Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition [Hardcover]

Edgar Allan Poe (Author), Andrew Barger (Editor, Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2006

"Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition" brings Poe to life as never before. It contains a great foreword by Andrew Barger and includes his annotations, word definitions, foreign language translations, and background information about Poe's stories and poems that provide insight into their underlying meaning. Photographs of Poe's many loves and the literary figures he satired in his stories are included. Poems sent to Poe by his many romantic interests and his poems in response are also included. These are very telling about the man who was engaged three times and married to his thirteen-year-old first cousin. The poems are ordered by person and then organized chronologically under that person so that readers can see the exchange of poetry from and to Poe as it unfolded a century and a half ago. Also included are five little-known Poe tales: "[The Bloodhounds]," "Cabs," "Morning on the Wissahiccon," "[The Rats of Park Theatre]," "Some Secrets of the Magazine Prison House," and "The Swiss Bell-Ringers." Here is but a sampling of the other remarkable tales and poems included: "Annabel Lee," "The Bells," "The Black Cat," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Conqueror Worm," "A Descent into the Maelstrom," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Gold-Bug," "The Haunted Palace," "Lenore," "The Masque of the Red Death," "MS. Found in a Bottle," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Oblong Box," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Premature Burial," "The Purloined Letter," "The Raven," "Some Secrets of the Magazine Prison House," "Some Words with a Mummy," "The Swiss Bell-Ringers," "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "Thou Art the Man," and "Ulalume." If you are new to Edgar Allan Poe or already have a compilation of his sitting on your bookshelf, here is an opportunity to uniquely experience the poems and stories of the author who invented the mystery genre and defined the horror genre. Read the works of America's most brilliant and mysterious author as you never have before. Experience the Poe revival firsthand.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 756 pages
• Publisher: BottleTreeBooks LLC; annotated edition edition (February 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976254182
• ISBN-13: 978-0976254188
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,214,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our most misunderstood genius in a complete volume, June 9, 2006

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition (Paperback)

Of course, as a student in middle school and high school, I read Poe in English class; The Purloined Letter, The Tell-Tale Heart, and my creepy-sinking-feeling-in-the-stomach favorite The Pit and the Pendulum. I was such a Poe fan that I memorized several poems including "Annabelle Lee" and "The Raven." Poe was a huge favorite also because he resided during the most influential period of his life in our own Philadelphia. Despite his ignominious death almost literally in a Baltimore gutter, he was kind of a local literary hero.

This book has not only the complete works, it has background interesting to the scholar or student; there is much background on the women to whom he wrote poetry. Stories are annotated, there are photos, and a very worthy foreward by Andrew Barger. While not a dry, heavily researched treatise, this book is a valuable reference and study on the entire works of Poe and if you were going to get a collected works of Poe, I'd recommend this above all others.

My only criticisms; I would have liked to have had a really in-depth biographical section and...the print is very small. While the volume is quite handy in size, the print for my (middle-aged) eyes is just hard to read, even with ye olde bifocals to read for pleasure. And I intend to re-read this book with much pleasure. It's plain after all these years that Poe is one of our greats, and deserves to be read and read often.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A few minor flaws, but overall a great collection, September 14, 2007

By 

Janeen Varga (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition (Hardcover)

I don't think I need to actually review the works of Poe himself, as there is no doubt he was a literary genius.

I would have given this book 5 stars had it not been for 2 factors:

1) There are a few typos. Well, more than a few. In just flipping through the book, I came across several. Most notably in the introduction to "The Cask of Amontillado." Nothing too major, but annoying nonetheless.

2) The paper on which the book was printed is rather cheap. When I got it brand new in the mail, viewing the pages from the side, they almost looked warped as if they got damp. Again, not a major problem, but disappointing considering I paid over $30 for this book.

On the upside, this is an incredible collection of stories and poems of one of my personal favorite writers. The notes and back-stories to his works are interesting and insightful to say the least. They add so much more to the story.

Despite the 2 minor flaws of the book as mentioned above, it was well worth buying.

*Edit* Addressing some of the problems other reviewers had:

1) The print is rather small, but since I have 20/20 vision, it's not a problem for me, but it should be considered for people who aren't as lucky.

2) I agree with the other reviews... Calling it "photographic" is misleading. There are no high-gloss full-page photographs, just small (think thumbnail size on a computer) pictures that are of VERY low quality. The largest photo is of the editor on the dust cover. I wish I was joking.

The works themselves get a 5/5. The editing gets a 2/5, which as I mentioned above is a shame when you consider the cost of this tome.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not photographic, January 24, 2008

By 

Jessie (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition (Paperback)

A tad misleading, there are only a handful (perhaps 4) of very small photos in this entire gargantuan textbook. Not exactly what it seems or how it's titled. Keep in mind this is a hefty volume too, no reading before bed with this one!