Edgar Allan Poe spent his short, difficult life turning dread into art. He gave us the detective story, reshaped the horror genre, and wrote poems that still get under people's skin more than a century and a half later. This edition brings together his poems, short stories and essays in a single volume built to be read, reread and kept.
It's part of the Masterpiece Library series, and the craftsmanship shows. The hardcover is bound in reinforced cloth quarter-binding, finished with textured embossing, iridescent highlights and a foil-stamped spine, so it looks as considered on a shelf as it is to hold. Gilded gold edging runs along the page edges, and a matching ribbon bookmark is sewn in, so you're never left hunting for your place in "The Tell-Tale Heart" or "The Raven".
Throughout the book are the haunting illustrations of Irish artist Harry Clarke, whose stark, atmospheric style has become almost inseparable from Poe's work since it first appeared in a 1919 edition. The pages themselves are acid-free, archival-quality stock in a warm cream tone, with type and spacing chosen for long, comfortable reading rather than a cramped paperback squint.
What's inside
Poe's complete body of work in one book: the stories that defined American gothic fiction, the poetry that influenced generations of writers after him, and the critical essays that show the sharp, exacting mind behind the fiction. Whether you're coming to him for the first time or replacing a paperback that's falling apart, this edition is built to last.
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Why it makes a good gift
A handsome edition like this works well for the reader who already owns a battered old paperback of Poe and deserves an upgrade, or for anyone who appreciates books as objects as much as what's written in them. It suits a birthday, a graduation, a literature lover, or simply a shelf that could use something a little darker and more beautiful.
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