The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Edgar Allan Poe [1381]
I presume you have heard of my marriage.
With sincere respect and esteem
Yours truly
Edgar A Poe
J. P. Kennedy.
Edgar Allan Poe to John Pendleton Kennedy — December 31, 1840
Philadelphia, Dec. 31. 1840
My Dear Sir,
I am about to commence, in this city, a Monthly Magazine somewhat on the plan of the “Southern Messenger”, and of which you may have seen a Prospectus in some of the Baltimore papers. The leading feature proposed is that of an absolutely independent criticism. Since you gave me my first start in the literary world, and since indeed I seriously say that without the timely kindness you once evinced towards me, I should not at this moment be among the living — you will not feel surprise that I look anxiously to you for encouragement in this new enterprise — the first of any importance which I have undertaken on my own account. What I most seriously need, in the commencement, is caste for the journal — I need the countenance of those who stand well in the social not less than in the literary world. I know that you have never yet written for Magazines — and this is a main reason for my now begging you to give me something for my own. I care not what the article be, nor of what length — what I wish is the weight of your name. Any unused scrap lying by you will fully answer my purpose.
The Magazine will be issued on the first of March, and, I believe, under the best auspices. May I ask your influence among your personal friends?
I shall look with great anxiety for your reply to this letter. In the meantime believe me, my dear Sir,
Yours ever gratefully & respectfully.
Edgar A Poe
John P. Kennedy Esqr
Edgar Allan Poe to John Pendleton Kennedy — June 21, 1841
Philadelphia — June 1841
My Dear Sir,
Mr George R. Graham, of this city, and myself, design to establish a Monthly Magazine upon certain conditions — one of which is the procuring your assistance in the enterprise. Will you permit me to say a few words on the subject?
I need not call your attention to the signs of the times in respect to Magazine literature. You will admit the tendency of the age in this direction. The brief, the terse, and the readily-circulated will take place of the diffuse, the ponderous, and the inaccessible. Even our Reviews (lucus a non lucendo) are found too massive for the taste of the day — I do not mean merely for the taste of the tasteless, the uneducated, but for that also, of the few. The finest minds of Europe are beginning to deal with Magazines. In this country, unhappily, we have no journal of the class, which can either afford to compensate the highest talent, or which is, in all respects, a fitting vehicle for its thoughts. In the supply of this deficiency there would be a point gained, and the project of which I speak has originated in the hope of supplying it.
Mr Graham is a lawyer, but, for some years past, has been occupied in publishing. His experience of the periodical business is extensive. He is a gentleman of high social standing, and possessed of ample pecuniary means. Together, we would enter the field with a full knowledge of the difficulties to be encountered, and with perfect assurance of being able to overcome them.
The work will be an octave of 96 pages. The paper will be excellent — far superior to that of the N. A. Review [the North American Review ]. The type will be new (always new) clear and bold, with distinct face. The matter will be disposed in single column. The printing will be done upon a hand-press, in the best manner. There will be a broad margin. We shall have no engravings except occasional wood-cuts (by Adams) when demanded in obvious illustration of the text; and, when so required, they will be worked in with the type. The stitching will be done in the French style, permitting the book to lie fully open. Upon the cover, and throughout, the endeavour will be to preserve the greatest purity of taste, consistent with