Poetry

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

When I was a child, we had a small book of poetry bound in blue boards. My mother enjoyed reading these poems to me, and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” was one of her favorites. I can still hear my mother beginning “Once upon a midnight dreary…”

“The Raven” was published on 29 January 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror. It was an instant hit and made Poe famous, although it did not earn him much money. Nearly 170 years later, “The Raven” remains one of the best-known poems in the English language. It has appeared in numerous editions and is a favorite with illustrators. The poem has also been parodied many times; my favorite is “Ravin’s of a Piute Poet Poe,” by Charles Leroy Edson, published in the Saturday Review of Literature in 1925.

In 1846, the year after publishing “The Raven,” Poe wrote an essay entitled “The Philosophy of Composition,” in part to explain how he composed the poem (although it’s unclear whether Poe actually used the techniques himself). For example, Poe writes that “the death… of a beautiful woman … is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover.” Poe would feel this very anguish in 1847 when his wife Virginia died of tuberculosis. He himself died in 1849 under mysterious circumstances.

Elder’s edition of The Raven and the Philosophy of Composition is a beautiful one: a limited edition of 1000, in suede cover with title stamped in gold, matching dust jacket, two-color printing and imported handmade paper. On the other hand, the book was set in Washington Text, one of Elder’s favorite display types but a poor choice as a text type. Galen Perrett’s illustrations are Victorian in character, which conflict somewhat with the Arts & Crafts feel of the rest of the book. In addition, the illustrations are reproduced too small, so that the poem (included in the illustration) is difficult to read. Despite these flaws, it is a very handsome book.

The Pan-American Exposition was originally scheduled for 1897 on Cayuga Island, New York, a few miles upstream from the huge tourist attraction of Niagara Falls. But when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, the fair was delayed. The City of Buffalo then took the opportunity to compete for the privilege of hosting the fair, which it won by virtue of its larger population (350,000 people, then the eighth-largest city in the United States) and better railroad service. The fair was held in May-November 1901 in the neighborhood known as Delaware Park.

The Exposition was a big success, and more than eight million visitors attended. Today, the Fair is remembered chiefly as the site of President William McKinley’s assassination on 6 September 1901. But before that momentous event, the biggest novelty was electricity: the fair was lit at night by Nicola Tesla’s new three-phase alternating current, powered by Niagara Falls, twenty-five miles away.

Robert Cameron Rogers (7 January 1862–20 April 1912) was born in Buffalo, and graduated from Yale in 1883. His father, Sherman Skinner Rogers, was one of the most prominent lawyers in Buffalo, and Robert spent a year in his father’s firm before deciding that law was not for him. Instead, he turned to writing, and published books, poems and magazine articles. His 1898 poem “The Rosary” was set to music several times, most notably by Ethelbert Nevin, and sold very well as sheet music.

Also in 1898, Rogers moved to Santa Barbara, where he married Beatrice Fernald, the daughter of former Santa Barbara mayor Charles Heard Fernald. In 1901, he purchased The Morning Press newspaper, which he molded into one of the most influential and best-edited papers in California. Back in Buffalo, when it came time to select a poet to write a dedicatory poem for the Exposition, no doubt it was the well-connected Sherman Rogers who secured the honor for his son Robert.

At first glance, it is perhaps surprising the small San Francisco firm of Elder & Shepard should publish this volume, especially since New York City, the undisputed center of American publishing, was so close to the Exposition. This was very likely due to Morgan Shepard’s Santa Barbara connections, perhaps his sister-in-law Katherine Putnam, author of Wayfarers in Italy.

Poem Delivered at the Dedication of the Pan-American Exposition is a slim booklet, 16 pages and 8 x 5.5″ in size, printed on deckle-edge paper. The cover and title page feature a tomoye design, though the tomoye has no connection with the poem or the Exposition. The tomoye had only recently been chosen as a logo by Elder & Shepard, and they were clearly trying to establish their brand.

Rogers died in Santa Barbara in 1912 from complications of an appendicitis operation, just 50 years old.

Updated 2025-01-10

During their five-year collaboration between 1898 and 1903, Morgan Shepard was the artist, decorator and poet, while Paul Elder was the businessman and bookseller. Elder & Shepard published six of Shepard’s works during that time, mostly children’s stories. The prettiest of them is his slim volume of poetry The Standard Upheld, published in 1902 in a limited edition of 550 copies. Shepard’s title page design, perhaps depicting eucalyptus leaves, can be compared to similar botanic artwork on Volumes 1 and 2 of Impressions magazine. Shepard perhaps also designed the illuminated capital S on page 1.

The opening poem, “Shall I Cast Down the Standard Of My Life?” is clearly autobiographical. In a short memoir he wrote in his eighties, Shepard described the early death of his mother, followed by teenage years full of bad breaks, disappointments, and fisticuffs. For Morgan Shepard, the metaphor of “me against the world, holding my standard high” is an apt image indeed.

Copy #1 of The Standard Upheld was presented by Shepard to Thomas Coke Watkins, to whom he dedicated the book. Shepard had it specially bound by Henry W. Thumler and James A. Rutherford, whose shop at 538 California was about three blocks from Elder & Shepard’s bookstore. Thumler & Rutherford were frequent advertisers in Impressions magazine.

Updated 2026-01-08