(Poe, Edgar Allan) — Sarah Helen Whitman | An early appraisal by the poet's one-time fiancée

(Poe, Edgar Allan) — Sarah Helen Whitman

Edgar Poe and His Critics. New York: Rudd and Carleton, 1860

12mo (182 x 115 mm). Half-title, publisher's advertisements at end; minor toning, one or two stray spots, marginal chip to half-title. Full brown morocco, bound by Frank Lawrence Embree, spin with raised bands in six compartments, top edge gilt, turn ins with multiple gilt rules, marbled endpapers, original brown cloth cover bound in at end; extremities rubbed, split to head of spine, upper joint starting, some offsetting onto endpapers.

First edition.

Sarah Helen Whitman—once the object of Edgar Allan Poe's affection—was a transcendentalist, and a talented essayist and poet in her own right. Poe and Whitman exchanged letters and poetry for some time before becoming engaged in 1848. Poe vowed to remain sober during their engagement, but this promise was broken within days. Beyond this, Whitman's mother discovered that Poe was also pursuing Annie Richmond. Still, the wedding had come so close to occurring that in January 1849, a newspaper in New London, Connecticut, had announced their union.