8vo (155 x 95 mm). (Toning, spotting, browning to text block throughout.) Original red cloth blind-stamped (light rubbing). Provenance: Betsy Dearborn (gift inscription).

FIRST EDITION. "MS. Found in a Bottle" was submitted by Poe to a short story competition held by the Baltimore Sunday Visiter in September 1833, and was unanimously selected by the judges as the winner. When Poe the following year appealed to one of the judges, John Pendleton Kennedy, for help in furthering his career, Kennedy arranged to have "MS. Found in a Bottle" reprinted in The Gift. Outraged that it was a previously published story which was published, Poe wrote that "I not only told Mr. Carey that it had been published...[I] sent him another tale in place of it. I cannot understand why they have published it..." Heartman and Canny, 36-37.