After his marriage to Virginia Clemm, Poe spent the following winter and spring completing his manuscript for this novel in New York. He earned a small amount of money by taking in a boarder named William Gowans. During his fifteen months in New York, amidst the harsh economic climate, Poe published only two tales, "Von Jung, the Mystific" and "Siope. A Fable". Harper & Brothers announced Poe's novel would be published in May 1837, but the Panic forced them to delay.