Rufus Wilmot Griswold

Rufus Wilmot Griswold 1815-57, American editor, b. Benson, Vt. He was influential as editor of Graham's Magazine (1842-43) and the International Monthly Magazine (1850-52) and as anthologist of The Poets and Poetry of America (1842) and several similar books. He had known Edgar Allan Poe since 1842 and on Poe's death was named his literary executor. The obituary he wrote emphasized the scandals attached to Poe's name, and in his edition of Poe's writings he added passages to Poe's letters favorable to himself and had them published as Poe's own.

Bibliography: See his selected letters and papers (ed. by his son, W. McC. Griswold, 1898).

Griswold, Rufus Wilmot (1815–57), born in Vermont, was a prominent Philadelphia and New York journalist, editing Graham's Magazine (1842–43) and The International Monthly Magazine (1850–52). As the literary executor of Poe, he wrote a biography, which was partly malicious and partly false, and in his edition (1850) of the poet's works published some letters in which he made interpolations favorable to himself. His compilations, The Poets and Poetry of America (1842), The Prose Writers of America (1847), and The Female Poets of America (1849), although often faulty in critical judgment, remain valuable for the student. His other works include a social history, The Republican Court, or American Society in the Days of Washington (1855).