Fourth Supplement to The Letters of Poe

Abstract

INCE THE I966 EDITION OF The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe,' new J letters in whole or in part, additional bibliographical information, and important Check List data have come to light.2 The present Supplement supplies this material, identifying each entry according to the plan adopted for the volumes and for earlier supplements.3 Of special importance are materials, available for the first time, from the Richard Gimbel collection, now in the Rare Book Department of The Free Library of Philadelphia, the location of James Russell Lowell letters to Poe in the Humanities Research Center of The University of Texas at Austin, and a list of letters by Poe that Thomas Ollive Mabbott labeled as possible forgeries in his personal copy of The Letters. The list is included here, not to identify such items as definite forgeries but to provide the opinion of America's distinguished Poe scholar. Where texts make authenticity questionable, perhaps the final word depends upon handwriting experts. By making positive identification of a letter as original manuscript or forgery, they will serve all people interested in Poe studies.