The Literati: Some Honest Opinions About Autorial Merits and Demerits

Overview:

• Title: The Literati: Some Honest Opinions About Autorial Merits and Demerits
• Author: Edgar A. Poe
• Year: 1850
• Publisher: J. S. Redfield
• Pages: 607
• Binding: Hardcover
• Type: Non-fiction
• Title Reference: The Literati: Some Honest Opinions About Autorial Merits and Demerits
• Notes:
  • Information primarily from the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore.
  • Publication date stated only as 1850 on the title page, but an ad in the September 19, 1850 New York Tribune announces the publication's availability in two days.
  • Full title goes on: "with Occasional Words of Personality Together with Marginalia, Suggestions, and Essays".
  • This was later retitled "The Literati" (in 1853) and rebound to be Vol. III of The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe.
  • Edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold.
  • Griswold's introductory pieces appear on unnumbered pages and are unsigned, but the title page has "With a Sketch of the Author by Rufus Wilmot Griswold".
  • "The Literati of New York City" (a reprint of the 6-part series in Godey's Lady's Book of May-Oct 1846) is not given a separate title; a header appears before the applicable section of text ("Of Criticism — Public and Private" and 38 individual names).
  • "Miscellaneous Reviews" on pp. 128-482 is not given a separate title; a header appears before each review, usually giving the name of the author being reviewed, sometimes providing identification of work(s) being commented on. The reviews are by Poe and were previously published elsewhere at various times.
  • See the notes here and this title page and TOC scan.