Edgar Allan Poe

Boston may be slipping ahead in the Edgar Allan Poe arms race -- the city is preparing for a new bronze statue to honor the great author, even as Baltimore struggles to preserve his former home. The Baltimore Sun's Chris Kaltenbach reports that sculptor Stefanie Rocknak was selected for the $125,000 project in Boston, to be located at the intersection of Boylston Street and Charles Street South. Her design shows an adult Poe as though he had just stepped off a train. I think the design is really cool -- especially because it gives a plug to the Baltimore Ravens , right in the backyard of the New England Patriots.

John Cusack didn't come to Baltimore when preparing to play Edgar Allan Poe in "The Raven. " In fact, he says he's never been here. But when asked whether this city, Boston, Philadelphia, New York or Richmond has dibs on the author's reputation, Cusack, 45, answers without hesitation. "Baltimore!," he said. "Is that even a question?" For Cusack, the only other city that comes close to having a hold on Poe is Boston. After all, he was born there. "But I think people generally would have to concede that Poe is a Baltimore guy," he said.

Mr. Poe, the microphone is yours. A group of selected mediums and psychics will be spending a March weekend trying to reach Edgar Allan Poe, the literary giant and creator of the modern detective story who has made Baltimore his permanent home since 1849. Officials and friends of Baltimore's Poe House and Museum are organizing what is billed as "Beyond Nevermore. " For two days, on March 3 and 4, psychics will gather at Westminster Hall, a former church just yards from Poe's grave, and try to contact the spirit of the dead author.

Edgar Allan Poe and his legacy will be lost to Baltimore if funding cannot be found to keep Poe's house open and in repair. City officials say that they do not have sufficient funds to pay the salary of the executive director of the Poe association, who is also the custodian of Poe House. The Sun reported a year or so ago that a group of Philadelphians wanted to remove Poe's body from his grave at Westminster Hall and bring him to Philadelphia. Fortunately that did not happen. Annual activities at Westminster Hall are beneficial educational and social events as well as sources of revenue for the city.

It couldn't look any less impressive, this pocket-size, 40-page pamphlet self-published by an unidentified Boston author back in 1827. "Tamerlane and Other Poems" sold for $662,500 at Christie's auction house this afternoon in New York, according to Christie's officials. There is no word on the buyer. This collection of poems is the rarest of Edgar Allan Poe memorabilia, a first edition of his first published work. Twelve copies of "Tamerlane and Other Poems," whose author is identified only as "A Bostonian," are known to exist (only 50 were printed)

A lot of cities claim Edgar Allan Poe. And no wonder: He was born in Boston, adopted and raised in Richmond, Va. He went mad in Philadelphia, had his heart broken in Providence, R.I., composed his most famous poem, "The Raven," in New York. But Baltimore has what is surely the greatest honor, for it is here where Poe met his end — and where his mortal remains still lie, entombed in an oft-visited grave at Westminster Hall. The manner and circumstances of Poe's Baltimore death are suitably macabre: On the cusp of wedding his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Shelton — by then a widow of some means living in Richmond — Poe had taken a boat to Baltimore in late September of 1849.

Edgar Allan Poe is finally getting the send-off he always deserved - from a city that has spent decades claiming him as one of its own. True, he's spent more than a century and a half buried in the hallowed grounds surrounding Baltimore's Westminster Hall. It's also true that Baltimore isn't the only city celebrating Poe, in this bicentennial of his birth on Jan. 19, 1809. At least four other East Coast cities - Richmond, Va., Philadelphia, New York and Boston - have legitimate claims to Poe's legacy.

A birthday seemed the right occasion to mend some family fences. So last weekend Luke Harvey Poe Jr., a hale 89-year-old who lives in Annapolis and practices law in Washington, rapped on the door of a tiny rowhouse in West Baltimore inhabited by another Poe in another century. Were he still alive, Edgar Allan Poe would celebrate his 196th birthday Wednesday. Harvey Poe's recent visit - his first to the house - was a long-overdue call because, as he recounted, his affluent Richmond relatives considered Edgar Allan Poe a ne'er-do-well.

Acity known for a bell that's broken and a delicacy that's Cheez Whiz-ed wants to up its cultural clout - by stealing Edgar Allan Poe from Baltimore. "We're Taking Poe Back," read the headline in Philadelphia's City Paper last week. Arguing that Philly's claim on Poe is greater than Baltimore's, the article urges Philadelphians to "reclaim our macabre, prodigal son" in time for the 2009 bicentennial of Poe's birth. "This is a literary grave robbing," reporter Edward Pettit began. "I want to exhume his body and translate his remains to the City of Brotherly Love.

In the 40 years between his birth in 1809 and death in 1849, Edgar Allan Poe left an indelible impression on the literature and art of both America and Europe. As a pioneer of short fiction, Poe practically invented the detective story, the tale of horror and the science-fiction and fantasy genres; as a poet, he crafted some of the most memorably lyrical American verse of the 19th century. Poe's 1845 poem The Raven made him famous in the United States as well as abroad, especially in France.

Boston may be slipping ahead in the Edgar Allan Poe arms race -- the city is preparing for a new bronze statue to honor the great author, even as Baltimore struggles to preserve his former home. The Baltimore Sun's Chris Kaltenbach reports that sculptor Stefanie Rocknak was selected for the $125,000 project in Boston, to be located at the intersection of Boylston Street and Charles Street South. Her design shows an adult Poe as though he had just stepped off a train. I think the design is really cool -- especially because it gives a plug to the Baltimore Ravens , right in the backyard of the New England Patriots.

A handwritten draft of one of Edgar Allan Poe's earliest poems and a letter to author Washington Irving are among a handful of items that will be part of an exhibit opening April 26 at a Richmond, Va., museum devoted to the writer. "This is the kind of exhibit that comes around only once in a generation," Chris Semtner, curator of Richmond's Edgar Allan Poe Museum, said of "From Poe's Quill: The Letters and Manuscripts of Edgar Allan Poe," which will run through July 11. "Because Poe's manuscripts were not highly valued during his brief life, many have been lost or dispersed over time, making them very rare today.

A consultant charged by city officials with exploring ways of keeping Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum open and making it self-sufficient is recommending that it be operated in partnership with the nearby B&O Railroad Museum. Under the proposal, visitors would pay admission and board vans at the B&O Museum, then be driven the half-mile to the Poe House, which they would tour in groups of 12 to 15. Part of the B&O Museum's gift shop would be dedicated to Poe-related merchandise.

Baltimore has a special interest in the new John Cusack movie "The Raven" as it tells the story of a man the city claims as its own: Edgar Allan Poe. (If they named the football team after his poem, he's got to be something, right?) The film depicts a 19th century Baltimore, but was filmed, much to the city's dismay, in Europe, where it just opened. It's due to play here next month, so as a public service, we thought we could tell you what reviewers across the pond thought.

Sorry, psychics. I saw in The Baltimore Sun this week that you're going to try to contact Edgar Allan Poe from beyond the grave next month. Nice idea, hope it makes some money to save his house. But I beat you to it. I stopped by Westminster Hall this week, and while he sends his regards and says he'll be happy to talk to you when you call, the Poester had something to say now. After what happened a week ago, he revised his most famous poem, and asked me to share it: The Ravens Once upon last Sunday dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over how Cundiff could miss and Evans did not score, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my rowhouse door.

Mr. Poe, the microphone is yours. A group of selected mediums and psychics will be spending a March weekend trying to reach Edgar Allan Poe, the literary giant and creator of the modern detective story who has made Baltimore his permanent home since 1849. Officials and friends of Baltimore's Poe House and Museum are organizing what is billed as "Beyond Nevermore. " For two days, on March 3 and 4, psychics will gather at Westminster Hall, a former church just yards from Poe's grave, and try to contact the spirit of the dead author.

Menacing ravens, peering eyes, black cats and rats, ominous bells, violent eddies - imagery that fueled many a text by Edgar Allan Poe, and generated a good deal of art. For its contribution to the bicentennial commemoration of the author's birth, the Baltimore Museum of Art has put together a dynamic collection of works directly or seemingly inspired by the author. The displays are divided into three thematic groupings: Love and Loss, Fear and Terror, Madness and Obsession. "As you can see, this is an uplifting exhibit," says BMA director Doreen Bolger, who curated the show.

The long-time curator of Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House says the museum could be forced to close if city officials stick to their insistence that it be well on the road to self-sufficiency by July of next year. Baltimore officials — who last summer cut the Poe House's funding — have ordered the city's Committee for Historic & Architectural Preservation (CHAP) to settle on a plan to operate the museum without using public funds. The plan must be in place by July 2012.

A gal with a meat cleaver embedded in her head. A living skeleton. Lots of witches, with pointy hats and long noses. And plenty of guys dressed like your host for the evening, the estimable author and, though dead for 162 years, favorite son of old Baltimore, Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. Such was the scene Sunday night at the Westminster Hall and Burying Grounds. Hundreds gathered to tour the centuries-old cemetery and catacombs, be entertained by one of its most famous residents — that would be Poe, buried here after dying in Baltimore under still-unexplained circumstances in 1849 — and, not coincidentally, do their part to help the home he once lived in remain open as a museum and tourist attraction.

A quartet of Washington-area bands is planning an Oct. 7 concert to benefit Baltimore's beleaguered Poe House. The concert, set for the 162 n d anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death, will feature the bands Lenorable, Nunchucks, Dance for the Dying and Lions & Tigers & Whales. It is being by organized by Washington-area fans of the famed poet and master of suspense. "When I heard about the funding problems at the Poe House, I immediately went into action mode," said Kai Hsieh, one of the concert's organizers, who describes herself as a frequent visitor to the house.