The Raven

Philadelphia: Tyndale, Mitchell & Co, 1870. Third Edition. Pamphlet. Good. The third separate printing of The Raven, following a Glasgow edition in 1869 (listed as BAL 16216 but not seen) and the illustrated version published by W. Jennings Demorest about July 1870 (Demorest's Illustrated Monthly printed an illustrated version of The Raven in its May 1870 issue of the magazine; by July of that year, Jennings Demorest was advertising the book version at 25 cents in wrappers and 50 cents in cloth). BAL (16213) also records an 1862 sheet music version.

This edition, illustrated with four wood engravings by David Scattergood printed in black ink on a brown background, appears to have been offered as a premium by an enterprising printer who sold the idea to a number of companies near the end of 1870. This version was issued by Tyndale, Mitchell & Co., importers of china and stoneware from Europe. Johns Hopkins records a version from Singer Manufacturing and Brown has one from P. P. Hayes, a silversmith in Poughkeepsie, NY. A couple of years later, the same sheets were sold to newspapers as carrier addresses, which are also found with a variety of imprints.

Unlike the Singer and Hayes versions of this pamphlet, Tyndale added a printed note to the inside front cover and dated it Christmas 1870.

A charming, scarce, and early version of Poe's most popular poem.

7, [1, poem set to music] pages. 5-3/4 by 8-7/8 inches. Gray wrappers printed in blue and brown; Greek-style urn graphic on the back cover. Christmas greeting reproduced from handwriting on inside front cover; Tyndale, Mitchell add on inside back cover. Second American edition (third overall), Tyndale issue. Spine nearly split; wrappers with small areas of loss, old water spots on the front cover, but generally good. Scarce and fragile.