Burton R. Pollin (1916–2009): In Memorium

Burton R. Pollin (1916–2009): In Memorium BARBARA CANTALUPO T he Poe community lost one of its most generous, prolific, distinguished , and dedicated scholars on 30 June 2009, with the death of Dr. Burton R. Pollin, CUNY Emeritus Professor of English and honorary member of the Poe Studies Association. Dr. Pollin was ninety-three. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on 8 May 1916, he was a graduate of City College of New York and received his PhD from Columbia University. He is survived by his wife of sixty-five years, Dr. Alice Pollin, NYU Emeritus Professor of Spanish; daughter Diana C. Pollin of Marseilles, France; son Myles C. Pollin of Manhattan; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. Pollin was an accomplished pianist as well as an active member of his Bronxville community through civic contributions and especially as cofounder of the Bronxville Beautification Project. An obituary by George C. McKinnis in the Bronxville online newspaper shows us the Burton Pollin I came to know, care for, and admire: When I think of Burton [McKinnis wrote] and the things about him that I know to be good, I am reminded of Cicero’s essay on what constitutes “Goodness” in human relations. Cicero said that Goodness comes from: r the perception and careful devotion to the Truth, r concern for the maintenance of human society, and rendering to every man faithful fulfillment of obligations, r great strength of a lofty and unconquerable spirit, and r an orderly and tempered control of words and deeds, which produces moderation and sobriety. I submit to you that our friend and BBC co-founder, Dr. Burton Pollin, fulfilled each of Cicero’s above indicia of Goodness, and we are grateful for it. Rest in peace, old friend. You made your mark. C  2009 Washington State University 4 P O E S T U D I E S , VOL. 42, 2009 I N M E M O R I U M Dr. Pollin’s latest contribution to Poe scholarship was the revised and expanded two-volume Collected Letters of Edgar Allan Poe, which he coedited with Jeffrey Savoye based on the Ostrom edition. This project took years and years to complete, and I know that both he and Alice were so pleased and relieved when the two-volume set finally was in print and available this year. As a tribute to Burton, the Gordian Press donated two copies of the boxed set as door prizes for the Third International Edgar Allan Poe Conference: The Bicentennial. Dr. Pollin’s contributions to Poe scholarship encompass eleven books in addition to Collected Letters: Poe’s Seductive Influence on Great Writers; Poe’s Writings in “The Southern Literary Messenger”: Nonfictional Prose; The German Face of Edgar Allan Poe: A Study of Literary References in His Works; Images of Poe’s Works: A Comprehensive Descriptive Catalogue of Illustrations; Edgar Allan Poe: Writings in “The Broadway Journal”; Nonfictional Prose: Parts 1 & 2, The Text and the Annotations; Insights and Outlooks: Essays on Great Writers; Edgar Allan Poe: The Brevities: Pinakidia, Marginalia, Fifty Suggestions, and Other Works; Word Index to Poe’s Fiction; Collected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Volume I: Imaginary Voyages: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaall, The Journal of Julius Rodman; Poe: Creator of Words; Discoveries in Poe; and Dictionary of Names and Titles in Poe’s Collected Works. He also authored over 160 articles on Poe; a listing of these can be found at http://www.missq.msstate.edu/sssl/view.php?aid=99. In addition, Dr. Pollin served the Poe community by participating on the editorial boards of Poe Studies and The Edgar Allan Poe Review and with financial contributions to various Poe institutions. His generosity is evident, as well, through donations of his Poe-related books to the New York Public Library, the Penn State Rare Book Room, and the University of Iowa, among other libraries. In 2003, for example, Dr. Pollin donated several hundred books of illustrated versions of Poe’s works in various languages to the Special Collections library at the University of Iowa. All of us in the Poe community mourn the loss...