William Abbott Pratt 1818 - 1879

Acquired by Thomas Dimmock from William Abbott Pratt, 1854-55

Given by Dimmock to The Players, New York City, 1895

Incorporated into The Hampden-Booth Theatre Library, 1963

The daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe offered here is only the second daguerreotype of the author to appear at public auction in over a century.  Poet, critic, and short story writer par excellence, Poe (1809 – 1849) was daguerreotyped at least eight times in his brief and tumultuous career, and of three of those original plates, nine daguerreotype copies were made.  Some of the daguerreotype portraits, known only through reproductions in turn-of-the-last-century books and magazines, or as paper copy photographs in carte-de-visite and other formats, are presumed lost. As of this writing, all located Poe daguerreotypes, as well as located copy plates, are in institutional collections, including those of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Columbia and Brown Universities, and the Poe Foundation of Richmond, Virginia. 

Poe’s personal magnetism and expressive face served as a foil for the normally staid conventions of the mid-nineteenth-century portrait.   At times charming, at other times morose, Poe allowed himself to be daguerreotyped in a variety of moods.  The deep-set eyes, with their alternately piercing or wary gaze, give every plate a vibrancy lacking in the serene daguerreotypes of Poe’s contemporaries, be it Holmes, Longfellow, Emerson, or Thoreau.  That Poe’s fame coincided with the first decade of photography is entirely appropriate for this thoroughly modern writer, the inventor of the detective genre and the literature of angst.  None of his other portraits, whether drawn, painted, or engraved, come as close as his daguerreotypes in capturing what we believe to have been the essence of Edgar Allan Poe, and all that that implies. 

The daguerreotype offered here is the earliest known copy plate of a Poe daguerreotype and, unlike the eight other ascertained copy plates, the maker and date of its making are matters of historical record.  The present daguerreotype, known as the ‘Players Club’ daguerreotype, was made by William Abbott Pratt from an original quarter-plate portrait of Edgar Allan Poe taken by Pratt himself in Richmond, Virginia, September 1849.  The ‘Players Club’ daguerreotype was copied from the original plate in late December 1854 or early January 1855 by Pratt at the request of journalist Thomas Dimmock. 

According to Edgar Allan Poe iconographer Michael J. Deas, in his definitive volume The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe, to which this catalogue entry is indebted, Pratt made two daguerreotypes of Poe during the September 1849 sitting.  Poe had traveled to Richmond from New York City for a series of speaking engagements.  Troubled by diminishing health, precarious finances, and his recurring difficulties with alcohol, Poe was surprised and pleased to be eagerly received by Richmond society.  Poe had spent most of his unhappy boyhood in Richmond and, as an adult, had begun his professional literary career there as an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger for a turbulent, though successful, two years from 1835 to 1837.  In 1849, the city welcomed him with open arms.  He wrote,

‘I never was received with so much enthusiasm.  The papers have done nothing but praise me . . . I have been invited out a great deal—but seldom could go, on account of not having a dress coat. . . Last night I was at [Michael B.] Pontiaux’s—the night before at [John H.] Strobia’s, where I saw my dear friend Eliza Lambert. . . we stayed until nearly 1 o’clock.  In a word, I have received nothing but kindness since I have been here’ (quoted in Deas, p. 54).

It was in the glow of this reception that Poe happened to encounter daguerreotypist William Abbott Pratt one morning in front of his fancifully-named Virginia Skylight Daguerrean Gallery at the Sign of the Gothic Window on Main Street.  In a later recollection of the encounter, recounted by Thomas Dimmock in Century Magazine (June 1895), Pratt remarked,

‘I knew him well, and he often promised me to sit for a picture, but he had never done so.  One morning – in September, I think – I was standing at my street door when he came along and spoke to me.  I reminded him of his unfulfilled promise, for which he made some excuse.  I said, “Come upstairs now.”  He replied, “Why, I am not dressed for it.”  “Never mind that,” said I; “I’ll gladly take you just as you are.”  He came up, and I took that picture.  Three weeks later he was dead in Baltimore’ (ibid., p. 56).

The two daguerreotypes Pratt made of Poe in that sitting are the last to have been made of the writer before his death in Baltimore in October 1849.  These original plates are known as the ‘Thompson’ and ‘Traylor’ daguerreotypes (ibid., pls. 22 and 25).  The Thompson daguerreotype is the original for the copy plate offered here, and is now in the collection of Columbia University, New York.  The ‘Traylor’ daguerreotype was subsequently severely damaged, and currently unlocated, is known only through reproduction.  Both daguerreotypes served as the basis for numerous photographic as well as graphic derivatives (cf. ibid., pls. 24, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36).  Aside from the ‘Players Club’ daguerreotype, however, Deas accounts for only one other daguerreotype copy of the ‘Thompson’ image: the ‘Huntington Library’ daguerreotype (ibid., pl. 73), whose current location is unknown. 

The ‘Players Club’ plate, offered here, was made by Pratt especially for the journalist Thomas Dimmock.  In 1895, Dimmock published an account of his discovery of the Poe portrait in Century Magazine:

‘During the Christmas holidays of 1854-55, I was walking down Main Street, Richmond, when my attention was attracted by a picture in the showcase of a daguerreotyper [William Abbott Pratt], bearing this inscription:  “Edgar Allan Poe – taken three weeks before his death.”  I immediately climbed to the studio, and asked for further information, which was cheerfully given by Mr. Pratt. . . I at once offered to buy it; but naturally enough he declined to sell what, even then, was of considerable value.  He told me, however, that he . . . would make me [a copy] if I so desired.  He did so, and this copy is now in my possession, in perfect preservation, after forty years.  It is in every respect, so far as I am capable of judging, quite as good as was the original’ (ibid., p. 164). 

In 1895, Dimmock donated his daguerreotype to The Players, at 16 Gramercy Park South in New York City, reasoning that actors, as a literate group, would appreciate Poe.  The fact that Poe’s mother and father had been actors added weight to Dimmock’s choice.  The Players was founded in 1888 by famed actor Edwin Booth to provide actors and other people of the theatre with a venue from which to raise their standing in New York society.  Booth’s own extensive library was made available for members’ use, and over the years The Players’ library grew to include a wide array of books, manuscripts, works of art, photographs, and stage memorabilia.  Desiring to open its doors to researchers, The Players established The Walter Hampden Memorial Library in 1957.  The renamed Hampden-Booth Theatre Library was permanently chartered in 1963 and serves as a resource for scholars of the American and British stage.  

Michael J. Deas notes that Poe sat for daguerreotypists on at least six different occasions, resulting in a total of eight known original daguerreotypes.  It is believed that only three daguerreotypes of Poe, original or otherwise, have ever been offered at auction.  The ‘Daly’ daguerreotype (Deas, pl. 12), was sold by Anderson Galleries in New York City on 18 March 1903.  The ‘McKee’ daguerreotype (ibid., pl. 3) was sold by Anderson Galleries on 19 February 1905.  The current location of each of these daguerreotypes is unknown.   The ‘Annie' daguerreotype (ibid., pl. 20) was sold by the Hanzel Galleries, Chicago, in 1973, and is now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum.