William A. Pratt (daguerreotypist, Richmond, VA) 1849 (daguerreotype) Edgar Allan Poe
Tintype, copy from a daguerreotype Poe Museum (Jack Wilgus, 6 October 2025) Tintype copy of the daguerreotype portrait of Edgar Allan Poe taken in 1849 by William A. Pratt in Richmond, Virginia. The original daguerreotype belonged to Poe’s fiancée Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton.
Called the “Traylor daguerreotype” after legendary Poe collector Robert Lee Traylor, who once owned the image. The tintype copy is the only record of this Poe portrait, since the original was damage beyond repair around 1900.
