Edgar Allan Poe once apologized to New York publishers for his drunken behavior. The University of Virginia put a letter written by Poe on display. In the letter Poe blames his behavior on juleps.
The university bought the July 18, 1842, letter in a Sotheby's auction after the document spent years in private hands. University officials declined to disclose the price, but said it was purchased with endowment funds.
"Will you be so kind enough to put the best possible interpretation upon my behaviour while in N-York?," Poe asks New York publishers J. and Henry G. Langley. "You must have conceived a queer idea of me - but the simple truth is that Wallace would insist upon the juleps, and I knew not what I was either doing or saying."
He closes the letter expressing his hopes that he'll see the Langleys again "under better auspices." The enclosed article was rejected, but published elsewhere later that year.
That must have been quite a hangover Poe had when he realized he had embarrassed himself in front of his publishers. The University of Virginia exhibit was to mark Poe's 200th birthday. Poe attended the University in 1826.
