Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems

The Fall of the House of Usher and The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan PoeIn The Purloined Letter, Poe is at his level headed and rational best. The narrator and Dupin are sitting by the fireside one evening when the Prefect of Parisian Police bursts in. He has a big problem on his hands: an influential woman has had an incriminating letter stolen by the Minister D. The police are certain it's in his hotel but they've applied all possible scientific method to searching the place and still haven't found the letter:"We not only opened every book, but we turned over every leaf in each volume, not contenting ourselves with a mere shake...we also measured the thickness of every bookcover, with the most accurate admeasurement, and applied to each the most jealous scrutiny of the microscope."Soon the police have exhausted their scientific method. Thankfully, Dupin is on hand to solve the mystery using psychology, produce the letter and explain (with a forgivable amount of smugness) precisely how he managed it.The Fall of the House of Usher is an entirely different proposition. The narrator receives an unexpected letter from an old friend and hurries to his home. He hasn't seen Roderick Usher for many years and is deeply disturbed by the house and by the state that Roderick has fallen into. He has declined into a pale, melancholy shadow of his earlier self and his sister Madeline is on the verge of succumbing to a wasting disease the doctors cannot identify:"A sensation of stupor oppressed me as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the countenance of the brother; but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread his emaciated fingers through which trickled many passionate tears."Madeline dies not long after and the narrator helps his old friend to place her coffin in the vault. Roderick's decline worsens and one terrible night he bangs on the bedroom door of his old friend and cries out that in burying his sister he might possibly have been a little hasty...Two very different tales from the nineteenth-century master of chill and suspense. Plus much else besides. Enjoy them on the train rattling home from work or by the fireside on a dark and stormy night. Either way you'll be mesmerised.Enjoy!

This book is an absolute must on your shelf. Beautifully designed and extremely fitting for Poe's theme of writing. It's a lot bigger than I expected but this doesn't pose a problem, it has a slight old fashion flare to it which I also love. The complaint of the pages sticking together from the silver is ridiculous. It's a brand new book and once you've flicked through it they don't stick again, also they are hardly difficult to separate and give NO threat to damaging the book as they separate very easily. It has all my favourites in, also my two favourite poems 'Dream Within A Dream' and 'For Annie' are right next to each other -wonderful. It's presented beautifully inside and out, a book I've been wanting for a long time and I'm now so pleased to have it in my possession. There is so much work in there that it isn't a quick and easy book to read through, its the kind where you can read a few poems or a story and go back another day and read something else, or read it all in one. This makes it good for different types of readers that either like to have multiple things in one book and able to read something different every time and not have to do the whole thing at once. Or for readers that enjoy reading a long, well written book and take time in their reading to keep them busy.Beautiful.

I bought this after getting disappointed from the quality of  Complete Edgar Allan Poe (Wordsworth Library Collection) Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, The (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics)  is a completely different animal...The leather binding looks and feels awesome.The pages are a nice white with smallish fonts and are comfortably usable, but I would liked them a bit thicker. The silver color on the page edges is sprayed on and looks patchy. When you first open the book the page edges are a bit glued together because of the silver paint. They easily break apart after flipping them once or twice and there are no obvious paint smudges on the face of the paper.In general the silver edges are a bit too much for my taste.About the contents, all of Poe' s most popular work is in here. I do not know all of his rare or semi-rare writings, but all I have ever read/heard and then a lot more is in here.I will definitely recommend this to all my horror reading friends...

Until the purchase of this collection, I had a very limited knowledge of Poe's varied works. Like most people, I knew well the poem: 'The Raven', and the short stories: 'The Pit and the Pendulum', 'The Black Cat', and 'The Fall Of The House Of Usher.' But in acquiring this book, I realize that Poe's interests extended far beyond horror, although that is the area in which he excels.I was pleasantly surprised by the clear similarities between the 3 excellent Dupin murder-mysteries and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. I had no idea Conan Doyle had taken his inspiration from anyone but a former real-life associate. But Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Purloined Letter' is the obvious predecessor of 'A Scandal In Bohemia.' In my opinion, the Dupin mysteries have to rate among the best of Poe's works. I'm just rather taken aback that I've never come across them before.The book itself is very well produced, the leather binding fitting well with my small collection of old books. It's pleasing that there are still some publishers that take the time and trouble to go beyond the world of mass paperback and create a good-looking book.My reason for the 4 stars is only a matter of personal taste in Poe's writings. As I have already mentioned, his works are varied and not all the stories appeal to me; it seems our taste in the comic tends to differ.

Well. Where do I start. The book is in excellent condition and even more beautiful than shown online. Pretty awesome for a used book! While the folio is lovely, I was pleasantly surprised to find the book itself is covered in a satin like material , which makes it all that much more of a treasure.I'm very happy with my purchase. Love!

Got this book for my Dad as a birthday present and he loved it! He had been talking about wanting a collection of Poe's stories and this was the perfect thing to get him. Definitely recommend.

Não sejam levados pelas avaliações negativas.Fui surpreendido pela qualidade dessa edição.É um livro bem feito, resistente. Traz todos os contos, poemas e o único romance do Poe.As folhas são brancas mas são boas, com boa espessura.Enfim, quando essa edição estiver com preço baixo não deixem de aproveitar a promoção. Vale muito a pena.

"Complete Tales & Poems of Edger Allan Poe" ist ein wunderbar, fein verarbeitetes Hardcover-Buch, welches mit einen sehr stabilen und ebenso eleganten Schuber kommt.Darin enthalten sind nicht nur bekannte Werke wie "The Pit and the Pendulum" oder "The Raven" sondern auch weitgehend alle anderen Werke die er jemals geschrieben hat.Alles auf Englisch jedoch weiterhin ein wunderbares Werk in meinen Augen.

Je l’ai acheté un peu à la va vite, du coup je n’ai pas fait attention, il est en anglais. Cela ne me dérange pas soit disant passant. Je l’ai commandé en double examplaire (à la va vite je vous ai dit..). Belle surprise en tout cas. Je ne m’attendais pas à une beau livre comme ça. Très complet, format roman, rigide. A avoir dans sa bibliothèque.