Page:Tamerlane and other poems (1884).djvu/29

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POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE.
13

have sought through all the Thomas families of Mass., Maine, Rhode Island, Maryland, Ohio, etc., to which he was likely to belong, and there is no trace of him. I can find no other book with his imprint. Consequently I suppose the edition to have been small and obscure. It was published between June and October, 1827, probably in June. It was not noticed or advertised, apparently, but it occurs in the North American Review's quarterly list of new publications, in the October number, 1827 [vol. xxv. p. 471]. How Poe, a youth of eighteen, in a strange city, friendless and penniless as he was, persuaded this unknown printer to issue his volume, is a mystery to me. I have talked with old men, and had the printers and publishers who survive from that time interrogated, but though Boston was a small town, no one knew Thomas or ever heard of him. You may be sure, however, that the Mr. Ingram who seems to own Poe, is wrong in believing that the volume was only printed, and not published. Poe left Boston in October of that year."


ERRATA IN ORIGINAL EDITION.

Original edition, page 6, line 10, et infra. Reprint, page 22, line 6, et infra,-'"Aye" for "Ay."

Orig. ed., p. 6, l. II. Reprint, p. 22, l. 7.—"hatred portion" for "hated portion." [It is possible that "shown" in the next line is a misprint for "shone," but I have not ventured to disturb the text.]