This Paperback Book item from BottleTreeBooks LLC was reviewed on 6-Nov-2008.
Search ISBN:0976254190 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition Reference Book. Classifications : General Short Stories Literature & Fiction Subjects Books General AAS Short Stories Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Poe, Edgar Allen Classics United States World Literature Literature & Fiction Su . Click the following link to view the cover of Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition. Related topics: General. Short Stories. Subjects. Books. General AAS. Short Stories. Subjects. Books. Poe, Edgar Allen. Classics. requestid: b181512c-f561-4afe-9c2b-b2e70774f050
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edition: Annotated
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1) Paperback Book Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition by BottleTreeBooks LLC. A tad misleading, there are only a handful (perhaps 4) of very small photos in this entire gargantuan textbook. Not exactly what it seems or how it´s titled. Keep in mind this is a hefty volume too, no reading before bed with this one!¤ 2) Paperback Book Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition by BottleTreeBooks LLC. Excellent value for the price. Interesting supplemental data. Only problem is that the type is very small.¤ 3) Paperback Book Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition by BottleTreeBooks LLC. I don´t think I need to actually review the works of Poe himself, as there is no doubt he was a literary genius.
I would have given this book 5 stars had it not been for 2 factors:
1) There are a few typos. Well, more than a few. In just flipping through the book, I came across several. Most notably in the introduction to "The Cask of Amontillado." Nothing too major, but annoying none the less.
2) The paper on which the book was printed is rather cheap. When I got it brand new in the mail, viewing the pages from the side, they almost looked warped as if they got damp. Again, not a major problem, but disappointing considering I paid over $30 for this book.
On the upside, this is an incredible collection of stories and poems of one of my personal favorite writers. The notes and back-stories to his works are interesting and insightful to say the least. They add so much more to the story.
Despite the 2 minor flaws of the book as mentioned above, it was well worth buying.
*Edit* Addressing some of the problems other reviewers had:
1) The print is rather small, but since I have 20/20 vision, it´s not a problem for me, but it should be considered for people who aren´t as lucky.
2) I agree with the review above. Calling it "photographic" is misleading. There are no high-gloss full-page photographs, just small (think thumbnail size on a computer) pictures that are of VERY low quality. The largest photo is of the editor on the dust cover. I wish I was joking.
The works themselves get a 5/5. The editing gets a 2/5, which as I mentioned above is a shame when you consider the cost of this tome.¤ 4) Paperback Book Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition by BottleTreeBooks LLC. *Sigh* This was probably the most long drawn read I have ever managed to force my eyes and mind to go over. Clocking in at exactly 750 pages, and when I say the fonts are small, I mean small, so I have no idea how long it would be if it had used average book fonts. That being said, the wonderful job Mr. Barger has done annotating the book throughout, in addition to giving the meaning behind Poe´s often archaic and obscure English words, makes me give this book one star in bonus as a thank you to Mr. Barger. Most of the book would have made no sense at all, without his information, seeing that the tales are often more than 150 years old, and Poe wasn´t exactly short of words.
I was quickly surprised though, having heard so much about Edgar Allan Poe all my life, through Lovecraftian circles and also indeed more "mainstream" sources, all of them lauding EAP to high heavens and beyond. Even though he did eventually grow a little on me, and you start to develop a certain fondness for some of it, it is much of it very outdated and obscure material. I should say though, that it might be because I´m not a native English-speaker, so this might have had a large hand in my mind wandering off, to a degree I´ve never before experienced with any other author or book. Most of it is simply dull and average material, the stories being quite obvious on their direction very early on, and the language, as I´ve mentioned, being so archaic that I almost quit the book twice. I should add that I have no problem reading H. P. Lovecraft, in all his twists and turns of words, so I honestly don´t think the problem is with me, but I could be wrong.
There is also the nice added bonus, courtesy of Mr. Barger, included a photograph or drawing of every person entangled in or connected to the stories or poems in some way. Mr. Barger does a fine job in pointing out the point of the various stories and such, but it seldom made this a "fun read" anyway. The "horror"-stories, the adventure and the mystery ones are the only ones I took much enjoyment from, but some of these were alright, albeit still miles away from the quality of for example HPL. That being said, you could argue that without EAP, no HPL, which might be a good point.
Luckily, I read it on vacation, so I didn´t have much else to do but read, during our travelling periods, so after a long time, I had finished the stories, and could finish the book with the poems. Some of these are fine, but most of it is, once again, just too obscure and outdated. There are some fine romantic poems included though, which sometimes reads like a exchange of letters, with poems to and from Poe being used one after the other, to great effect. "The Raven", and the poems to his young deceased wife, Virginia, is very fine and sad pieces of poetry, but large parts of the rest of it are merely mediocre, at least from my point of view, and I must admit I am a great lover of poetry in general.
To summarize, an original tale here and there, as well as several fine poems, but the overwhelming portion of the material here, will interest only the dedicated fans, and you´re not missing out on much if you haven´t read him. That being said, I do advice you to purchase the book, and then merely read the tales marked as "horror", "adventure", "gothic" and the tale "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", all of it adequate or fine material. I´m glad I can say I´ve read the entire book though!¤ 5) Paperback Book Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition by BottleTreeBooks LLC. this book is all you need to buy if you want to get started to poes work.not only is it a complete collection but theres a dictionary explaining the historical scientific and archaic vocabulary from the 1800s.also includes pictures and paragraphs explaining the inspirations for the storys or who they related to in his life.its the only way for a layman to read poe and even attempt to understand it.Also good by the same author is coffee with poe a book compiling letters to and from poe to various people in his life and kind of piecing it together and putting it into to order¤ 6) Paperback Book Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition by BottleTreeBooks LLC. "Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition" brings Poe to life as never before. It contains a great foreword by Andrew Barger and includes his annotations, word definitions, foreign language translations, and background information about Poe´s stories and poems that provide insight into their underlying meaning. Photographs of Poe´s many loves and the literary figures he satired in his stories are included. Poems sent to Poe by his many romantic interests and his poems in response are also provided. These are very telling about the man who was engaged three times and married to his thirteen-year-old first cousin. The poems are set forth so that readers can see the exchange of poetry from and to Poe as it unfolded a century and a half ago. Also included are five little-known Poe tales: "[The Bloodhounds]," "Cabs," "Morning on the Wissahiccon," "[The Rats of Park Theatre]," "Some Secrets of the Magazine Prison House," and "The Swiss Bell-Ringers." Here is but a sampling of the other remarkable tales and poems included: "Annabel Lee," "The Bells," "The Black Cat," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Conqueror Worm," "A Descent into the Maelstrom," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Gold-Bug," "The Haunted Palace," "Lenore," "The Masque of the Red Death," "MS. Found in a Bottle," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Oblong Box," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Premature Burial," "The Purloined Letter," "The Raven," "Some Secrets of the Magazine Prison House," "Some Words with a Mummy," "The Swiss Bell-Ringers," "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "Thou Art the Man," and "Ulalume." If you are new to Edgar Allan Poe or already have a compilation of his sitting on your bookshelf, here is an opportunity to uniquely experience the poems and stories of the author who invented the mystery genre and defined the horror genre. Read the works of America´s most brilliant and mysterious author as you never have before. Experience the Poe revival firsthand.¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 4-Dec-2008, 09762541909780976254195, 180-160-900-090-900-471-8 
Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition, Book, Image © BottleTreeBooks LLC
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