William Wilson" in THE GIFT: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1840
- SIGNED
- 1839
1839. Edited by Miss Leslie. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, [1839]. Original maroon morocco elaborately stamped in gilt, all page edges gilt.
First Appearance of Poe's intense psychological tale involving the title character being haunted by a whispering doppelgänger -- who leads the narrator to insanity, and a duel to the death (but of whom?). The tale is set at a boy's school in England, based on the Manor House School in Stoke Newington (which Poe had attended during the years 1817-1820). This first appearance occupies 25 pages of THE GIFT -- soon after which it appeared in the October 1839 issue of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine (where it is noted that it is "from The Gift of 1840"); in November 1839 (but dated 1840), "William Wilson" was collected in Poe's TALES OF THE GROTESQUE AND ARABESQUE. When Poe subsequently (1842) wrote a review of Hawthorne's TWICE-TOLD TALES -- a review that is regarded as Poe's expression of his own theory of the short story, a review regarded as the first American attempt to define the short story as a literary genre -- he noted that the tale "Howe's Masquerade" bore numerous similarities to his own "Willam Wilson." Also included is Harriet Beecher Stowe's 45-page tale "Deacon Enos," about the dishonest property dealings between a deacon and a squire. THE GIFT is bound in the original maroon morocco that is elaborately stamped in gilt on both covers and on the spine. This copy is bright and would be FINE except that on the border of the rear cover, there is a one-inch area where the sheen of the leather (and a narrow gilt line) are affected; all nine plates (none pertains to the Poe story) are present, and have much less foxing than usual. The original yellow endpapers are intact. Blanck 16130 (and 992). Provenance: armorial bookplate which is identified in pencil as being that of the Bulkeley-Owen family (most likely Thomas Bulkeley Bulkeley-Owen (1790-1867)), Tedsmore Hall, West Felton, Shropshire; also the small bookseller label of J. Seacome, of nearby Chester (Cheshire).
First Appearance of Poe's intense psychological tale involving the title character being haunted by a whispering doppelgänger -- who leads the narrator to insanity, and a duel to the death (but of whom?). The tale is set at a boy's school in England, based on the Manor House School in Stoke Newington (which Poe had attended during the years 1817-1820). This first appearance occupies 25 pages of THE GIFT -- soon after which it appeared in the October 1839 issue of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine (where it is noted that it is "from The Gift of 1840"); in November 1839 (but dated 1840), "William Wilson" was collected in Poe's TALES OF THE GROTESQUE AND ARABESQUE. When Poe subsequently (1842) wrote a review of Hawthorne's TWICE-TOLD TALES -- a review that is regarded as Poe's expression of his own theory of the short story, a review regarded as the first American attempt to define the short story as a literary genre -- he noted that the tale "Howe's Masquerade" bore numerous similarities to his own "Willam Wilson." Also included is Harriet Beecher Stowe's 45-page tale "Deacon Enos," about the dishonest property dealings between a deacon and a squire. THE GIFT is bound in the original maroon morocco that is elaborately stamped in gilt on both covers and on the spine. This copy is bright and would be FINE except that on the border of the rear cover, there is a one-inch area where the sheen of the leather (and a narrow gilt line) are affected; all nine plates (none pertains to the Poe story) are present, and have much less foxing than usual. The original yellow endpapers are intact. Blanck 16130 (and 992). Provenance: armorial bookplate which is identified in pencil as being that of the Bulkeley-Owen family (most likely Thomas Bulkeley Bulkeley-Owen (1790-1867)), Tedsmore Hall, West Felton, Shropshire; also the small bookseller label of J. Seacome, of nearby Chester (Cheshire).