84. Evangeline, | A | Tale Of Acadie. | By | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. | Boston: | William D. Ticknor & Company. | 1847.
Writing in his journal under date of October 2, 1847, Longfellow says: "Why does not Ticknor publish Evangeline? I am going to town to ask him that very question. And his answer was that he should do so without further delay." An entry, dated October 30, says, "Evangeline published." On November 8, he says: "Evangeline goes on bravely. I have received greater and warmer commendations than on any previous volume. The public takes more kindly to hexameters than I could have imagined." On November 13, a third thousand is recorded, and on April 8 of the following year we learn: "Next week Ticknor prints the sixth thousand of Evangeline, making one thousand a month since its publication."
In 1857 the following entry sums up the successful career of the poem:
"Allibone wants to get from the publishers the number of copies of my book sold up to date, the editions in this country only," and Evangeline is set down as 35,850 copies.
The poem was translated into German, Swedish, Danish, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, and French, and was made a school-book in Italy.
Sextodecimo.
Collation: 163 pp.