Outstanding, boldly penned ALS, signed “Edgar A. Poe,” one page, 8 x 9.75, November 16, 1843. Poe writes to Joseph H. Hedges. In full: “My dear sir, I presume the request you make in your note of the 14th, has reference to my Grandfather Gen: David Poe, & not to my father David Poe, Jr. I regret to say however, that owing to peculiar circumstances, I have in my possession no autograph of either.” Poe’s grandfather, David Poe, was a respected major and quartermaster during the Revolutionary War. Poe’s father, David Poe, Jr., abandoned law school, became a second-rate stage actor, and married the actress Eliza Arnold Hopkins. Edgar, born in January 1809, was soon relegated to his grandfather’s supervision while the couple went on tour. Two years later, both of Poe’s parents were dead. At the time he penned this letter, Poe, then a magazine editor living in Philadelphia, had already written some of his best-known horror and mystery tales, including “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”; in the same year, he wrote his timeless cryptological classic, “The Gold Bug.” Poe’s assumption that the “David Poe” whose autograph Hedges had requested was his grandfather instead of his father provides a revealing glimpse of the writer’s respective attitudes toward the two men—the distinguished military man and the ne’er-do-well itinerant actor. Niether Poe nor his correspondent could have fully understood the supreme irony of Hedges’ request, as the writer, whose death was only six years away, would soon overshadow both his father and grandfather with a literary output that remains a cornerstone of nineteenth-century American literature—and whose influence reverberates a century and a half later. Autograph material of Poe in this bright, outstandingly appealing condition, not to mention with content of such singular interest, is practically unheard of. In fine condition, with several mailing folds (one touching one letter of signature) and a subtle touch of soiling. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
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