Philadelphia & New York

Edgar Allan Poe, manuscript of "To Zante," November 6, 1840, Philadelphia.

Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, February 1840. Contains Edgar Allan Poe, "The Journal of Julius Rodman," chapter 2.

Graham's Magazine, January 1843. Contains Edgar Allan Poe, "The Conqueror Worm."

The Dollar Newspaper, August 28, 1844. Contains Edgar Allan Poe, "The Oblong Box."

R. F. Turnbull, photograph of Poe's Fordham, New York cottage, circa 1880s.

The Broadway Journal, December 13, 1845. Contains Edgar Allan Poe, "The Oblong Box."

Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, volume I. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1840.

Edgar Allan Poe, letter to James Russell Lowell, November 24, 1842, Philadelphia.

The Poe family moved from Richmond to New York in 1837, then to Philadelphia in 1838, then back to New York in 1844, Poe’s home-base until his death. With large, literate populations, both cities helped periodical and book publishers stay afloat financially by providing lots of local readers—essential in this era, before long-distance railroads and cheap postage made it practical to conduct transcontinental business.

Poe was a tireless contributor to and editor for Burton’s and Graham’s magazines and The Broadway Journal, writing many book reviews as well as tales and poems. Sometimes he was able to publish one piece in multiple venues—as he did “The Oblong Box” and the contents of his first book of stories, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. Poe’s 1842 letter to James Russell Lowell makes it clear, however, that impressive output and publication savvy did not add up to financial security: here he asks if he can be paid in advance for contributions to Lowell’s new journal.