POE, Edgar Allan (1809-1849)

[Forgeries] The Spectacles [First and Second Printings]

Philadelphia: Richard Gimbel, 1938. First Edition. Card Covers / Wrappers. Two copies, First and Second Printings, of this curious Poeana. Small 8vo (89 x 137mm): [2],14pp. Original staple-bound dappled purple card covers (first) and salmon pink wrappers (second), both printed in black. Text setting identical in both printings; only wrapper text varies. Title page (both printings): "Edgar Allan Poe stated that: / 'The Tales of the Folio Club / are sixteen in all.' / Fifteen tales are known. / This is the sixteenth. / Uncovered by Richard Gimbel and Published / Philadelphia, July, 1938." According to the colophons (inside back cover): "This First Edition Attributing The Spectacles to Edgar Allan Poe / is limited to / 100 copies" [ours is no. 23.] "This Second Edition Attributing / The Spectacles / by / Edgar Allan Poe / is limited to / 1000 copies." Oddly, the second printing ("edition") is quite rare (no copy can be located for sale online at present, and WorldCat has no listing; what's more, no copy have appeared at auction, according to RBH and ABC. Odd because 10 times the number of second printings supposedly were issued. Neat ink date stamp ("SEP -1 1938") on verso of title page of first printing, else both volumes Fine, fresh and unmarked. OCLC: 22233296 and 4448925. Mabbott III, pp. 885-886. BAL, v. 7, p. 152. Heartman & Canny, pp. 234-36. Savoye, “Focusing on a Pair of False ‘Spectacles’,” Edgar Allan Poe Review, Spring 2009, vol. X, no. 1, pp. 98-102. Fine. Item #BB2055

Two printings of a spurious Poe text, supposedly the "earliest" draft of Poe’s short story, “The Spectacles," "discovered" by celebrated Poe collector Richard Gimbel in 1938, then published in the September 24, 1938, issue of Liberty magazine ("The Spectacles: The Lost Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe, Hidden 100 years! Liberty presents a remarkable literary discovery. How the Story was Found. By Edward Doherty."), followed by these limited issues. The text is almost certainly a twentieth-century forgery; whether Gimbel perpetrated the hoax or was an unsuspecting dupe is unclear. According to Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe Society, "The text appears to have been taken from a reprint of the story in Godey’s Lady’s Book for April 1836." Not to be confused with Poe's The Spectacles, first published in The Dollar Newspaper (Philadelphia), March 27, 1844, and reprinted in The Broadway Journal, November 22, 1845, and in Griswold, Vol. 1, 1850. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

Price: $649.00