Torture chambers. Premature burials. Spectral birds. Crumbling castles. Men gone mad by revenge. Women who return from the grave. These are the deranged fantasies and dark superstitions spun into masterpieces of terror by Edgar Allan Poe.
Best known for his poems and short fiction, Poe perfected the psychological thriller, invented the detective story, and transported readers to his own supernatural realm. Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales features the complete works of the author, including all of Poe’s most macabre short stories such as “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of the Red Death,” as well as every poem of haunting genius like “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee” and “The Haunted Palace.” Together, these poems and tales reveal the extraordinary spectrum of Poe’s idealism, his visionary qualities, his responsiveness to beauty and love, and his fascination with the eerie and morbid.
Also included in these complete works are Politian, Poe’s only play; The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Poe’s only complete novel; The Journal of Julius Rodman, Poe’s second unfinished novel; “The Light-House,” Poe’s last incomplete work; and several dozen articles and essays written by the author.
Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales features the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s work, edited Patrick F. Quinn. First published in 1984 by The Library of America, Quinn’s edition of Poe’s complete writings took extensive care to select an authoritative text of each work. The printing and publishing history of every item was thoroughly investigated in order to choose a version that incorporated all of Poe’s own revisions without reproducing errors or changes introduced by later editors. Upon publication, The New York Review of Books referred to it as, “the first truly dependable collection of Poe’s poetry and tales.”
One of the most important and influential American writers of the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe’s disturbing, powerful and inventive voice continues to haunt and enthrall readers.
The limited edition of Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales is presented in three states: Artist, Numbered and Lettered. The editions measure 6” x 9¼” and feature ten black and white illustrations by Kelley Hensing as well as a new exclusive introduction by Michael J. Deas, and Artist edition dust jacket art by Frans Smit. Also included is a reproduction of the Edgar Allan Poe oil painting by Michael J. Deas for the commemorative postage stamp, 2008.
The editions include over eighty pages of bonus content, including reproductions of 28 engravings by Gustave Doré for “The Raven” originally published in 1883, a Poe chronology, and four essays by Poe; “Letter to B———,” “The Philosophy of Composition,” “The Rationale of Verse,” and “The Poetic Principle.”
The text is set in Miller and Scotch types and is printed offset. The Numbered and Lettered editions are signed by Michael J. Deas and Kelley Hensing, and the Artist edition is signed by Kelley Hensing and Frans Smit.