 The original manuscript of " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " which was used for its first printing in Graham 's Magazine was discarded in a wastebasket . An apprentice at the office , J. M. Johnston , retrieved it and left it with his father for safekeeping . It was left in a music book , where it survived three house fires before being bought by George William Childs . In 1891 , Childs presented the manuscript , re @-@ bound with a letter explaining its history , to Drexel University . Childs had also donated $ 650 for the completion of Edgar Allan Poe 's new grave monument in Baltimore , Maryland in 1875 . 
