Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/100

 F. S. Thomas, Printer." Only forty copies were issued, and a very few have survived. One copy sold at auction in New York, November, 1900, for $2050, and was immediately resold for $2550.

In the army Poe won the confidence and respect of his superiors, before he was discharged receiving the appointment of sergeant-major&mdash;an unusual promotion for one so young. Mrs. Allan, his adopted mother, dying in February, 1829, a furlough was applied for, and shortly afterward Poe returned to his home. The remarkable service rendered in the artillery together with his unblemished record pointed with no uncertainty to the propriety of his receiving an appointment to West Point. Mr. Allan, softened by the death of his wife, who was always tenderly attached to Poe, obtained Poe's discharge, which was received on April 15, 1829, with highly commendatory letters from his commanding officers, which are on file in the War Department, Washington.

Again with Mr. Allan, their differences were somewhat effaced by the fine record of the young soldier, and happier relations were in a degree restored. Mr. Allan furthered Poe's inclination to enter West Point by using all the influence he possessed. He wrote to the Secretary of State, but the tone of the letters betray the lack of warm interest which might have been expected.

Early in 1829 the second edition of Poe's poems was published by Hatch and Dunning of Baltimore. The title page was as follows: "Al Aaraaf. Tamerlane and Minor Poems. By Edgar A. Poe. Baltimore: Hatch & Dunning. 1829." In the middle of the reverse side