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Poe had for years tried to publish a book as \"Tales of the Folio Club\" but abandoned that idea and published a collection entitled \"Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque\" in December 1839. It was published in two volumes making a total of about 500 pages and 25 tales.
Even though neither these volumes nor his work for Burton\'s paid much money it enriched Poe\'s reputation. he got praised for his magazine writings in dozens of periodicals, mostly in New York and Philadelphia but also in Richmond, Baltimore, Boston and some other cities. \"The Tales\" received about 20 reviews ranging from \"gloomy German mysticism\" to \"he has placed himself in the foremost rank of American writers.\"
Poe had a great desire to get this admiration and even praised himself for his work. He often wrote flattering about \"Mr. Poe\" by publishing anonymously in other magazines.
After a year with Burton\'s he left the magazine in June 1840. Despite his success he found the job non-profitable and uncomfortable. Together with a hard time trying to make ends meet Poe did not respect the magazine he worked for and when Burton announced a contest with high amounts of money involved - which he never intended to pay it gave Poe a reason to quit.
Trying to paint a good picture of himself he told this to J.E. Snodgrass, a Baltimore editor an physician, as the reason why he quit. But he never mentioned a letter from Burton that he received in May, where he might even have been fired. Poe\'s and Burton\'s partnership ended with hard feelings on both sides and Burton accused Poe for neglecting his duties because of alcohol abuse. Poe denied this and said that he hadn\'t touched a drop. Whether he was drinking or not is uncertain but even if it did it doesn\'t seem to have had any devastating effect on his duties.
As soon as Poe parted with Burton plans of making his own magazine came up. He wanted the independence a magazine of his own would provide and planned to publish around New Year, giving him six months to collect the necessary capital. The Penn Magazine as he would call it did not come out when Poe had promised to though since Poe found the work more difficult than he had imagined and also because he got sick in December and had to spend the whole month in bed.
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