A Year in Books/Day 202: Tales of Mystery and Imagination

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  • Title: Tales of Mystery and Imagination
  • Author: Edgar Allan Poe
  • Illustrator: Harry Clarke (from the 1919 edition published by George C. Harrap and Company Ltd.)
  • Year Published: 1987 (The Franklin Library)
  • Year Purchased: 2005
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: It’s Poe, people. We all know Poe, don’t we? His stories are such an immutable fact of our culture that we’re practically born with them embedded into our consciousness. They followed me through most of my school years as assigned reading. I’ve no idea which story I read first, but I remember being really affected by The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Tell-Tale Heart. I wasn’t scared, exactly; even at a young age, the reactions I experienced with Poe were more complicated than that. I was chilled, curious, excited. Mesmerized. It wasn’t until the 8th grade that I started paying attention to the writing and structure that underpinned the fantastical action; my viewpoint was transformed from childish delight to adult appreciation. That’s a sliver of my Poe history. What’s yours? This volume contains 18 classic stories, bound in red and embossed and edged in gold. The paper is heavy and fun to touch. It’s a nice all-round experience, not just imaginative but tactile.
  • Motivation: I like bright, shiny things. It’s a gorgeously designed volume. The illustrations re-printed from the 1919 edition are amazing.
  • Times Read: Cover-to-cover:1/Individual stories: countless (and I’ve read all of the stories contained herein many times elsewhere over the years)
  • Random Excerpt/Page 179: “It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!”
  • Happiness Scale: 8
    English: Edgar Allan Poe.

    English: Edgar Allan Poe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

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