, 1889-08-29


two volumes that were once in the
library OF Charles Dickens-one the
poetcal works of Leigh Hunt, with an
autograph inscription to "Charles
Dickens from his constant admircr and
Obliged friend, Leigh HUNT tho other
a copy of Hoods "Comic Annual" for
ls42. 1t contains these characteristic
lines In Hood handwriting.
pshawl away with leaf and berry
And the suhcr.sidcd cup!
Bring goblet aud bright sherry
And II bumper I'LL me up.
Tho hal a pledge to shivcr,
And the longest ever was.
Ere his vessel leaves our river,
will drink health to Boil
Here's success to nll his antics,
since II pleaScs him to roam,
And to paddle DER Atluntics,
After such sale ut homel
NAY he Hhun all rocks whatever,
And the shallow sand that turks,
And his passage be as clever
As the best among his works!
A manuscript prize is the translation
of the first book Of the "Iliad' by my
friend William Cullen Bryant. Not less
interesting is the manuscript of Edgar
a. Poc's remarkable story of 'rhe Muir
ders in the Rue Morguc." II is written
of large legal cap paper, and
HAS QUITE \ HISTORY.
The late Mr.. j. w, Johnson, from whom
| | secured 1t, wrote me that IL was in the
| spring oi 1911, at the time he was an
| apprentice in the office of Barrat Il
| Thrasher, printers, In Philadelphia, that
| the manuscript came into his possession
Ii was ut this office of that Graham >
,t, IL .tsltt H..
peared, was printed. After the tale had
been put in type and the proof read, the
manuscript found its way into the waste
basket; but Mr.. Johnson picked It up, and
obtaining permission TO keep il, took IL
home to the residence of his father.
lie then, II seems, lost sight of the
manuscript for years. His father moved
from Philadelphia to York county,
Pennsylvania, thence TO Maryland and
| pilgrimages, unknown to himself car.
| ricd the Poe manuscript along with
| him, folded up In one of the books of
| his library. Determining to return to
| Pennsylvania, ho made sale of his per.
sonnl effects, and among n lot of old
! books offered was found the Poe manu-.
script, Ii was at once recognized, res.
cued from the rubbish among which Il
had so nearly been lost, and forwarded
to Mr.. Johnston, the son, who ia the
meantime USi7) had removed to Lam
caster Pa, and begun business as a
daguerreotypist. Twice his daguerrean
rooms took fire, and once March 3, lS50)
almost all his books, papers, pictures,
and apparatus were consumed; but the
/ Poe manuscript, folded within the leaves
of AN old mtlsiC-book, escaped the wreck.
"About the year 1857, " hc goes on to
say in his letter to INC, "a grocery store,
occupying the first floor, of the building
/ in which were my rooms, took fire aud
/ burned furiously. The flames did not
reach my rooms but the smoke did and
the firemen drcnched them with water,
destroying books, papers, and other
property but, by'rlre good fortune, the
Poe manuscript agnin escaped all injury,
except a slight discoloration. From 1861
to 1864 | was in the army, but on my
return therufrom found
THE PoE MANUSCRIPT
in the old music book where | had left II
on leaving home. In the summer of
1865 ! took charge of the Swan hotel
Lancaster. Removing thcrefrom in 1850
Il great deal of rubbish was consigned to
! the ash-pile, the old music book sharing
| the fate of many worthless articles.
/ The ncNt-door neighbor thinking IL had
/ been inadvertently thrown away, picked
1t from the ash-pilc and handed il to
me. On opening the book | again be-
/ held the much-negleclcd mauuscript
| Resolved that it should not again be
subjected to so many risks at once had
| It bound.
! ! have II very interesting letter written
under date of Aug. Is, 1871, by Poe to
/ the Philadelphia publishers, Lea ,S
lish new collection of mp prose tales,
with some such title as this: Tho Prose
tales of Edgar A, Poe including 'rhe
/ Murders in the Rue Morgue, THE
! Descent into the Maelstrom,'" with all
his later pieces, with Il second edition of
the Tales of the Grotcsque in Ara
besguc."
"fhe later pieces will be eight in num-
bor, making tho entire collection thirty
three, which would occupy two thick
novel volumes.
81 am anxious that your firm should
continue to be my publishers, and il YOU
would be willing to bring ont the book
should be glad to accept the terms whicl.
you allowed me betorc-that Is, You
receive all profits and allow me twenty
copies for distribution to friends"
| possess an interesting relic of Lord
Byron--his writing.desk, ON which he
wrote don juan and other poems 1t
bears his crest and monogram. Byron's
works are represented in my library by
MURRAY MURRAY sum ptuous siX-yolume edition
M hilu renieiuprance, from Johll Murray"
The first volume contains portions of the
manuscript of "The Bride of Abydos."
1t also gives IA curious illustration of
peter Pellii nppeared Byron cut II out
placed IN in lie bepinnint of M or,n
wrr,,s a,u ~ tho , IL. "iS Wy
MorNs, anu on tnc HarSih OF tne
page Wrote parody OF the