The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, (Undated; 1914) 10 vol bound in 5
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. London. Jarrold & Sons. (Undated but not before Feb 4, 1914)
Half red leather with pink cloth over boards. Spines faded to brown. A few minor scuffs and scratches on each volume, but overall still very good. Gilt top edges. Green spine labels. Raised bands and gold stamps on spines. Marbled end papers. Decorative title pages and opposing fly leaves with tree & serpent design in black and orange. Joints/hinges intact. Bindings tight throughout. Small pencil annotations on ffep of vol 1. Otherwise, clean and bright. Ten volumes bound in five, with a few illustrations and tissue guards. Contains his poems, tales, marginalia, hoaxes, Eureka, literary criticisms, and more. Also includes an introduction by Chester Noyes Greenough (dated Feb 4, 1914). Also includes prelims by Rufus Griswold, N.P. Willis, and James Russell Lowell.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was born in Boston, and though his legacy is probably most firmly entrenched in his contributions to horror, he wanted most to be remembered as a poet (fortunately, The Raven secured that legacy for him as well). He invented the modern detective story. He wrote hoaxes that fooled medical periodicals and congress. He proposed the space time continuum decades before Einstein. His satrical tales are laugh-out-loud funny. He was a skilled swimmer, attained the rank of Sargeant Major in the US Army, buried Thomas Dunn English alive in a libel suit, and was an infamously ruthless literary critic in his own day. Much despised and adored in equal measure then as now, he belongs in every home library.
