Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, page 339
In our autograph article for November your name was crowded out on account of the length of the comment upon it. It heads the list in the December no; which is already finished.
Griswold’s book will be issued in January.
I am glad to hear of Dows’ success. I wonder he never sends me an “Index”.
Our Mag: is progressing at the most astounding rate. When Burton was bought out — you know when that was — the joint list of both Mags. was 5000. In January we print 25000 Such a thing was never heard of before. Ah, if we could only get up the “Penn”! I have made a definite engagement with Graham for 1842 — but nothing to interfere with my own scheme, should I be able by any good luck, to go into it. Graham holds out a hope of his joining me in July. Is there no one among your friends at Washington — no one having both brains & funds who would engage in such an enterprise? Perhaps not. I comfort myself, however, with the assurance that the [time] must come when I shall have a journal under my own control. Till then — patience.
Do write me soon, and say something of your own hopes and views. What are you about in the scribbling way?
Sincerely your friend
Edgar A. Poe
Have you read Simm’s new book?
FREDERICK W. THOMAS TO EDGAR ALLAN POE — NOVEMBER 6, 1841
Washington November 6. 1841.
My Dear Friend —
The above will explain itself — The Judge, who is the author of the views of Louisiana, and other works which have great merit, and who is a distinguished lawyer, &c, was speaking to me of his father’s biography which he said he had written and which he handed me for perusal — I thought it would be the thing for your work, and advised him to send it to you — He said that he had promised to send it to Mr. Colton, the editor of the North American — Since he told me hi thought I was right and he would like to have the biography published in your Magazine, or the Southern Literary Messenger — I advised that of which you were the editor — I think it an excellent bit of biography — Write me frankly about it — (get it forthwith). If it does not suit your Magazine, let me know frankly and I will send it to the Southern Literary Messenger.
I have not got my song yet — though I got your letter — and have been wondering for a long time why I had not gotten one from you before — I began to get provoked with you for not writing.
My dear fellow I don’t believe that Phrenology can make much of an “extravaganza” (as you say) account of your head, or Physiology of your heart either — There, sir, beat that by way of a downright phrase to draw a blush from a modest man — “merit is always modest.”
I write this in great haste — Let me hear from you as soon as convenient with regard to the Judge’s MS: You can just show Colton this letter and the MS will of course be handed to you by him — The Judge is anxious to hear about it and as he is a friend of mine I am anxious to put his mind to rest — He can and I have no doubt will furnish you many interesting articles for your Magazine. I wish indeed that you had a friend here who had “both brains and funds”, as you say, to embark in the Penn. It will all come right some day. I believe you can make the best Magazine extant; and your friends, if you were embarking in your own boat, would feel much deeper interest, and give more aid to your exclusive work than to any other — Write me —
In haste your friend,
F. W. Thomas
You have read “Modern Chiv(alry”) of course — What do you think of it — The biography is true (and) very good — Is it too long for your Magazine —
Notes:
The end note is written on the side of a page.
The “enclosure” is a letter from H. M Brackenridge to F. W. Thomas:
Washington Novr. 6: 1841 —
Dear Sir: —
About ten days ago I gave to our friend W. Colton, Esqr. a MSS biography of my late father, H. H. Brackenridge, with a view of having it published in the N. American, or some other journal of Philadelphia. This publication was intended as a precursor to the publication of a new and improved edition of “Modern Chivalry” now about to be put to press by: Messrs. Kay, brothers & Co. I have since been convinced that some well known periodical would be preferable to a dayly (daily) print, because the length of the article would be too great for one paper, and it would not do so well to break it up into numbers, or parts. You mentioned to me Graham’s Magazine, as well adapted to my purpose, and were so good as to say that you would interest yourself in procuring its insertion in that paper. The article is intended to be reprinted in the new edition of Modern Chivalry, provided it can be conveniently comprised in the first vol. of the work, which will depend on the quantity of matter; perhaps an abridgement may be all that can be admitted. With this understanding, I shall be thankful if you can procure its publication in Mr Graham’s paper. Mr. Colton on seeing this letter will hand over the MSS. to Mr E. A. Poe, the editor of the Magazine, unless the publication shall have been commenced in the N. American —
I am respectfully
Yours
H. M. Brackenridge
F. W. Thomas, Esqr.
This enclosure still accompanies the manuscript letter from Thomas to Poe.
FREDERICK W. THOMAS TO EDGAR ALLAN POE — NOVEMBER 10, 1841
Washington November 10, 1841.
My dear Friend —
This morning I received yours with regard to Judge Brackenridge’s MS: Thanks for your punctuality and promptness. I read the Judge what you said (of course leaving out what Graham said about its “heaviness”) at which he seemed much pleased.
The Judge wishes it sent to the Messenger. Please therefore, by return of mail, if convenient, to send the MS: to the Judge under cover directly: —
To Walter Fosward Secretary of Treasury Washington
The Judge will then hand it to me and I will send it to White.
I am sorry that your lady likes not the music to which my song is married — discord must be the result — the opposite of what was anticipated. Lea has sent me no copies. I think I wrote you that I liked your autographic article very much. It is very pointed and shrewd. Everything is dull here as death in the political line.
You, my dear Poe, have a very high reputation here among the literatti and more than once in “dining out” I have discussed you and made conversational capital out of you — If I were permanently fixed in office, I could get leave of absence, without stoppage of pay, and then I could slip on to the city of brotherly love and shake you by the hand.
God bless you. I was at a wedding last night, among beautiful women. Can’t you see it by my hand, for it is “Byronic” like the hands when he wrote about “The dark eye in women.” I wish I had his chances — it’s damned little I’d write about any thing except to subscribe myself ever your friend.
(F. W. Thomas)
FREDERICK W. THOMAS TO EDGAR ALLAN POE — NOVEMBER 23, 1841
Washington November 23. 1841.
My dear Friend —
Mr. Willig has not done me the honor of sending me the aforesaid copies of my song — If you should see him will you be so kind as to jog his memory upon the point —
Judge Brackenridge’s MS came safely to hand and has been transmitted to the Messenger, from whose editor I received all kinds of a courteous letter —
I looked in my trunk in hopes of obtaining an autograph of Prentice; but I find I have none by me — I have written to Louisville and wonder I do not hear from there, from him. He, however is a careless personage in answering letters I suspect —
Poe, I have commenced the study of the French language, and wish that you would give me some advice as to the best manner of pursuing it — do you consider its acquirement very difficult? — No it could not have been difficult to you, as you have such a talent for languages; but it will be I fear very much so to me — I am anxious to have your advice on the subject —
Can I be of any service to the Magazine here? Command me if I can — Have you heard from John P. Kennedy since I wrote you — His Whig “Manifesto” I suspect, has “used up” as we say in the West, all the influence he might have had at the White House — Can’t you slip on here and see us —
I have not succeeded in being permanently fixed yet in any situation — I receive so much while engaged; and if absent from my desk, for instance, for a day, that day brings me nothing — If I had a permanent situation, which I am promised, I could get leave of absence, my salary still continuing, and I could slip on to the City of Brotherly love and shake you by the hand, which I certainly should — I long to have a talk with you, Poe — On my conscience I know no man whom I would rather meet than you — No! I would rather meet you than any “feller” as Sam Weller says that I know —
Write to me soon — Make my warmest regards to your wife and mother; and believe me truly and sincerely your friend
F. W. Thomas
Edgar A. Poe Esqr Philadelphia —
EDGAR ALLAN POE TO FREDERICK W. THOMAS — NOVEMBER 26, 1841
Philadelphia, Nov. 26 — 41.
My Dear Thomas,
I am astonished to hear that you have not yet received the music, as, upon receipt of your last, I procured it of Willig, and put it into the hands of Burgess, our Magazine agent here, who promised to >>follow<< forward it to Taylor the Magazine agent in Washington. Taylor was to deliver it to you. You had better call upon him. It is the same man upon whom you had the draft.
You need not put yourself to trouble about Prentice’s autograph, as we have now closed that business. I suppose you have not the December number yet — it has been ready for several weeks. The January no: is nearly prepared — we have an autograph article in each. Should Prentice send on his signature, however, I would be glad to get it.
In the Dec. no: you will see a notice to the effect that a Mr Richard Bolton, of Pontotoc Miss.i, has solved Dr Frailey’s cypher. You must put no great faith in this announcement. Mr Bolton sent me a letter dated at a period long after the reception of our Magazines in Pontotoc, and fully a month after the preparation of the number containing the answer by myself. He pretends not to have seen my solution — but his own contains internal evidence of the fact. Three blunders in mine are copied in his own, & two or three corrections of Dr Frailey’s original, by myself, are also faithfully repeated. I had the alternative of denying his claim and thus appearing invidious, or of sharing with him an honor which, in the eyes of the mob at least, is not much above that of a bottle-conjuror so I chose the last and have put a finale to this business.
Touching your study of the French language. You will, I fear, find it difficult — as, (if I rightly understood you,) you have not received what is called a “classical” education. To the Latin & Greek proficient, the study of all additional languages is mere play — but to the non-proficient it is anything else. The best advice I can give you, under the circumstances, is to busy yourself with the theory or grammar of the language as little as possible & to read side-by-side translations continually, of which there are many to be found. I mean French books in which the literal English version is annexed page per page. Board, also, at a French boarding-house, and force yourself to speak French — bad or good — whether you can or whether you cannot.
I have not heard from Kennedy for a long time, and I think, upon the whole, he has treated me somewhat cavalierly — professing to be a friend.
I would give the world to see you once again and have a little chat. Dow you & I — “when shall we three meet again?” Soon, I hope — for I must try & slip over to Washington some of these days.
Do you hear often from your friends at St Louis? When you write, remember me kindly to your sister Frances — if I may take the liberty of requesting to be remembered where, never having been known personally, there can be nothing to remember. We have had “Clinton Bradshaw” here (the confounded “devils” will print it Bradshawe) and the “Dedication” has set us all to thinking & talking about the “dedicatee”[.]
God bless you —
Edgar A Poe
FREDERICK W. THOMAS TO EDGAR ALLAN POE — JANUARY 13 AND 14, 1842
Washington January 13, 1842.
My dear friend —
I trust, for the sake of the regard, which, I believe, you entertain for me, that you have been wondering why long ere this I have not answered your last letter. I had hoped to wish you a happy new year in Philadelphia, but the fates ordained it otherwise — And instead of the cordial greeting I had expected to give and receive hand in hand I must be content with the colder one of a letter —
I thought I had made arrangements whereby about the middle of last month I might visit Philadelphia, and spend a week or two — but I was prevented by being compelled to attend to my duties here, for the meeting of Congress has accumulated the papers upon my desk faster than I expected —
I have felt the truth of your advice about the study of French — My teacher thinks that I can easily acquire the pronunciation, but I fear it will tax my industry fearfully to master the language grammatically. — I believe that if I were thrown among the French that I could learn it orally, much sooner than one who by book would beat me by all odds. —
January 14th.
My dear Poe, just as I had finished the word “odds” above I was taken off to “schedule” some fellows’ claims to office — Think of it in comparison to the “primrose path of dalliance” in literature — but that “primrose path of dalliance” how beset with thorns of poverty — and there’s the consolation.
Many thanks to you for your kind notice of me among your autographs — I owe you one —
I see that Ingraham is accused of having stolen his novel of Lafitte in the Knickerbocker, which charge Prentice copies and blows a blast upon against Ingraham. There must be some mistake about this — for Ingraham wrote Lafitte in Cincinnati to my certain knowledge for he read to me every evening what he had written through the day — However some one may have given him the hint. — I remember distinctly his requesting me to introduce him to a gentleman who knew Lafitte and who could give him some information concerning that redoubted pirate. Poe how do you get on with Graham? Let me know how the world thrives with you —
Dow is well and cheerful. I saw him yesterday, but somehow I don’t think he gets on well as when in office — He is a violent politician as you see by his paper —
My Sister was well when I last heard from her and she spoke of you and your family to whom you must present my and her regards — Write me soon — For nothing but the expectation of seeing you face to face would have delayed my writing to you so long — but disappointment is the lot “of all of us” as the chap says in the play —
God bless you —
F W Thomas
My Sister’s and my regards to your family — Do you read the political articles in the “New World”? Savage — ain’t they? I wonder if Benjamin writes them?
Write soon —
F W Thomas
EDGAR ALLAN POE TO FREDERICK W. THOMAS — FEBRUARY 3, 1842
Philadelphia Feb. 3, ‘42.
My dear Friend:
I am sure you will pardon me for my seeming neglect in not replying to your last when you learn what has been the cause of the delay. My dear little wife has been dangerously ill. About a fortnight since, in singing, she ruptured a blood-vessel, and it was only on yesterday that the physicians gave me any hope of her recovery. You might imagine the agony I have suffered, for you know how devotedly I love her. But to-day the prospect brightens, and I trust that this bitter cup of misery will not be my portion. I seize the first moment of hope and relief to reply to your kind words.
You ask me how I come on with Graham? Will you believe it Thomas? On the morning subsequent to the accident I called upon him, and, being entirely out of his debt, asked an advance of two months salary — when he not only flatly but discourteously refused. Now that man knows that I have rendered him the most important services; he cannot help knowing it, for the fact is rung in his ears by every second person who visits the office, and the comments made by the press are too obvious to be misunderstood.
The project of the new Magazine still (you may be sure) occupies my thoughts. If I live, I will accomplish it, and in triumph. By the way, there is one point upon which I wish to consult you. You are personally acquainted with Robert Tyler, author of “Ahasuerus.” In this poem there are many evidences of power, and, what is better, of nobility of thought & feeling. In reading it, an idea struck me — “Might it not,” I thought, “be possible that he would, or rather might be induced to feel some interest in my contemplated scheme, perhaps even to take an interest in something of the kind — an interest either open or secret?” The Magazine might be made to play even an important part in the politics of the day, like Blackwood; and in this view might be worthy his consideration. Could you contrive to suggest the matter to him? Provided I am permitted a proprietary right in the journal, I shall not be very particular about the extent of that right. If, instead of a paltry salary, Graham had given me a tenth of his Magazine, I should feel myself a rich man to-day. When he bought out Burton, the joint circulation was 4,500, and we have printed of the February number last, 40,000. Godey, at the period of the junction, circulated 30,000, and, in spite of the most strenuous efforts, has not been able to prevent his list from falling. I am sure that he does not print more than 30,000 to-day. His absolute circulation is about 20,000. Now Godey, in this interval, has surpassed Graham in all the externals of a good Magazine. His paper is better, his type far better, and his engravings fully as good; but I fear I am getting sadly egotistical. I would not speak so plainly to any other than yourself. How delighted I would be to grasp you by the hand!
