Tales of Mystery, Imagination, & Humour; and Poems. Illustrated with twenty-six engravings on wood. FIRST UK EDITION.

POE, Edgar Allan.

Editore: Printed and published by Henry Vizetelly (Readable Books No. 1). 1852, 1852

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Front., vignette title, illus. Orig. red & cream printed boards with attractive design of foliage, shields, & figures; expertly rebacked, boards sl. rubbed, corners & edges a bit worn. A lovely copy in original condition. Glover & Greene 388. Not in Topp. The Murders in Rue Morgue was originally published in Graham's Magazine in 1841, and is considered one of the first fictional detective stories in English. With his character Dupin, Poe introduced the world to the now familiar trope of a brilliant but eccentric detective who uses his superior analytical skills to solve a crime for the joy of the challenge. This exceptional character is contrasted with a bumbling police force, and the tale is told in the first person by a sidekick figure who explains the clues and sequence of events. The story is a locked door mystery, in which two women - a mother and daughter - are violently killed during the same night in very different ways; the police ignore challenging and confusing clues, and arrest a man who was seen with the women the previous day. Dupin does not believe the man is guilty so undertakes his own investigation, leading him to a genuinely unexpected and bizarre conclusion. Today, a common criticism of the story is that the reader could not determine the outcome through the clues themselves, but since Poe was doing something completely new, it was not expected by contemporary readers. Edgar Allen Poe, 1809-1849, is now one of the great figures of American literature, but during his lifetime he worked mainly as a jobbing writer and gained a reputation primarily as a literary critic; he is best remembered for his mysterious and macabre stories. There are eight short stories and eleven poems in this volume including The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, and The Mystery of Marie Roget, which Glover & Greene call 'three of the really great detective stories', they first appeared in the UK in Tales (1846). His most enduring poem 'The Raven' also features in this collection.

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Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Tales of Mystery, Imagination, & Humour; and Poems. Illustrated with twenty-six engravings on wood. FIRST UK EDITION.
• Editore: Printed and published by Henry Vizetelly (Readable Books No. 1). 1852
• Data di pubblicazione: 1852
• Rilegatura: Brossura