It has never been easy to give details of Poe's life because he frequently fantasised (lied) about dates and places and he suffered from possibly the worst literary executor in history, Rufus Griswold, who sought every opportunity to blacken Poe's name. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809 to actor parents who very soon died, whereupon the infant was taken in by John Allan, a merchant in Richmond, Virginia.He lived with the Allans, including a lengthy spell in England, until he was seventeen, thus acquiring a lifelong conception of himself as a Southern gendeman...

This collection of Poe"s best stories contains all the terrifying and bewildering tales that characterize his work. As well as the Gothic horror of such famous stories as The Pit a,d th Pendulum. The Fall of the House of Usher. The Premature grial and The TelI-Tale Heart. all of Poe"s Auguste Dupin stories are included. These are the first modern detective stories, and include The Murders in the Rue Morgue. The Mystery of Marie Roget and The Purloned Letter.

INTRODUCTION

The Gold Bug

The Facts in the Case of M.Valdemar

MS. Found in a Bottle

A Descent into the Maelstrom

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Mystery of Marie Roget

The Purloined Letter

The Fall of the House of Usher

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Premature Burial

The Black Cat

The Masque of the Red Death

The Cask of Amontillado

The Oval Portrait

The Oblong Box

The Tell-Tale Heart

Ligeia

Loss of Breath

Shadow - A Parable

Silence - A Fable

The Man of the Crowd

Some Words with a Mummy

NOTES