. [22] By May of that year, Clarke withdrew his support in part because of difficulties with his own magazine and in part because of concerns over Poe's drinking. [23]
In February 1848, Poe presented a lecture titled "On The Cosmography of the Universe" (later printed as Eureka: A Prose Poem ) at the Society Library in New York. [24] Poe had hoped the profits from the lecture would raise significant funds for The Stylus. [25] He had expected an audience of hundreds; only 60 people attended and, of those, most were confused by the topic. [26] One newspaper reviewed the lecture very favorably and acknowledged its importance as a fund raiser:
We understand that the purpose of Poe's lectures is to raise the necessary capital for the establishment of a magazine, which he proposes to call "The Stylus." They who like literature without trammels, and criticism without gloves, should sent in their names forthwith as subscribers. If there be in the world a born anatomist of thought, it is Mr. Poe... The severe difficulties with which Mr. Poe has been visited within the last year, have left him in a position to devote himself, self-sacrificingly, to his new task... he will doubtless give it that most complete attention which alone can make such an enterprise successful. [27]
Poe had a fair amount of support for The Stylus in the literary world. William Gilmore Simms wrote in June 1843, "Mr. Poe is well calculated to conduct a literary magazine. He is acknowledged as one of our best writers and critics." [28] Several people and organizations subscribed to the journal before Poe's death. A list of potential subscribers he kept included Nathan C. Brooks, William Cullen Bryant, Sarah Josepha Hale, Charles Fenno Hoffman, John Pendleton Kennedy, George Lippard, James Russell Lowell, Anna Cora Mowatt, Frances Sargent Osgood, James Kirke Paulding, Thomas Mayne Reid, Jeremiah N. Reynolds, and Nathaniel Parker Willis. Several student societies also were interested in subscribing, including ones located at Dickinson College, Hampden-Sydney College, Jefferson College, Lafayette College, Marshall College, St. John's College, and St. Mary's College of Maryland. [29]
Poe had lofty plans for the make-up of the magazine. He was planning on setting standards very high, anticipating finer quality paper, superior woodcuts, sharper criticism, and bolder original fiction. These higher standards would be reflected in a higher than usual annual subscription price of $5. [1] Early in its planning stages, he promised financial backers that he would start with 500 subscribers - a number which he expected to be 5,000 before the end of its second year. "There is no earthly reason why," he said, "such a Magazine may not, eventually, reach a circulation as great as that of Graham's at present - viz 50,000". [19] He also anticipated having correspondents in Berlin and Paris. [30] James Russell Lowell offered a poem and also convinced Nathaniel Hawthorne to contribute a short story to the first issue in 1843. [31]
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
"A Descent into the Maelström" is an 1841 short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. In the tale, a man recounts how he survived a shipwreck and a whirlpool. It has been grouped with Poe's tales of ratiocination and also labeled an early form of science fiction.
"The Gold-Bug" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe published in 1843. The plot follows William Legrand, who becomes fixated on an unusual gold-colored bug he has discovered. His servant Jupiter fears that Legrand is going insane and goes to Legrand's friend, an unnamed narrator, who agrees to visit his old friend. Legrand pulls the other two into an adventure after deciphering a secret message that will lead to a buried treasure.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, written in 1838, is the only complete novel by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym, including shipwreck, mutiny, and cannibalism, before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures farther south. Docking on land, they encounter hostile, black-skinned natives before escaping back to the ocean. The novel ends abruptly as Pym and Peters continue toward the South Pole.
Rufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842 collection The Poets and Poetry of America. This anthology, the most comprehensive of its time, included what he deemed the best examples of American poetry. He produced revised versions and similar anthologies for the remainder of his life, although many of the poets he promoted have since faded into obscurity. Many writers hoped to have their work included in one of these editions, although they commented harshly on Griswold's abrasive character. Griswold was married three times: his first wife died young, his second marriage ended in a public and controversial divorce, and his third wife left him after the previous divorce was almost repealed.
"Al Aaraaf" is an early poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1829. It tells of the afterlife in a place called Al Aaraaf, inspired by A'raf as described in the Quran. At 422 lines, it is Poe's longest poem.
The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from August 1834 to June 1864, and from 1939 to 1945. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation thereof and included poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, and historical notes. It was founded by Thomas Willis White, who served as publisher and occasional editor until his death, in 1843.
"The Mystery of Marie Rogêt", often subtitled A Sequel to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe written in 1842. This is the first murder mystery based on the details of a real crime. It first appeared in Snowden's Ladies' Companion in three installments, November and December 1842 and February 1843. Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination".
Virginia Eliza Poe was the wife of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The couple were first cousins and publicly married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27. Biographers disagree as to the nature of the couple's relationship. Though their marriage was loving, some biographers suggest they viewed one another more like a brother and sister. In January 1842, she contracted tuberculosis, growing worse for five years until she died of the disease at the age of 24 in the family's cottage, at that time outside New York City.
"MS. Found in a Bottle" is an 1833 short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The plot follows an unnamed narrator at sea who finds himself in a series of harrowing circumstances. As he nears his own disastrous death while his ship drives ever southward, he writes an "MS.", or manuscript, telling of his adventures which he casts into the sea. Some critics believe the story was meant as a satire of typical sea tales.
"Metzengerstein: A Tale in Imitation of the German" is a short story by American writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe, his first to see print. It was first published in the pages of Philadelphia's Saturday Courier magazine, in 1832. The story follows the young Frederick, the last of the Metzengerstein family, who carries on a long-standing feud with the Berlifitzing family. Suspected of causing a fire that kills the Berlifitzing family patriarch, Frederick becomes intrigued with a previously unnoticed and untamed horse. Metzengerstein is punished for his cruelty when his own home catches fire and the horse carries him into the flame. Part of a Latin hexameter by Martin Luther serves as the story's epigraph: Pestis eram vivus—moriens tua mors ero.
The death of Edgar Allan Poe on October 7, 1849, has remained mysterious in regard to both the cause of death and the circumstances leading to it. American author Edgar Allan Poe was found delirious and disheveled at a tavern in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 3. He sought the help of magazine editor Joseph E. Snodgrass and was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he was treated for apparent intoxication. Poe had no visitors in the hospital and gave no account of how he came to be in his condition before dying on October 7 at age 40.
Graham's Magazine was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine, Graham's Magazine of Literature and Art, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, and Graham's Illustrated Magazine of Literature, Romance, Art, and Fashion.
George Rex Graham was an American magazine editor and publisher from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He founded the journal Graham's Magazine at the age of 27 after buying Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and Atkinson's Casket. His journal became very popular and it was known for its generous payment to contributors.
Politian (1835) is the only play known to have been written by Edgar Allan Poe, composed in 1835, but never completed.
The Broadway Journal was a short-lived New York City-based newspaper founded by Charles Frederick Briggs and John Bisco in 1844 and was published from January 1845 to January 1846. In its first year, the publication was bought by Edgar Allan Poe, becoming the only periodical he ever owned, though it failed after only a few months under his leadership.
Burton's Gentleman's Magazine and American Monthly Review, was a literary publication published in Philadelphia from 1837 to 1840. Its founder was William Evans Burton, an English-born immigrant to the United States who also managed a theatre and was a minor actor. Edgar Allan Poe was an editor and contributor in 1839–40.
Tamerlane and Other Poems is the first published work by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The short collection of poems was first published in 1827. Today, it is believed only 12 copies of the collection still exist.
Thomas Holley Chivers was an American doctor-turned-poet from the state of Georgia. He is best known for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe and his controversial defense of the poet after his death.
The works of American author Edgar Allan Poe include many poems, short stories, and one novel. His fiction spans multiple genres, including horror fiction, adventure, science fiction, and detective fiction, a genre he is credited with inventing. These works are generally considered part of the Dark romanticism movement, a literary reaction to Transcendentalism. Poe's writing reflects his literary theories: he disagreed with didacticism and allegory. Meaning in literature, he said in his criticism, should be an undercurrent just beneath the surface; works whose meanings are too obvious cease to be art. Poe pursued originality in his works, and disliked proverbs. He often included elements of popular pseudosciences such as phrenology and physiognomy. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead, and mourning. Though known as a masterly practitioner of Gothic fiction, Poe did not invent the genre; he was following a long-standing popular tradition.