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Summary

Scholarly editions of Poe’s writings

When James A. Harrison completed his seventeen-volume edition of Poe's works in 1902, he may not have realized that, a century later, his work would remain the single most complete edition of Poe. Thomas Ollive Mabbott, who imagined a thoroughly annotated, scholarly edition of Poe's works through much of his life, never fully brought the project to completion. Mabbott edited Politan, Poe's unfinished drama, as his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University in 1923, and he was preparing an edition of the poems and tales at the time of his death in 1968, which appeared posthumously in three volumes. Ostensibly continuing Mabbott’s editorial work, Burton R. Pollin has edited several more volumes of Poe texts, which contain much valuable annotation, but whose overall quality is uneven. The two Library of America editions offer good collections of Poe’s imaginative and critical writings. Due to their accessibility and general overall quality, The Cambridge Companion to Poe cites these two volumes primarily. Readers, however, should consult the Mabbott and Pollin editions for their detailed annotations. Though John Ostrom has edited Poe’s letters, a thorough edition of Poe’s correspondence remains a desideratum of Poe scholarship. For letters to Poe, readers should consult the last volume of Harrison’s edition.