A lawyer hires a clerk who, after a while, begins to reply to each and every request with, "I would prefer not to."
First published (unsigned) in the magazine Putnam's Monthly, in two parts, November and December 1853.
| Date | Publication | Publisher | Type | Page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1856 |
|
The Piazza Tales | Dix & Edwards | Collection | 31 |
| 1937 |
|
Selected English Short Stories: XIX and XX Centuries: (Third Series) | Oxford University Press | Anthology | 184 |
| July 1945 |
|
"Come Not, Lucifer!" | John Westhouse | Anthology | 53 |
| 1946 |
|
Strange and Fantastic Stories: Fifty Tales of Terror, Horror and Fantasy | Whittlesey House | Anthology | 530 |
| 1957 |
|
Best Horror Stories | Faber and Faber | Anthology | 175 |
| 1959 | American Short Stories: 1820 to the Present | Scott, Foresman and Company | Anthology | 111 | |
| 1962 |
|
Best Horror Stories | Faber and Faber | Anthology | 175 |
| September 1970 | Affinities: A Short Story Anthology | Thomas Y. Crowell | Anthology | 57 | |
| 1981 |
|
The Treasury of American Short Stories | Doubleday | Anthology | |62 |
| 1988 |
|
Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Stories | Macmillan | Anthology | 1028 |
| 1989 |
|
Fictions: Second Edition | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | Anthology | 845 |
| 1990 | The Treasury of American Short Stories | Dorset Press | Anthology | 62 | |
| 1990 |
|
Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic | Lester & Orpen Dennys | Anthology | 563 |
| January 1991 |
|
Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic | Clarkson N. Potter | Anthology | 563 |
| April 1991 |
|
White Fire: Further Fantastic Literature | Picador | Anthology | 563 |
| June 1992 |
|
Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic | Vintage Canada | Anthology | 563 |
| November 1997 |
|
The Riverside Anthology of Short Fiction: Convention and Innovation | Houghton Mifflin | Anthology | 191 |
| July 2002 |
|
Great American Short Stories | Dover Publications | Anthology | 18 |
| October 2007 |
|
American Short Stories | Pearson Longman | Anthology | 73 |
| 2009 | Bartleby, o Escrivão | Editorial Presença | Chapbook | ||
| 2011 |
|
The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction | Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press | Anthology | 561 |
| June 2011 |
|
Great Short Stories by Great American Writers | Coyote Canyon Press | Collection | 79 |
| July 2019 |
|
American Gothic Short Stories | Flame Tree Publishing | Anthology |