Edgar Poe and His Critics

Providence, Rhode Island: Tibbitts and Preston, 1885. First published in 1860; stated Second Edition and 1885 at title page. Copyright 1884 by Charlotte F. Dailey and Maud Chace. Contains first edition preface of Sarah Helen Whitman and a new preface by a W. F. C. Dark green cloth boards retaining some sheen, sharp gilt cover titles and design, moderate shelf wear, rub. Front board depicts bright gilt design of raven peering down from branch. Thick straight cut leaves, near fine, clean. Light brown and cream floral patterned endpapers. Rare frontispiece portrait of Poe with fine tissue guard: "From a Daguerreotype taken for Sarah Helen Whitman." Bind fine; hinges intact. Rare near fine beautiful example. An early and favorable description of Edgar Poe written by a former love interest, Sarah Helen Whitman. Whitman refutes earlier biographies describing him as mostly melancholy and lonely. Whitman specifically responds to the repeated characterization in news and books of Griswold's savaging of his memory and reputation, during an era in which Poe was generally ignored by the literary press. This first hand defense of Poe's character was published ten years following his departure. Sarah Helen Whitman was an American poet, essayist, transcendentalist, spiritualist and a romantic interest of Edgar Allan Poe. From the Preface: "The life and genius of Edgar Poe have created a special literature of their own. 'Edgar Poe and his Critics' was the earliest book to vindicate Poe from the malice of his enemies, and to unveil something of the mystery of his life. It was the tribute of a poet to a poet, and of a woman to the character of a man to whom she was betrothed, and from whom she was strangely separated in the last year of his life. 'Edgar Poe and his Critics' is an essential part of the literature which, in England, France, and America, irradiates the name of Poe." Electrotyped and Printed by Rand, Avery, and Company, Boston, Mass. 69 pages. Insured post.. Second Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.