appeared in the "Messenger" (without altering or distorting a single
fact), the public were still not at all disposed to receive it as
fable, and several letters were sent to Mr. P.'s address, distinctly
expressing a conviction to the contrary. I thence concluded that the
facts of my narrative would prove of such a nature as to carry with
them sufficient evidence of their own authenticity, and that I had
consequently little to fear on the score of popular incredulity.

This_ exposé _being made, it will be seen at once how much of what
follows I claim to be my own writing; and it will also be understood
that no fact is misrepresented in the first few pages which were
written by Mr. Poe. Even to those readers who have not seen the
"Messenger," it will be unnecessary to point out where his portion
ends and my own commences; the difference in point of style will be
readily perceived.

A. G. PYM.

CHAPTER 1



MY name is Arthur Gordon Pym. My father was a respectable trader
in sea-stores at Nantucket, where I was born. My maternal grandfather
was an attorney in good practice. He was fortunate in every thing,
and had speculated very successfully in stocks of the Edgarton New
Bank, as it was formerly called. By these and other means he had
managed to lay by a tolerable sum of money. He was more attached to
myself, I believe, than to any other person in the world, and I
expected to inherit the most of his property at his death. He sent