Tales of Mystery and Imagination; And Poems. Illustrated with forty-two engravings. London: Clarke, Beeton, And Co., Fleet Street [1852-53], [Readable Books Series]. By Edgar Allan Poe.
FIRST COLLECTED EDITION OF EDGAR ALLAN POE'S MASTERPIECE OF GOTHIC FICTION AND ROMANTICISM.
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Here we find both the first and second series bound together as one volume as occasionally found with the full suite of 42 illustrations throughout. This edition has a main title page for the two series for which we could not find any other known examples as complete as this example. This is the substantially rarer state without the "Readable Books" header to the separate title pages as recorded to exist by BAL 16205, but had not been observed. It collates as complete following OCLC 36500276, and we could trace only 7 known copies institutionally worldwide, none of which were held in the UK.
PS2602.A1.1852a records the date of this edition as 1851, and some other sources suggest 1852-53. Nevertheless, it is a very early edition of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination, being the first collected edition of Poe's magnum opus.
Here is a very rare opportunity to acquire probably the earliest edition of Poe's works which is actually attainable, with earlier individual printings of some of his works fetching in excess of £500,000 - even an 1845 edition of The Raven recently realised $312,000 (USD) at Sotheby's in 2019. Examples of this edition are very rare to the market and we could trace only two having appeared at auction in the last 25 years, one in February 2023 at Heritage which realised approx. $3,200, and another at Freeman's in 2002 which realised $950.
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Size: 110 x 160 x 32 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[main title page, xxiv, 256pp]; [3ff, 252pp].
Collated as complete. Spine with some wear to raised bands, extremities and minor rubbing in the compartments. Gilt remains fairly bright with some loss. Loss to spine leather at head. Shelf and edge wear. Rubbing across joints but with both boards securely attached. No shelf lean. Both boards rubbed with minor wear to corners. Page edges dulled slightly but generally very good. Some very light foxing throughout, a bit heavier to endpapers as typical. Main title page slightly detached at foot, with an ink ownership inscription to the head dated to 1857. Hinge split to verso of first series half title page. Overall a good example of this rare book.
[BAL 16205 & 16207; PS2602.A1.1852a; OCLC 36500276].
