Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849) Morning on the Wissahiccon, published in The Opal.
New York: John C. Riker, 1844.
First edition, octavo, edited by N.P. Willis with illustrations by J.G. Chapman; bound in publisher's boards decorated with figures and arabesques (rebacked, boards chipped and badly worn); 7 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.
Poe ventures into travel writing in this prose essay often referred to as "The Elk." Contrasting the natural beauty of the American landscape with that of Europe, he describes the various wild paradises along the eastern seaboard. The Wissachickon Creek joins the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia and is praised for its natural beauty. Our narrator sees "or dreamed that I saw, standing upon the extreme verge of the precipice, with neck outstretched, with ears erect, and the whole attitude indicative of profound and melancholy inquisitiveness," a magnificent elk. Mesmerized, approaching the elk with care, suddenly he hears a sharp "hist, hist" from the bushes. A man emerges and approaches the beast. "Presently, the elk bowed and stamped, and then lay quietly down and was secured with a halter. Thus ended my romance of the elk. It was a pet of great age and very domestic habits, and belonged to an English family occupying a villa in the vicinity."
