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Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories
Edgar Allan Poe has become so strongly associated with the dark nature of his work that, in some minds, it's as if he's the central character—rather than the author—of the many horror and mystery tales that bear his name. And yet, well over a century after his death, his story remains as fascinating as those he wove, largely because the shadow cast by Poe was not one of his own design.
In Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories, Poe's biography comes to life through images and fascinating removable memorabilia, including:
-A portion of his handwritten manuscript for the poem "A Dream Within a Dream."
-Contentious letters he exchanged with his foster father, John Allan.
-The bond indicating his intention to marry his cousin Virginia.
-His controversial obituary as it appeared in the New York Daily Tribune.
After touring his visual, interactive biography, fans of Poe will read "The Raven" and countless other classics with new appreciation.
In Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories, Poe's biography comes to life through images and fascinating removable memorabilia, including:
-A portion of his handwritten manuscript for the poem "A Dream Within a Dream."
-Contentious letters he exchanged with his foster father, John Allan.
-The bond indicating his intention to marry his cousin Virginia.
-His controversial obituary as it appeared in the New York Daily Tribune.
After touring his visual, interactive biography, fans of Poe will read "The Raven" and countless other classics with new appreciation.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published September 22, 2008
3 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 4, 2011
Careful now--holding this book is literally like having in your hands an authentic centuries-old scrapbook, laced with long-forgotten letters and documents you can actually pull out, then tuck back in. And of course plenty of old, old photographs. It's the tell-tale scrapbook of Edgar Allan Poe; painstakingly assembled by a dedicated distant relative. HOW dedicated? He's President of the Poe Foundation AND the Poe Museum in Richmond. Trust me on this one...you'll be impressed.
September 21, 2014
It's an ungainly thing, this Illustrated Companion: hardbound, eleven inches wide by eight-and-a-half tall, 160 heavyweight pages. Awkward to read in bed, say, and in narrow quarters like an airplane seat. It's purple, ye gods, purple! Impossible to read without drawing attention: conspicuous.
And (at least for a certain sort of Poe aficionado) pure pleasure.
Despite the subtitle's implication, the Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories does not include the stories themselves. The pictures, for the most part, illustrate people and scenes from Poe's life; the text is a compressed biography, with brief forays into how the life informed the poetry and fiction (and sometimes vice-versa).
I thought I knew a lot about Poe's life but this book brought a good number of surprises. I didn't know, for instance, that the familiar haunted-mustachioed stereotype was an image which Poe didn't cultivate until the last couple years of his life. (Below, an oval miniature of Poe in his 20s or 30s.)
Of course, all the familiar stuff is here, too: the fractious relationship with his adoptive father, John Allan; the deaths of various beloved women, most often to consumption; his sister, her mind frozen in childhood throughout her long life; his term at West Point and subsequent expulsion for dissipation; his battles with alcohol, his nearly constant desperation over money, and his fights with other authors and editors; and the mean-spirited scheming of his literary executor/executioner, Rufus Griswold, who came close to ensuring that we today would be asking, "Edgar Allan who? Oh, you mean the drunk?"
It's all as sad as it is familiar. The book's author, one-time director of the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, is Harry Lee Poe, a distant cousin of Edgar. And except for that minor twist, because it is so familiar you might wonder how he managed to convince a publisher to undertake yet another bio, however "illustrated."
I don't know the route he took to publication, but I know what makes reading -- handling -- his book an exceptional experience. Take a look:
Scattered throughout the book, five translucent envelopes. In each envelope, facsimiles -- "copies" doesn't do them justice -- of archival Poe materials. For instance:
(a) In envelope #1, the "marriage bond" -- a certificate of payment -- for the marriage in 1806 of David Poe, Jr., to the widow of Charles D. Hopkins. (Little Edgar would come along three years later.)
(b) In the second envelope, a four-page letter from Edgar to John Allan, dated 1831, tearing into his "father" for ensuring yet again that he'd fail at something (in this case, West Point). (Allan had sent him off to West Point with just enough money to enter, but despite Poe's pleading didn't provide enough to continue.) The letter ends, "From the time of this writing I shall neglect my studies and duties at the institution -- if I do not receive your answer in 10 days -- I will leave the point without -- for otherwise I should subject myself to dismission." Scrawled along one tiny side of the folded letter is a note from John Allan:
Poe did indeed leave "the point" shortly thereafter -- broken in spirit as well as in funds.
(c) An entire page, folded, of the New York Daily Tribune from October 9, 1849. All of column 3 and most of 4 is taken up by an item which begins, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." This "scathing obituary," as the book's text refers to it, bears the pseudonymous byline LUDWIG; the author's real name: Rufus Griswold.
The contents of these documents fascinate. And if all you care about is those contents, you can satisfy yourself with their transcriptions -- in what looks to be sub-8-point type in the back of the book. Yet it's not what they say, but their presentation, which really sets them apart.
The pages have ragged edges. Stains blot their surfaces. Folds and creases are worn, as though from many months' abrasion against pocket or purse. In spots, some of the documents even have holes in them, where the aged, brittle paper has simply fallen away. (Below, Poe's 1829 army enlistment. Note that at the time he was calling himself Edgar A. Perry. Click for a larger version.)
Now, from their description here as aged, brittle, and so on, do not assume these inserts are really aged (etc.). No, the paper on which they're reproduced is just as new and strong as that on which the text itself appears. The edges are truly ragged, you can (if you want) put your finger through the holes, but the pages are simply reproduced to appear as old as the originals, in the same sizes, even with the same folds.
(Like many gadget geeks, I looked forward to my first e-book reader, an Amazon Kindle or whatever. I'm now on my second one of those. But the experience of reading the Poe Illustrated Companion is the sort which no e-book reader anywhere on the horizon will be able to duplicate. On the other hand, its shelf life in a busy public library is probably a matter of months, if that long. And you might want to reconsider if you're thinking of buying a used copy!)
Not interested at all in Poe? Bored by his stories, confused by his poems, confounded by his criticism, and maybe feeling -- with Griswold -- that, honestly, the world is a better place for having lost Poe at age 40? You might want to give this one a pass.
But if:
(a) you've an open mind about Poe's work, his life, his reputation, or
(b) you like handling books as well as reading them, or
(c) you're even remotely curious about how people (especially authors) lived and interacted with others 200+ years ago
-- in any of those cases, you will love it.
[NOTE: This review originally appeared, in slightly different format, at The Book Book.]
And (at least for a certain sort of Poe aficionado) pure pleasure.
Despite the subtitle's implication, the Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories does not include the stories themselves. The pictures, for the most part, illustrate people and scenes from Poe's life; the text is a compressed biography, with brief forays into how the life informed the poetry and fiction (and sometimes vice-versa).
I thought I knew a lot about Poe's life but this book brought a good number of surprises. I didn't know, for instance, that the familiar haunted-mustachioed stereotype was an image which Poe didn't cultivate until the last couple years of his life. (Below, an oval miniature of Poe in his 20s or 30s.)
Of course, all the familiar stuff is here, too: the fractious relationship with his adoptive father, John Allan; the deaths of various beloved women, most often to consumption; his sister, her mind frozen in childhood throughout her long life; his term at West Point and subsequent expulsion for dissipation; his battles with alcohol, his nearly constant desperation over money, and his fights with other authors and editors; and the mean-spirited scheming of his literary executor/executioner, Rufus Griswold, who came close to ensuring that we today would be asking, "Edgar Allan who? Oh, you mean the drunk?"
It's all as sad as it is familiar. The book's author, one-time director of the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, is Harry Lee Poe, a distant cousin of Edgar. And except for that minor twist, because it is so familiar you might wonder how he managed to convince a publisher to undertake yet another bio, however "illustrated."
I don't know the route he took to publication, but I know what makes reading -- handling -- his book an exceptional experience. Take a look:
Scattered throughout the book, five translucent envelopes. In each envelope, facsimiles -- "copies" doesn't do them justice -- of archival Poe materials. For instance:
(a) In envelope #1, the "marriage bond" -- a certificate of payment -- for the marriage in 1806 of David Poe, Jr., to the widow of Charles D. Hopkins. (Little Edgar would come along three years later.)
(b) In the second envelope, a four-page letter from Edgar to John Allan, dated 1831, tearing into his "father" for ensuring yet again that he'd fail at something (in this case, West Point). (Allan had sent him off to West Point with just enough money to enter, but despite Poe's pleading didn't provide enough to continue.) The letter ends, "From the time of this writing I shall neglect my studies and duties at the institution -- if I do not receive your answer in 10 days -- I will leave the point without -- for otherwise I should subject myself to dismission." Scrawled along one tiny side of the folded letter is a note from John Allan:
I recd this on the 10th and did not from it [sic] conclusion deem it necessary to reply... I do not think the Boy has one good quality. He may do or act as he pleases, tho I wd. have saved him but on his own terms & conditions since I cannot believe a word he writes.
Poe did indeed leave "the point" shortly thereafter -- broken in spirit as well as in funds.
(c) An entire page, folded, of the New York Daily Tribune from October 9, 1849. All of column 3 and most of 4 is taken up by an item which begins, "Edgar Allan Poe is dead. He died in Baltimore the day before yesterday. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it." This "scathing obituary," as the book's text refers to it, bears the pseudonymous byline LUDWIG; the author's real name: Rufus Griswold.
The contents of these documents fascinate. And if all you care about is those contents, you can satisfy yourself with their transcriptions -- in what looks to be sub-8-point type in the back of the book. Yet it's not what they say, but their presentation, which really sets them apart.
The pages have ragged edges. Stains blot their surfaces. Folds and creases are worn, as though from many months' abrasion against pocket or purse. In spots, some of the documents even have holes in them, where the aged, brittle paper has simply fallen away. (Below, Poe's 1829 army enlistment. Note that at the time he was calling himself Edgar A. Perry. Click for a larger version.)
Now, from their description here as aged, brittle, and so on, do not assume these inserts are really aged (etc.). No, the paper on which they're reproduced is just as new and strong as that on which the text itself appears. The edges are truly ragged, you can (if you want) put your finger through the holes, but the pages are simply reproduced to appear as old as the originals, in the same sizes, even with the same folds.
(Like many gadget geeks, I looked forward to my first e-book reader, an Amazon Kindle or whatever. I'm now on my second one of those. But the experience of reading the Poe Illustrated Companion is the sort which no e-book reader anywhere on the horizon will be able to duplicate. On the other hand, its shelf life in a busy public library is probably a matter of months, if that long. And you might want to reconsider if you're thinking of buying a used copy!)
Not interested at all in Poe? Bored by his stories, confused by his poems, confounded by his criticism, and maybe feeling -- with Griswold -- that, honestly, the world is a better place for having lost Poe at age 40? You might want to give this one a pass.
But if:
(a) you've an open mind about Poe's work, his life, his reputation, or
(b) you like handling books as well as reading them, or
(c) you're even remotely curious about how people (especially authors) lived and interacted with others 200+ years ago
-- in any of those cases, you will love it.
[NOTE: This review originally appeared, in slightly different format, at The Book Book.]
May 10, 2025
A good, quick bio of Edgar Poe written by a Poe expert and descendent of Poe’s cousin. The plentiful illustrations and fun, faux ephemera make this bio standout from others. I used this for my research for a lifelong learning class I taught on Poe emphasizing, his non-macabre stories and providing a more balanced view of Poe’s life. The students enjoyed the ephemera.
June 10, 2024
This was a very interesting tale of Poe's life. I learned quite a bit and was saddened that the real story of his life is not better known.
January 2, 2009
This book is a must-have for any E.A.P. fan. It delves not only into his life, but also the stories behind his most famous stories and poems.The author, Harry Poe, works hard to dispel the myth of Edgar as an absinthe addicted, half-crazed depressive poet who died in shame and misery. With supporting documentation, he reveals Poe as a brilliant and much-lauded editorialist, who helped a few magazines rise to national prominence in a country that was only beginning to find it's literary identity. His penury at the time of his death was not a permant state, but only a momentary downturn as he was actually poised on what would have been his greatest success. And rather than being forgotten by his peers, he actually counted among his admirers literary contemporaries such as the revered poet Longfellow, Jules Verne, and Charles Dickens.
While the author does a fantastic job of restoring Poe's reputation, his claims of Poe's intelligence are so fantastic that they verge on ridiculous. Not only is Poe credited with writing the first mystery story (fact), he also began the genre of science fiction. (Maybe.) But where the author over-reaches is his claim that Poe was the original creator of the Theory Of Relativity, which he bases a story called "Three Sundays" around.
Despite the overzealous adoration of the author, this book is phenomenal. I would recommend it for anyone who has a love for the genius that was Edgar Alan Poe.
While the author does a fantastic job of restoring Poe's reputation, his claims of Poe's intelligence are so fantastic that they verge on ridiculous. Not only is Poe credited with writing the first mystery story (fact), he also began the genre of science fiction. (Maybe.) But where the author over-reaches is his claim that Poe was the original creator of the Theory Of Relativity, which he bases a story called "Three Sundays" around.
Despite the overzealous adoration of the author, this book is phenomenal. I would recommend it for anyone who has a love for the genius that was Edgar Alan Poe.
February 12, 2009
Un libro que cualquier fan de Poe debe tener. El autor (primo de Poe) además de presentar una visión distinta a casi todas las biografías del autor, propone un panorama un poco más claro en torno a su muerte (que sigue siendo un misterio) y elabora un poco más en torno a la cotidianeidad y a las relaciones del escritor. Y por si fuera poco, las réplicas de documentos originales -cartas a su padrastro, daguerrotipos, primeras publicaciones de sus cuentos en algunas revistas literarias, su esquela, la primera publicación de "El cuervo"- involucran al lector de manera especial, y por un momento tienes la sensación de "yo estuve ahí" (por ejemplo, hay una carta que escribió a su padrastro, y los dobleces corresponden a los dobleces marcados en el original, detalles de ese tipo).
En resumen, si les gusta Poe, cómprenlo. Lo necesitan.
En resumen, si les gusta Poe, cómprenlo. Lo necesitan.
March 8, 2010
While not rising to the level of a typical "coffee table book", this is a very nice edition to peruse, with numerous photos and illustration of Poe and the people and places in his life, as well as several envelopes containing replicas of publications he appeared in, letters he road, and important documents. The accompanying text is a combination of biography and review of his works. It is fairly brief and stretched out over some 150 pages by leaving a lot of space between the lines. The author is a cousin of Poe and therefore perhaps an overly sympathetic reviewer, but he is also someone who presumably has spent a lifetime researching the author.
June 17, 2015
What a fun and thoughtful book. It has replicas of letters and poems and marriage certificates and published stories, plus lots of portraits of the people in Poe's life. I read it cover to cover; couldn't put it down. Glad the mean, critical ol' Reverend Griswold got his come-uppance.
December 29, 2008
This book provides a great overview of Poe's life, and the bonus of course is the collection of important documents and letters stashed between the pages. Fantastic.
June 17, 2015
Loved this! Awesome layout with cool recreations of pictures, letters and essays. It's very informative without being boring. Great read for any fan or person just curious about who he was.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews