In Crane's time (1871-1900) the use of alcohol and drugs had not achieved the status of medical conditions. Crane was not an alcoholic; he was just a heavy drinker. There is evidence, although it is indirect, that he also used recreational drugs at various times in his short life. Photographs taken in his college year (he had only one) show him smoking from what is apparently an opium pipe, although the photos may have been part of a elaborate prank. His detailed description of Tenderloin opium dens that was widely circulated in newspapers by the McClure syndicate as "Opium's Varied Dreams" and other titles demonstrates that he knew more thn most investigative reporters about how the opium habit is contracted, the manner in which the drug is ingested, and its effects. Also, in the early fall of 1896 Crane lived with a prostitute named Amy Traphagen (aka Amy Huntington; Amy Leslie) in a house on West 27th Street in New York that was known to be a haven for opium dealers and addicts. Police questioned Crane several times about his alleged use of opium and in a raid on his apartment claimed to have found opium smoking paraphernalia. I have no doubt that Crane drank heavily and used drugs, but there is no reason to believe that he was an "addict" (more or less a 20th century political rather than a medical term) or that he ever used dugs or alcohol for medical purposes.
--
Stanley Wertheim

9/2/09

Red Badge Publication and Sales

I would like to know some information about the initial publication of The Red Badge of Courage. How many copies were printed for the first edition? How many subsequent printings were there? How many copies have been sold to date? How many copies were sold during the first year of sales, and how much did it sell for? Finally, what is the value of a first edition/ first printing copy today?

Thank you,
Jim Bob

5/5/09

-- Stanley Wertheim

5/6/09

This may come as a strange request, but I am wondering if there are any known photographs of Crane playing music or singing?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Yours,

Dave 4/26/09

-- Stanley Wertheim

5/5/09

Crane's Poetry: Where published?

In Joseph Katz's edition of "The Complete Poems of Stephen Crane" he includes several poems under the label "Uncollected Poems". These include five short poems under the title "Legends"; and two other poems: a short one which starts "Rumbling, buzzing, turning, whirling Wheels," and a longer one which starts "When a people reach the top of a hill". According to the Stephen Crane Society web, the latter was published in "The Philistine", June 1898.

When and where were the other poems first published?

Thank you.

Jeff Costello (lecerclerouge@hotmail.es)
4/26/09

Crane's Poetry

I am in the process of looking at PhD programs in English literature and I have always been fascinated by Cranes "Lines." I was wondering who is teaching/doing research on Crane's poetry in the States?

Andrew Dorkin
adorkin@iwu.edu 4-24-09

Crane: First Biographer?

I have consulted that either Thomas L.Raymond or Thomas Beer, or Vincent Starrett published biographies of Stephen Crane all in 1923, but I wonder who was the first biographer? Usually Thomas Beer's is often talked and it is now known that his contains many fictional elements, but it seems that the other two have been seldom mentioned in Crane study. What are the other two biographies like?
Thank you for your response.
Nora Shu 2/3/09

There was a separately published biographical sketch of Crane published by the Carteret Book Club in Newark, New Jersey, in 1923. Its putative author was Thomas L. Raymond, the mayor of Newark, and the book was prepared under the auspices of his office. Nevertheless, it is generally assumed that the actual author was Max Herzberg, president of the Stephen Crane Society of Newark. Given its scope, it is a commendable effort to highlight the principal facts of Crane’s life. Vincent Starrett’s book was not a biography but a descriptive bibliography published by the Centaur Book Shop, also in 1923. It is an excellent work that has not been much improved upon. That Thomas Beer’s book contains many fictional elements is an understatement. It is essentially a biographical novel. Beer’s subtitle “A Study in American Letters” was ignored, and until recently the book was mistaken for a biography, which has greatly retarded appropriate understanding of Crane’s life and works.

--Stanley Wertheim, 2/22/09

Rights to "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky"

I am an aspiring college film maker and I was wondering if you have any information on how to acquire temporary rights to the short story, "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," so that I may be able to direct it into a short film? My name is Pierce Berolzheimer, and my film company is named HRHFilms. I currently attend the University of San Diego, and have always wanted to direct a short western film to submit to various film festivals. Any information you have would be great! My e-mail address is HRHFilms@gmail.com

Thanks,

-Pierce Berolzheimer 1-9-09

Stephen Crane's published works are in the public domain. No permissions or "rights"  are needed to reprint or adapt "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" in another medium.

--Stanley Wertheim, 2/22/09

Crane Interviewing Veterans?

I have been researching evidence on how the setting of Red Badge is Chancellorsville and have come across some excellent essays including ones by Harold Hungerford and Charles LaRocca and read over the Stephen Crane Encylopedia by Stanley Wertheim.
However, I wondering if there is any direct evidence of Crane interviewing veterans or visiting any of the battlefields prior to the publication of Red Badge, if so are there any reliable sources documenting this interviews and/or visits.
Much Thanks

1-9-09

There is no direct evidence that Crane interviewed Civil War veterans as  sources of information for The Red Badge of Courage, but it is generally assumed that he did so since the Drew Methodist Church and its parsonage in Port Jervis, New York, where he lived as a boy, is directly adjacent to Orange Square a popular gathering place for veterans. Nevertheless, his sources were probably mostly literary and historical. These have been well documented. Crane did not visit Civil War battlefields until after the publication of The Red Badge of Courage. In January 1896 he made a hurried trip to Virginia to explore the possibility of writing a series of articles for the McClure syndicate, but he apparently lacked motivation to become a Civil War historian and declined the project.