 In any case , Griswold , along with James Russell Lowell and Nathaniel Parker Willis , edited a posthumous collection of Poe 's works published in three volumes starting in January 1850 . He did not share the profits of his edition with Poe 's surviving relatives . This edition included a biographical sketch titled " Memoir of the Author " which has become notorious for its inaccuracy . The " Memoir " depicts Poe as a madman , addicted to drugs and chronically drunk . Many elements were fabricated by Griswold using forged letters as evidence and it was denounced by those who knew Poe , including Sarah Helen Whitman , Charles Frederick Briggs , and George Rex Graham . In March , Graham published a notice in his magazine accusing Griswold of betraying trust and taking revenge on the dead . " Mr. Griswold " , he wrote , " has allowed old prejudices and old enmities to steal ... into the coloring of his picture . " Thomas Holley Chivers wrote a book called New Life of Edgar Allan Poe which directly responded to Griswold 's accusations . He said that Griswold " is not only incompetent to Edit any of [ Poe 's ] works , but totally unconscious of the duties which he and every man who sets himself up as a Literary Executor , owe the dead " . 
