Not to be confused with Tales of Mystery and Imagination-or even Tales of Mystery, Imagination, and Humour and Poems-the works contained within this collection are not among Poe’s most well-known pieces.

The book itself is a collection of twenty-three of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and poems, with sixteen illustrations to accompany a handful of the pieces, as well as an essay entitled “The Philosophy of Composition.” Most of these works were Poe’s later ones, their publication dates ranging from 1831 to 1849, the year of Poe’s death, and the majority of the earlier pieces are poems that were published together in 1831. There do not even appear to be any pages missing, though there are several pages added to the beginning and the end, likely for the purpose of keeping the ink from the pages from bleeding onto the cover. Nonetheless, it is in startlingly wonderful condition for its age, and none of the pages are so damaged or obscured that they cannot be comprehensibly read. Another aspect that speaks to the cheapness of the book is that if you drag your finger along the text, in many points you can feel as well as see the letters pressed into the pages. The pages themselves are a little worse for wear, many of them creased and a couple even ripped along the top, and in several places the ink from the illustrations has bled through and left a shadow on the other pages. On the inside, the paper is thin and waxen with age, and many of them are entirely different sizes as though the cutting of the paper had been a rushed ordeal. The cover is thin but sturdy, likely made out of cheap but durable material, and the front cover is slightly bent inwards. Beneath the publishing company’s information is the price listed at one shilling, which in today’s age is the equivalent of roughly five US dollars. In the center of the covers reads the title and author’s name, crested by the words “Readable Books,” with the publishing company’s name and address at the base: LONDON, CLARKE, BEETON, AND CO., FOREIGN BOOK SELLERS. The front and back cover are exact copies of one another-a worn but still beautiful red and gold print with twisting vines and profiles of angels-which points to a high possibility of this book having been mass produced. The copy of Tales of Mystery, Imagination, and Humour: Second Series by Edgar Allan Poe kept in Ohio University’s Special Collections vault is a small, cheaply made book from the year 1852. London: Clarke, Beeton, and Co., 1852.Īlden 5th Floor Archives & Special Collections (Edmund Blunden Collection) PS2602. Tales of Mystery, Imagination, and Humour, Second Series.

Poe tales of mystery and imagination