The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe

Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Foreword by Shawn Rosenheim. The Johns Hopkins UP, 1998, pp. 338-39:

Undiscouraged by his failure to secure a publisher for his Phantasy Pieces, Poe attempted to issue his tales in pamphlet form. William H. Graham, a Philadelphia publisher, printed in 1843 The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe, in what was hopefully described on the title page as a “Uniform Serial Edition.” “No. 1” contained “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Man That Was Used Up.” These were the two stories which had led the Table of Contents in the Phantasy Pieces, and if the first issue had been successful, Poe would probably have proceeded in that order to continue the publication of his stories. But no further issues appeared, and the pamphlet has become one of the rarest of all Poe’s publications. The volume in the Library of Congress, which Poe gave to Francis J. Grund, the Bohemian traveller and writer upon American life, is insured for $50,000. On the same title-page on which his autograph has enhanced the present value, there is clearly printed — “Price 12½ Cents.”

POE, Edgar Allan (1809-1849). [Cover title:] The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe. Uniform Serial Edition. No. 1; Containing, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and the Man That Was Used Up. Philadelphia: Published by William H. Graham, 1843. 8o (231 x 147 mm). 40 pages, numbered [9]-48. ORIGINAL PRINTED PALE TAN WRAPPERS (spine lacking and unprinted rear wrapper detached, wrappers a little soiled and spotted, an inch closed tear in blank lower margin of front wrapper, first page of text and a few other pages at rear foxed); tan half morocco folding case. Christie’s: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1958190. Accessed 2 April 2022.

The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe (1843)