Sixty-Seven Tales

by Edgar Allan Poe

67 tales from a master of the short story. Includes the incomparable The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Pit and the Pendulum and The Tell-Tale Heart as well as "The Raven" and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. 769 pages.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Poetry

768 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1849

About the author

The name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.

Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.

The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Forward by Alix Perry was very informative and voiced my own feelings concerning my appreciation of Poe's genius. 4.5 Stars

MS. Found in a Bottle - 5 Stars

Berenice (revised version) - 4.5 Stars - The original version was worth all 5 Stars (Yeah us macabre readers need the evidence of the tooth extraction scene left in).

Morella - 4.5 Stars
Some Passages in the Life of a Lion (Lionizing) - 4 Stars
The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaall - 4 Stars
The Assignation (The Visionary) - 5 Stars
Bon-Bon - 4 Stars
Shadow: a Parable - 5 Stars
Loss of Breath: A Tale Neither In or Out of "Blackwood" - 4 Stars
King Pest: A Tale Containing an Allegory - 4.5
Metzengerstein - 4 Stars
Le Duc De l'Omelette - 3 Stars
Four Beasts in One; The Homo-Cameleopard - 4 Stars
A Tale of Jerusalem - 3 Stars
Mystification - 3.5 Stars
Ligeia - 5 Stars
How to Write a Blackwood Article - 3 Stars
The Predicament: The Scythe of Time - 4.5 Stars
Silence: A Fable - 4.5 Stars
A Journal of Julius Rodman - 4 Stars
The Devil in the Belfry - 3.5 Stars
The Man That Was Used Up - 5 Stars
The Fall of the House of Usher - 5 Stars
William Wilson - 5 Stars
The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion - 4 Stars
Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling - 3 Stars
The Business Man - 3.5 Stars
The Man of the Crowd - 5 Stars
The Murders in the Rue Morgue - 5 Stars
A Descent into the Maelström - 5 Stars
The Island of the Fay - 4.5 Stars
The Colloquy of Monos and Una - 4 Stars
Never Bet the Devil Your Head - 3.5 Stars
Three Sundays a Week - 3.5 Stars
Eleonora - 4 Stars
The Oval Portrait - 4 Stars
The Masque of the Red Death - 5 Stars
The Mystery of Marie Rogêt - 5 Stars
The Pit and the Pendulum - 5 Stars
The Tell-Tale Heart - 5 Stars
The Gold Bug - 5 Stars
The Black Cat - 5 Stars
Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences - 4 Stars
A Tale of the Ragged Mountains - 3.5 Stars
The Spectacles - 4 Stars
The Balloon -Hoax - 3.5 Stars
Mesmeric Revelation - 4 Stars
The Premature Burial - 5 Stars
The Oblong Box - 4.5 Stars
The Angel of the Odd - 4 Stars
Thou Art the Man - 4.5 Stars
The Purloined Letter - 4 Stars
The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq. - 3.5 Stars
The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade - 5 Stars
Some Words with a Mummy - 4 Stars
The Power of Words - 4 Stars
The Imp of the Perverse - 5 Stars
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar - 5 Stars
The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether - 4.5 Stars
The Sphinx - 4 Stars
The Cask of Amontillado - 5 Stars
The Domain of Arnhem - 5 Stars
Mellonta Tauta - 3.5 Stars
Hop-Frog - 5 Stars
X-ing a Paragrab - 4 Stars
Von Kempelen and His Discovery - 3 Stars
Landor's Cottage - 4 Stars

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket - 5 Stars

THE RAVEN AND OTHER POEMS
The Raven - 5 Stars
The Bells - 5 Stars
Annabel Lee - 5 Stars
Lenore - 4.5 Stars
Eulalie-A Song - 4 Stars
To Helen [Helen was Mrs. Whitman] "I saw thee once" - 4 Stars
A Dream Within a Dream "take this kiss upon the brow" - 5 Stars
Ulalume - 4 Stars
Sonnet-To Science - 4.5 Stars
Al Aaraaf - 2.5 Stars

To the River -3 Stars A beautiful poem that compares the elegance of a young woman to a crystal clear flowing river.

To My Mother - 3.5 Stars
To Helen ['Helen' was Mrs. Stannard, whose death also inspired Lenore] - 4 Stars
The Lake-To- - 3 Stars
Catholic Hymn - 4 Stars
Stanzas - 3 Stars

Song - 3.5 Stars The speaker tells of a former love he saw from afar on her wedding day. A blush on her cheek, despite all the happiness around her, displays a hidden shame for having lost the speaker's love.

Fairy-Land - 4 Stars
For Annie - 4 Stars
The Sleeper - 5 Stars
Bridal Ballad - 4 Stars
To M - (Marie Louise Shew) 1848 - 3.5 Stars Poe's friend and Virginia's nurse.
To One in Paradise - 4.5 Stars
The Haunted Palace - 5 Stars
The City in the Sea - 5 Stars
The Conqueror Worm - 4 Stars

To F----s S. O----d -3 Stars Originally called To Elizabeth, dedicated to Poe's cousin Elizabeth Herring and written in an album of hers, this poem was then published in a revised version in the September 1835 issue of the Southern Literary Messenger as Lines Written in an Album, it was finally renamed in honor of Frances Sargent Osgood and published in the 1845 collection The Raven and Other Poems

Dreams - 3 Stars
To F-- - 4 Stars
Eldarodo - 5 Stars
To M.L.S.--- (Marie Louise Shew) 1847 - 5 Stars

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, it took us two years, but we finally finished reading all of Poe's works. Read this one aloud and realized that Poe was a wonderful poet and short story writer, but not such a great novelist. He also wrote a wide variety of styles.

[S.M.M. Lindström · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a long while, but I've finally finished this collection! I do admit I skipped over a number of stories, mostly those that relied heavily on temporary context to be funny/interesting. But those stories I read, I over all enjoyed. Had a good time. Most of the stories and the poems definitely work best when read aloud.

[Eligos Vespillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete, satisfyingly hefty leatherbound editon of Poe's work, perfect for an oversized antique chair in front of the fireplace.

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Edgar Allan Poe since it was introduced to me by my high school English teacher Mr. Stagi. Some of my four star favorites are: MS. Found in a Bottle; Tthe Devil in the Belfry; The Fall of the House of Usher; A Descent into the Maelstrom; The Pit and the Pendulum; The Tell-Tale Heart; The Spectacles; The Raven; The Bells; and A Dreeam Within a Dream. Some others that were new to me:The Man That Was Used Up; Eleonora; The Black Cat; and The Cask of Amontillado. Whether you're a long time fan or new to this author, there is something for everyone's tastes. Enjoy!

[Gabriella Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edgar Allan Poe is a very detailed poet. He wrote 67 short story tales. One of my favorites is The Tell Tale Heart. He tells how he did this the murder then he almost gets of but his conscious got in the way.

[Karen L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the tell tale heart, but must admit it is freaky!Read many of these years ago, but can only stomach so much Poe. He is grisly!

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Vorläufiges zum Zettels Traum. In his own wright as well of course naturally.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy grail of writers and readers alike, it all starts here.