page_title: The Stylus
section_title: Fundraising
hierarchical_section_title: The Stylus / Fundraising
caption_attribution_description: English: Edgar Allan Poe's "prospectus" for the Penn magazine, as advertised in Philadelphia's Chronicle and General Advertiser (Vol. 1, No. 144, October 16, 1840) Available in Cornell Univ. archives Español: "Prospecto" de Edgar Allan Poe para la revista Penn, como se publicitó en el Chronicle and General Advertiser de Filadelfia. (Vol. 1, No. 144, 16 de octubre de 1840) Disponible en los archivos de la Universidad Cornell
context_page_description: The Stylus, originally intended to be named The Penn, was a would-be periodical owned and edited by Edgar Allan Poe. It had long been a dream of Poe to establish an American journal with very high standards in order to elevate the literature of the time. Despite attempts at signing up subscribers and finding financial backers and contributors, the journal never came to be.
context_section_description: Poe was not able to support the founding of his magazine out of pocket, in part because of the after-effects of the Panic of 1837, and sought out investors. On January 17, 1840, Poe wrote a letter to friend and fellow writer John Pendleton Kennedy asking for his help in funding the magazine: "Since you gave me my first start in the literary world... you will not feel surprised that I look anxiously to you for encouragement in this new enterprise", he wrote. George Rex Graham offered financial support and hired Poe as an editor for his magazine, suggesting he would help with The Penn after six months. After Poe began work on Graham's Magazine, Graham published an announcement in the Saturday Evening Post that The Penn was to be "suspended".
  Another possible financial backer was fellow poet Thomas Holley Chivers, a wealthy friend of Poe who would later defend Poe's posthumous reputation. Chivers at the time believed Poe was under-appreciated, especially for his work with Graham's Magazine, but was concerned with his harsh literary criticism. Chivers may also have been offered the position of co-editor. He turned down the proposition because of the distraction caused by the death of his three-year-old daughter.
  In early 1843, Poe contacted Thomas C. Clarke, publisher of Philadelphia's Saturday Museum. A contract was signed on January 31, 1843, with the agreement that the first issue would be issued on July 1. They considered purchasing the subscription list of the Southern Literary Messenger around February. By May of that year, Clarke withdrew his support in part because of difficulties with his own magazine and in part because of concerns over Poe's drinking.
  In February 1848, Poe presented a lecture titled "On The Cosmography of the Universe" (later printed as Eureka: A Prose Poem) at the Society Library in New York. Poe had hoped the profits from the lecture would raise significant funds for The Stylus. He had expected an audience of hundreds; only 60 people attended and, of those, most were confused by the topic.  One newspaper reviewed the lecture very favorably and acknowledged its importance as a fund raiser:
  We understand that the purpose of Poe's lectures is to raise the necessary capital for the establishment of a magazine, which he proposes to call "The Stylus." They who like literature without trammels, and criticism without gloves, should sent in their names forthwith as subscribers. If there be in the world a born anatomist of thought, it is Mr. Poe... The severe difficulties with which Mr. Poe has been visited within the last year, have left him in a position to devote himself, self-sacrificingly, to his new task... he will doubtless give it that most complete attention which alone can make such an enterprise successful.
  Poe had a fair amount of support for The Stylus in the literary world. William Gilmore Simms wrote in June 1843, "Mr. Poe is well calculated to conduct a literary magazine. He is acknowledged as one of our best writers and critics." Several people and organizations subscribed to the journal before Poe's death. A list of potential subscribers he kept included Nathan C. Brooks, William Cullen Bryant, Sarah Josepha Hale, Charles Fenno Hoffman, John Pendleton Kennedy, George Lippard, James Russell Lowell, Anna Cora Mowatt, Frances Sargent Osgood, James Kirke Paulding, Thomas Mayne Reid, Jeremiah N. Reynolds, and Nathaniel Parker Willis. Several student societies also were interested in subscribing, including ones located at Dickinson College, Hampden-Sydney College, Jefferson College, Lafayette College, Marshall College, St. John's College, and St. Mary's College of Maryland.
caption: October 1840 advertisement for The Penn magazine, soon to be renamed The Stylus.
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