Description
The first edition, second issue of Tales by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1845.
Octavo, [6], 228pp. Full purple morocco, gilt trim to covers. Five raised bands, title in gilt on spine. Top edge gilt, gilt turn-ins. Marbled endpapers. Finely bound by Pomey, with bindery’s imprint on verso of front cover. This is the second printing, with copyright imprints listing “R. Craigheads Power Press” and “Stereotyped by TB Smith.” Includes the half-title with “Wiley and Putnam’s Library of American Books.” This copy is lacking the advertisements at rear.
(BAL 16146) (Grolier American, 55) (Sabin 63553) (Heartman and Canny, p. 62-68)
Solid text block, faint rubbing to corners and edges of spine. A few spots of toning to title leaf.
A nearly fine copy.
The first issue of Tales includes a copyright imprint of four lines, which states: “Stereotyped by T. B. Smith, 216 William Street, New York. H. Ludwig, Print.” Later issues of Tales were occasionally bound together with Poe’s 1845 The Raven and Other Poems.
“Tales” includes the following short stories by Edgar Allan Poe: The Gold-Bug, The Black Cat, Mesmeric Revelation, Lionizing, The Fall of the House of Usher, A Descent into the Maelstrom, The Colloquy of Monos and Una, The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Purloined Letter, and The Man in the Crowd.
