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Edgar Allan Poe — “The Balloon Hoax”






Texts and Variant Texts

Reading copy:
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — reading copy — based on Text 00

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:
  • “Astounding News by Express . . .” — 1844, no original manuscript or fragments are known to exist (but this version is presumably recorded in Text 02) — Text 01
  • "The Balloon Hoax" — 1850 — WORKS — Text 03  (Mabbott text B)  (This is Mabbott's copytext)

Reprints:

There is only one known reprint of the tale during Poe's lifetime.
  • “The Atlantic Crossed in Three Days . . .” — April 14, 1844 — The Sunday Times  (reprinted from Text 02)
This story has been reprinted a number of times, and included in numerous collections of Poe's works, for which a few prominent examples will be sufficient
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — 1867 — Prose Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, first series (New York: W. J. Widdleton), pp. 86-101 (This collection is extracted from the 1850-1856 edition of Poe's Works. It was reprinted several times.)
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — 1874 — Works of Edgar A. Poe, edited by J. H. Ingram (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — 1894-1895 —  The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 2: Tales, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (2:204-221)  (This collection was subsequently reprinted in various forms)
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 5: Tales IV, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (5:224-240, and 5:325)
  • “[The Balloon Hoax]” — October 19, 1910 — The New York Sun  (noted by Wyllie, p. 323)
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — April 1927 — Amazing Stories, vol. 2, no. 1
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — 1978 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 3: Tales & Sketches II, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (3:1063-1088)
  • “The Balloon Hoax” — 1984 — Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales, Patrick F. Quinn (New York: Library of America), pp. ???-???

Associated Material and Special versions:
  • "Le canard au ballon" — (French translation by Charles Baudelaire)
    • "Le canard au ballon" — January 31 - February 3, 1855 — Le Pays
      • "Le canard au ballon" — Part I  (January 31, 1855)
      • "Le canard au ballon" — Part II  (February 2, 1855)
      • "Le canard au ballon" — Part III  (February 3, 1855)
    • "Le canard au ballon" — 1856 — Histoires extraordinaires, Paris: Michel Lévy frères











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Bibliography:
  • Brigham, Clarence Saunders, "Poe's 'Balloon Hoax'," American Book Collector (February 1932), 1:94-95. (Reprinted as a separate pamphlet, Metuchen: NJ, 1932).
  • Falk, Doris, "Thomas Low Nichols, Poe, and the 'Balloon Hoax'," Poe Newsletter (Dec. 1972), 5:48-49.
  • Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
  • Jackson, Joseph, ed., The Philosophy of Animal Magnetism, Philadelphia: Privately Printed, 1928  (In the foreword, attempting to establish Poe as the author of The Philosophy of Animal Magnetism, Jackson discusses Poe's scientific understanding in regard to "The Balloon Hoax.")
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, "Poe's 'Balloon Hoax," New York Sun (January 23, 1943), p. 6.
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978.
  • Norris, W. B., "Poe's 'Balloon Hoax'," Nation (Oct. 27, 1910), 91:389-390
  • Scudder, H. H., "Poe's 'Balloon Hoax'," American Literature (May 1949), 21:179-190
  • Weissuch, Ted N., "Edgar Allan Poe: Hoaxer in the American Tradition," New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, July 1961, 45:291-309
  • Wilkinson, Ronald S., "Poe's 'Balloon-Hoax' Once More, " American Literature (Nov. 1960), 32:313-317
  • Wimsatt, William K., Jr., "A Further Note on Poe's 'Balloon Hoax'," American Literature (Jan. 1951), 22:491-492
  • Wyllie, John Cooke, "A List of the Texts of Poe's Tales," Humanistic Studies in Honor of John Calvin Metcalf, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1941, pp. 322-338.



 
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