MS. Found in A Bottle - Publication History

Publication History

In the June 15, 1833, issue of the Baltimore Saturday Visiter, its publishers Charles F. Cloud and William L. Pouder announced prizes of "50 dollars for the best Tale and 25 dollars for the best poem, not exceeding one hundred lines", submitted by October 1, 1833. Poe submitted "MS. Found in a Bottle" along with five others. The judges—John Pendleton Kennedy, Dr. James Henry Miller and John H. B. Latrobe—met at the house of Latrobe on October 7 and unanimously selected Poe's tale for the prize. The award was announced in the October 12 issue, and the tale was printed in the following issue on October 19, with the remark: "The following is the Tale to which the Premium of Fifty Dollars has been awarded by the Committee. It will be found highly graphic in its style of Composition." Poe's poetry submission, "The Coliseum", was published a few days later, but did not win the prize. The poetry winner turned out to be the editor of the Visiter, John H. Hewitt, using the pseudonym "Henry Wilton". Poe was outraged and suggested the contest was rigged. Hewitt claimed, decades later in 1885, that Poe and Hewitt brawled in the streets because of the contest, though the fight is not verified. Poe believed his own poem was the actual winner, a fact which Latrobe later substantiated.

Kennedy was particularly supportive of Poe's fledgling career and gave him work for the Visiter after the contest. He assisted in getting "MS. Found in a Bottle" reprinted in an annual gift book called the The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present in its 1836 issue. The short story was also reprinted in the December, 1835 issue of the Southern Literary Messenger when Poe became the editor. Kennedy also urged Poe to collect the stories he submitted to the contest, including "MS. Found in a Bottle", into one edition and contacted publisher Carey & Lea on his behalf. A plan was made to publish the stories as a volume called Tales of the Folio Club and the Saturday Visiter promoted it by issuing a call for subscribers to purchase the book in October 1833 for $1 apiece. The "Folio Club" was intended to be a fictitious literary society the author called a group of "dunderheads" out to "abolish literature". The idea was similar in some respects to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. At each monthly meeting, a member would present a story. A week after the Visiter issued its advertisement, however, the newspaper announced that the author had withdrawn the pieces with the expectation they would be printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Publishers Harper and Brothers were offered the collection but rejected it, saying that readers wanted long narratives and novels, inspiring Poe to write The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, another sea tale.

After its first publication, "MS. Found in a Bottle" was almost immediately pirated by the People's Advocate of Newburyport, Massachusetts, which published it without permission on October 26, 1833.

In August 1835, Poe took a job as a staff writer and critic for the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia. The December 1835 issue of the Southern Literary Messenger carries a copy of "MS. Found in a Bottle" (see picture to the right)