Tales of Mystery and Imagination

By Edgar Allan Poe

This antiquarian volume contains a collection of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s most famous tales, including “The Gold-Bug”, “Ms. Found in a Bottle”, “A Descent into the Maelström”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “William Wilson”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Mystery of Marie Roget”, “The Pitt and the Pendulum”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains”, and more. This volume constitutes a must-have for fans of the macabre, and would make for a fantastic addition to any collection. Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an American author, editor, poet, and critic. Most famous for his stories of mystery and horror, he was one of the first American short story writers, and is widely considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre. Many antiquarian books such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. We are republishing "Tales of Mystery and Imagination” now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Mar 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781446546635

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809. His parents, both touring actors, died before he was three. He was raised by John Allan, a prosperous Virginian merchant. Poe published his first volume of poetry while still a teenager. He worked as an editor for magazines in Philadelphia, Richmond and New York, and achieved respect as a literary critic. In 1836, he married his thirteen year-old cousin. It was only with the publication of The Raven and other Poems in 1845 that he achieved national fame as a writer. Poe died in mysterious circumstances in 1849.

Book preview

TALES OF MYSTERY AND

IMAGINATION

I

THE GOLD-BUG

What ho! what ho! this fellow is dancing mad!

He hath been bitten by the Tarantula.

All in the Wrong

MANY years ago I contracted an intimacy with a Mr. William Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot family, and had once been wealthy; but a series of misfortunes had reduced him to want. To avoid the mortification consequent upon his disasters, he left New Orleans, the city of his forefathers, and took up his residence at Sullivan’s Island, near Charleston, South Carolina.

This island is a very singular one. It consists of little else than the sea sand, and is about three miles long. Its breadth at no point exceeds a quarter of a mile. It is separated from the mainland by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime, a favourite resort of the marsh-hen. The vegetation, as might be supposed, is scant, or at least dwarfish. No trees of any magnitude are to be seen. Near the western extremity, where Fort Moultrie stands, and where are some miserable frame buildings, tenanted, during summer, by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may be found, indeed, the bristly palmetto; but the whole island, with the exception of this western point, and a line of hard, white beach on the sea coast, is covered with a dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle, so much prized by the horticulturists of England. The shrub here often attains the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and forms an almost impenetrable coppice, burthening the air with its fragrance.

In the inmost recesses of this coppice, not far from the eastern or more remote end of the island, Legrand had built himself a small hut, which he occupied when I first, by mere accident, made his acquaintance. This soon ripened into friendship—for there was much in the recluse to excite interest and esteem. I found him well educated, with unusual powers of mind, but infected with misanthropy, and subject to perverse moods of alternate enthusiasm and melancholy. He had with him many books, but rarely employed them. His chief amusements were gunning and fishing, or sauntering along the beach and through the myrtles, in quest of shells or entomological specimens;—his collection of the latter might have been envied by a Swammerdamm. In these excursions he was usually accompanied by an old negro, called Jupiter, who had been manumitted before the reverses of the family, but who could be induced, neither by threats nor by promises, to abandon what he considered his right of attendance upon the footsteps of his young Massa Will. It is not improbable that the relatives of Legrand, conceiving him to be somewhat unsettled in intellect, had contrived to instil this obstinacy into Jupiter, with a view to the supervision and guardianship of the wanderer.

The winters in the latitude of Sullivan’s Island are seldom very severe, and in the fall of the year it is a rare event indeed when a fire is considered necessary. About the middle of October, 18—, there occurred, however, a day of remarkable chilliness. Just before sunset I scrambled my way through the evergreens to the hut of my friend, whom I had not visited for several weeks—my residence being at that time in Charleston, a distance of nine miles from the island, while the facilities of passage and re-passage were very far behind those of the present day. Upon reaching the hut I rapped, as was my custom, and getting no reply, sought for the key where I knew it was secreted, unlocked the door and went in. A fine fire was blazing upon the hearth. It was a novelty, and by no means an ungrateful one. I threw off an overcoat, took an arm-chair by the crackling logs, and awaited patiently the arrival of my hosts.

Soon after dark they arrived, and gave me a most cordial welcome. Jupiter, grinning from ear to ear, bustled about to prepare some marsh-hens for supper. Legrand was in one of his fits—how else shall I term them?—of enthusiasm. He had found an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus, and, more than this, he had hunted down and secured, with Jupiter’s assistance, a scarabæus which he believed to be totally new, but in respect to which he wished to have my opinion on the morrow.

And why not to-night? I asked, rubbing my hands over the blaze, and wishing the whole tribe of scarabæi at the devil.

Ah, if I had only known you were here! said Legrand, but it’s so long since I saw you; and how could I foresee that you would pay me a visit this very night of all others? As I was coming home I met Lieutenant G——, from the fort, and, very foolishly, I lent him the bug; so it will be impossible for you to see it until the morning. Stay here to-night, and I will send Jup down for it at sunrise. It is the loveliest thing in creation!

What!—sunrise?

"Nonsense! no!—the bug. If is of a brilliant gold colour—about the size of a large hickory-nut—with two jet black spots near one extremity of the back, and another, somewhat longer, at the other. The antennæ are——"

"Dey aint no tin in him, Massa Will, I keep a tellin on you, here interrupted Jupiter; de bug is a goole-bug, solid, ebery bit of him, inside and all, sep him wing—neber feel half so hebby a bug in my life."

Well, suppose it is, Jup, replied Legrand, somewhat more earnestly, it seemed to me, than the case demanded, is that any reason for your letting the birds burn? The colour—here he turned to me—is really almost enough to warrant Jupiter’s idea. You never saw a more brilliant metallic lustre than the scales emit—but of this you cannot judge till to-morrow. In the meantime I can give you some idea of the shape. Saying this, he seated himself at a small table, on which were a pen and ink, but no paper. He looked for some in a drawer, but found none.

Never mind, said he at length, this will answer; and he drew from his waistcoat pocket a scrap of what I took to be very dirty foolscap, and made upon it a rough drawing with the pen. While he did this, I retained my seat by the fire, for I was still chilly. When the design was complete, he handed it to me without rising. As I received it, a loud growl was heard, succeeded by a scratching at the door. Jupiter opened it, and a large Newfoundland, belonging to Legrand, rushed in, leaped upon my shoulders, and loaded me with caresses; for I had shown him much attention during previous visits. When his gambols were over, I looked at the paper, and, to speak the truth, found myself not a little puzzled at what my friend had depicted.

Well! I said, after contemplating it for some minutes, "this is a strange scarabæus, I must confess: new to me: never saw anything like it before—unless it was a skull, or a death’s head—which it more nearly resembles than anything else that has come under my observation."

A death’s-head! echoed Legrand—Oh—yes—well, it has something of that appearance upon paper, no doubt. The two upper black spots look like eyes, eh? and the longer one at the bottom like a mouth—and then the shape of the whole is oval.

Perhaps so, said I; but, Legrand, I fear you are no artist. I must wait until I see the beetle itself, if I am to form any idea of its personal appearance.

Well, I don’t know, said he, a little nettled. "I draw tolerably—should do it at least—have had good masters, and flatter myself that I am not quite a blockhead."

But, my dear fellow, you are joking then, said I; "this is a very passable skull—indeed, I may say that it is a very excellent skull, according to the vulgar notions about such specimens of physiology—and your scarabæus must be the queerest scarabæus in the world if it resembles it. Why, we may get up a very thrilling bit of superstition upon this hint. I presume you will call the bug scarabæus caput hominis, or something of that kind—there are many similar titles in the Natural Histories. But where are the antennæ you spoke of?"

"The antennæ! said Legrand, who seemed to be getting unaccountably warm upon the subject; I am sure you must see the antennæ. I made them as distinct as they are in the original insect, and I presume that is sufficient."

Well, well, I said, perhaps you have—still I don’t see them; and I handed him the paper without additional remark, not wishing to ruffle his temper; but I was much surprised at the turn affairs had taken; his ill-humour puzzled me—and, as for the drawing of the beetle, there were positively no antennæ visible, and the whole did bear a very close resemblance to the ordinary cuts of a death’s-head.

He received the paper very peevishly, and was about to crumple it, apparently to throw it in the fire, when a casual glance at the design seemed suddenly to rivet his attention. In an instant his face grew violently red—in another as excessively pale. For some minutes he continued to scrutinise the drawing minutely where he sat. At length he arose, took a candle from the table, and proceeded to seat himself upon a sea-chest in the farthest corner of the room. Here again he made an anxious examination of the paper; turning it in all directions. He said nothing, however, and his conduct greatly astonished me; yet I thought it prudent not to exacerbate the growing moodiness of his temper by any comment. Presently he took from his coat pocket a wallet, placed the paper carefully in it, and deposited both in a writing-desk, which he locked. He now grew more composed in his demeanour; but his original air of enthusiasm had quite disappeared. Yet he seemed not so much sulky as abstracted. As the evening wore away he became more and more absorbed in reverie, from which no sallies of mine could arouse him. It had been my intention to pass the night at the hut, as I had frequently done before, but, seeing my host in this mood, I deemed it proper to take leave. He did not press me to remain, but, as I departed, he shook my hand with even more than his usual cordiality.

It was about a month after this (and during the interval I had seen nothing of Legrand) when I received a visit, at Charleston, from his man, Jupiter. I had never seen the good old negro look so dispirited and I feared that some serious disaster had befallen my friend.

Well, Jup, said I, what is the matter now?—how is your master?

Why, to speak de troof, massa, him not so berry well as mought be.

Not well! I am truly sorry to hear it. What does he complain of?

Dar! dat’s it!—him nebber plain of notin—but him berry sick for all dat.

"Very sick, Jupiter!—why didn’t you say so at once? Is he confined to bed?"

No dat he aint!—he aint find nowhar—dat’s just whar de shoe pinch—my mind is got to be berry hebby bout poor Massa Will.

Jupiter, I should like to understand what it is you are talking about. You say your master is sick. Hasn’t he told you what ails him?

Why, massa, taint worf while for to git mad about de matter—Massa Will say noffin at all aint de matter wid him—but den what make him go about looking dis here way, wid he head down and he soldiers up, and as white as a gose? And den he keep a syphon all de time——

Keeps a what, Jupiter?

Keeps a syphon wid de figgurs on de slate—de queerest figgurs I ebber did see. Ise gittin to be skeered, I tell you. Hab for to keep mighty tight eye pon him noovers. Todder day he gib me slip fore de sun up, and was gone de whole ob de blessed day. I had a big stick ready cut for to gib him deuced good beating when he did come—but Ise sich a fool dat I hadn’t de heart arter all—he look so berry poorly.

Eh?—what?—ah yes!—upon the whole I think you had better not be too severe with the poor fellow—don’t flog him, Jupiter—he can’t very well stand it—but can you form no idea of what has occasioned this illness, or rather this change of conduct? Has anything unpleasant happened since I saw you?

"No, massa, dey aint bin noffin onpleasant since den—’twas fore den I’m feared—’twas de berry day you was dare."

How? What do you mean?

Why, massa, I mean de bug—dare now.

The what?

De bug—I’m berry sartain dat Massa Will bin bit somewhere bout de head by dat goole-bug.

And what cause have you, Jupiter, for such a supposition?

Claws enuff, massa, and mouff too. I nebber did see sich a deuced bug—he kick and he bite ebery ting what cum near him. Massa Will cotch him fuss, but had for to let him go gin mighty quick, I tell you—den was de time he must ha got de bite. I didn’t like de look ob de bug mouff, myself, no how, so I wouldn’t take hold ob him wid my finger, but I cotch him wid a piece ob paper dat I found. I rap him up in de paper and stuff piece ob it in he mouff—dat was de way.

And you think, then, that your master was really bitten by the beetle, and that the bite made him sick?

I don’t tink noffin about it—I nose it. What make him dream bout de goole so much, if taint cause he bit by de goole-bug? Ise heerd bout dem goole-bugs fore dis.

But how do you know he dreams about gold?

How I know? Why, cause he talk about it in he sleep—dat’s how I nose.

Well, Jup, perhaps you are right; but to what fortunate circumstance am I to attribute the honour of a visit from you to-day?

What de matter, massa?

Did you bring any message from Mr. Legrand?

No, massa, I bring dis here pissel; and here Jupiter handed me a note which ran thus:

"MY DEAR——

"Why have I not seen you for so long a time? I hope you have not been so foolish as to take offence at any little brusquerie of mine; but no, that is improbable.

"Since I saw you I have had great cause for anxiety. I have something to tell you, yet scarcely know how to tell it, or whether I should tell it at all.

"I have not been quite well for some days past, and poor old Jup annoys me, almost beyond endurance, by his well-meant attentions. Would you believe it?—he had prepared a huge stick, the other day, with which to chastise me for giving him the slip, and spending the day, solus, among the hills on the mainland. I verily believe that my ill looks alone saved me a flogging.

"I have made no addition to my cabinet since we met.

"If you can, in any way, make it convenient, come over with Jupiter. Do come. I wish to see you to-night, upon business of importance. I assure you that it is of the highest importance,—Ever yours,

WILLIAM LEGRAND.

There was something in the tone of this note which gave me great uneasiness. Its whole style differed materially from that of Legrand. What could he be dreaming of? What new crotchet possessed his excitable brain? What business of the highest importance could he possibly have to transact? Jupiter’s account of him boded no good. I dreaded lest the continued pressure of misfortune had, at length, fairly unsettled the reason of my friend. Without a moment’s hesitation, therefore, I prepared to accompany the negro.

Upon reaching the wharf, I noticed a scythe and three spades, all apparently new, lying in the bottom of the boat in which we were to embark.

What is the meaning of all this, Jup? I inquired.

Him syfe, massa, and spade.

Very true; but what are they doing here?

Him de syfe and de spade what Massa Will sis pon my buying for him in de town, and de debbil’s own lot of money I had to gib for em.

But what, in the name of all that is mysterious, is your ‘Massa Will’ going to do with scythes and spades?

"Dat’s more dan I know, and debbil take me if I don’t blieve ’tis more dan he know too. But it’s all cum ob de bug."

Finding that no satisfaction was to be obtained of Jupiter, whose whole intellect seemed to be absorbed by de bug, I now stepped into the boat and made sail. With a fair and strong breeze we soon ran into the little cove to the northward of Fort Moultrie, and a walk of some two miles brought us to the hut. It was about three in the afternoon when we arrived. Legrand had been awaiting us in eager expectation. He grasped my hand with a nervous empressement which alarmed me and strengthened the suspicions already entertained. His countenance was pale even to ghastliness, and his deep-set eyes glared with unnatural lustre. After some inquiries respecting his health, I asked him, not knowing what better to say, if he had yet obtained the scarabœus from Lieutenant G——.

Oh, yes, he replied, colouring violently, "I got it from him the next morning. Nothing should tempt me to part with that scarabœus. Do you know that Jupiter is quite right about it!"

In what way? I asked, with a sad foreboding at heart.

"In supposing it to be a bug of real gold." He said this with an air of profound seriousness, and I felt inexpressibly shocked.

This bug is to make my fortune, he continued, with a triumphant smile, "to reinstate me in my family possessions. Is it any wonder, then, that I prize it? Since Fortune has thought fit to bestow it upon me, I have only to use it properly and I shall arrive at the gold of which it is the index. Jupiter, bring me that scarabœus!"

What! de bug, massa? I’d rudder not go fer trubble dat bug—you mus git him for your own self. Hereupon Legrand arose, with a grave and stately air, and brought me the beetle from a glass case in which it was enclosed. It was a beautiful scarabœus, and, at that time, unknown to naturalists—of course a great prize in a scientific point of view. There were two round black spots near one extremity of the back, and a long one near the other. The scales were exceedingly hard and glossy, with all the appearance of burnished gold. The weight of the insect was very remarkable, and, taking all things into consideration, I could hardly blame Jupiter for his opinion respecting it; but what to make of Legrand’s concordance with that opinion, I could not, for the life of me, tell.

I sent for you, said he, in a grandiloquent tone, when I had completed my examination of the beetle, I sent for you, that I might have your counsel and assistance in furthering the views of Fate and of the bug——

My dear Legrand, I cried, interrupting him, you are certainly unwell, and had better use some little precautions. You shall go to bed, and I will remain with you a few days, until you get over this. You are feverish and——

Feel my pulse, said he.

I felt it, and, to say the truth, found not the slightest indication of fever.

But you may be ill and yet have no fever. Allow me this once to prescribe for you. In the first place, go to bed. In the next——

You are mistaken, he interposed; I am as well as I can expect to be under the excitement which I suffer. If you really wish me well, you will relieve this excitement.

And how is this to be done?

Very easily. Jupiter and myself are going upon an expedition into the hills, upon the mainland, and, in this expedition, we shall need the aid of some person in whom we can confide. You are the only one we can trust. Whether we succeed or fail, the excitement which you now perceive in me will be equally allayed.

I am anxious to oblige you in any way, I replied; but do you mean to say that this infernal beetle has any connection with your expedition into the hills?

It has.

Then, Legrand, I can become a party to no such absurd proceeding.

I am sorry—very sorry—for we shall have to try it by ourselves.

Try it by yourselves! The man is surely mad!—but stay!—how long do you propose to be absent?

Probably all night. We shall start immediately, and be back, at all events, by sunrise.

And will you promise me upon your honour, that when this freak of yours is over, and the bug business (good God!) settled to your satisfaction, you will then return home and follow my advice implicitly, as that of your physician?

Yes; I promise; and now let us be off, for we have no time to lose.

With a heavy heart I accompanied my friend. We started about four o’clock—Legrand, Jupiter, the dog, and myself. Jupiter had with him the scythe and spades—the whole of which he insisted upon carrying—more through fear, it seemed to me, of trusting either of the implements within reach of his master, than from any excess of industry or complaisance. His demeanour was dogged in the extreme, and dat deuced bug were the sole words which escaped his lips during the journey. For my own part, I had charge of a couple of dark lanterns, while Legrand contented himself with the scarabœus, which he carried attached to the end of a bit of whip-cord; twirling it to and fro, with the air of a conjuror, as he went. When I observed this last plain evidence of my friend’s aberration of mind I could scarcely refrain from tears. I thought it best, however, to humour his fancy, at least for the present, or until I could adopt some more energetic measures with a chance of success. In the meantime I endeavoured, but all in vain, to sound him in regard to the object of the expedition. Having succeeded in inducing me to accompany him, he seemed unwilling to hold conversation upon any topic of minor importance, and to all my questions vouchsafed no other reply than We shall see!

We crossed the creek at the head of the island by means of a skiff, and, ascending the high grounds on the shore of the mainland, proceeded in a northwesterly direction, through a tract of country excessively wild and desolate, where no trace of a human footstep was to be seen. Legrand led the way with decision; pausing only for an instant, here and there, to consult what appeared to be certain landmarks of his own contrivance upon a former occasion.

In this manner we journeyed for about two hours, and the sun was just setting when we entered a region infinitely more dreary than any yet seen. It was a species of tableland, near the summit of an almost inaccessible hill, densely wooded from base to pinnacle, and interspersed with huge crags that appeared to lie loosely upon the soil, and in many cases were prevented from precipitating themselves into the valleys below, merely by the support of the trees against which they reclined. Deep ravines, in various directions, gave an air of still sterner solemnity to the scene.

The natural platform to which we had clambered was thickly overgrown with brambles, through which we soon discovered that it would have been impossible to force our way but for the scythe; and Jupiter, by direction of his master, proceeded to clear for us a path to the foot of an enormously tall tulip-tree, which stood, with some eight or ten oaks, upon the level, and far surpassed them all, and all other trees which I had then ever seen, in the beauty of its foliage and form, in the wide spread of its branches, and in the general majesty of its appearance. When we reached this tree, Legrand turned to Jupiter, and asked him if he thought he could climb it. The old man seemed a little staggered by the question, and for some moments made no reply. At length he approached the huge trunk, walked slowly around it, and examined it with minute attention. When he had completed his scrutiny, he merely said,

Yes, massa, Jup climb any tree he ebber see in he life.

Then up with you as soon as possible, for it will soon be too dark to see what we are about.

How far mus go up, massa? inquired Jupiter.

Get up to the main trunk first, and then I will tell you which way to go—and here—stop! take this beetle with you.

De bug, Massa Will!—de goole-bug! cried the negro, drawing back in dismay—what for mus tote de bug way up de tree?—d——n if I do!

If you are afraid, Jup, a great big negro like you, to take hold of a harmless little dead beetle, why you can carry it up by this string—but if you do not take it up with you in some way, I shall be under the necessity of breaking your head with this shovel.

What de matter now, massa? said Jup, evidently shamed into compliance; "always want for to raise fuss wid old nigger. Was only funnin any how. Me feered de bug! what I keer for de bug?" Here he took cautiously hold of the extreme end of the string, and, maintaining the insect as far from his person as circumstances would permit, prepared to ascend the tree.

In youth, the tulip-tree, or Liriodendron tulipiferum, the most magnificent of American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a great height without lateral branches; but, in its riper age, the bark becomes gnarled and uneven, while many short limbs make their appearance on the stem. Thus the difficulty of ascension, in the present case, lay more in semblance than in reality. Embracing the huge cylinder, as closely as possible, with his arms and knees, seizing with his hands some projections, and resting his naked toes upon others, Jupiter, after one or two narrow escapes from falling, at length wriggled himself into the first great fork, and seemed to consider the whole business as virtually accomplished. The risk of the achievement was, in fact, now over, although the climber was some sixty or seventy feet from the ground.

Which way mus go now, Massa Will? he asked.

Keep up the largest branch—the one on this side, said Legrand. The negro obeyed him promptly, and apparently with but little trouble; ascending higher and higher, until no glimpse of his squat figure could be obtained through the dense foliage which enveloped it. Presently his voice was heard in a sort of halloo.

How much fudder is got for go?

How high up are you? asked Legrand.

Ebber so fur, replied the negro; can see de sky fru de top ob de tree.

Never mind the sky, but attend to what I say. Look down the trunk and count the limbs below you on this side. How many limbs have you passed?

One, two, tree, four, fibe—I done pass fibe big limb, massa, pon dis side.

Then go one limb higher.

In a few minutes the voice was heard again, announcing that the seventh limb was attained.

Now, Jup, cried Legrand, evidently much excited, I want you to work your way out upon that limb as far as you can. If you see anything strange, let me know.

By this time what little doubt I might have entertained of my poor friend’s insanity was put finally at rest. I had no alternative but to conclude him stricken with lunacy, and I became seriously anxious about getting him home. While I was pondering upon what was best to be done, Jupiter’s voice was again heard.

Mos feerd for to ventur pon dis limb berry far—tis dead limb putty much all de way.

"Did you say it was a dead limb, Jupiter?" cried Legrand in a quavering voice.

Yes, massa, him dead as de door-nail—done up for sartain—done departed dis here life.

What in the name of heaven shall I do? asked Legrand, seemingly in the greatest distress.

Do! said I, glad of an opportunity to interpose a word, why come home and go to bed. Come now!—that’s a fine fellow. It’s getting late, and, besides, you remember your promise.

Jupiter, cried he, without heeding me in the least, do you hear me?

Yes, Massa Will, hear you ebber so plain.

"Try the wood well, then, with your knife, and see if you think it very rotten."

Him rotten, massa, sure nuff, replied the negro in a few moments, but not so berry rotten as mought be. Mought ventur out leetle way pon de limb by myself, dat’s true.

By yourself!—What do you mean?

"Why, I mean de bug. ’Tis berry hebby bug. Spose I drop him down fuss, and den de limb won’t break wid just de weight ob one nigger."

You infernal scoundrel! cried Legrand, apparently much relieved, what do you mean by telling me such nonsense as that? As sure as you drop that beetle I’ll break your neck. Look here, Jupiter, do you hear me?

Yes, massa, needn’t hollo at poor nigger dat style.

Well! now listen!—if you will venture out on the limb as far as you think safe, and not let go the beetle, I’ll make you a present of a silver dollar as soon as you get down.

I’m gwine, Massa Will—deed I is, replied the negro very promptly—mos out to the eend now.

"Out to the end! here fairly screamed Legrand, do you say you are out to the end of that limb?"

"Soon be to de eend, massa,—o-o-o-o-oh! Lor-gol-a-marcy! what is dis here pon de tree?"

Well, cried Legrand, highly delighted, what is it?

Why, taint nuffin but a skull—somebody bin lef him head up de tree, and de crows done gobble ebery bit ob de meat off.

A skull, you say!—very well!—how is it fastened to the limb?—what holds it on?

"Sure nuff, massa; mus look. Why dis berry curous sarcumstance,

Reviews for Tales of Mystery and Imagination

[eglinton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gothic, gloomy and prolix, the Germanic feel enhanced by the excess of sentiment and the fascination with now-dated scientific speculations: crazed phantasms, Mesmerism, galvanising corpses. Some mystery and suspense, as with the proto-Holmesian solving of the Rue Morgue killings, but mainly just the grotesque: torment and torture, feelingly portrayed in ghastly gorgeous detail, not least that bizarrely widespread19th century phobia of being entombed alive. A touch sadistic, but not sordidly so, determinedly secular, good stories.

[blake.rosser · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Poe has so permeated popular culture and the general zeitgeist of modern-day society that even if you haven't actually read the stories, you know them. "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Fall of the House of Usher," are just the most famous horror/suspense pieces. Just as dark and spooky are "The Black Cat," and "A Descent into the Maelstrom."

Unfortunately, if you actually read a lot of these tales you realize that the writing itself is almost unbearably wordy and dated, so that the stories lose much of their original power. Put simply, most of the stories, due to familiarity and antiquated style, are just not that scary. Similarly, Poe's forays into the absurd -- "Loss of Breath" and "Some Words with a Mummy" -- fail out of the gate and pale in comparison to his Russian contemporary Nikolai Gogol. "Loss of Breath" in particular reads like a less intelligent and entertaining version of Gogol's "The Nose."

Surprisingly, perhaps the greatest effect is achieved in his murder mysteries. "The Murders at the Rue Morgue," "The Mystery of Marie Roget," "The Gold Bug," and "The Purloined Letter," are some of the earliest prototypes for the detective genre, and they offer a uniformly compelling reading experience. Of the horror stuff, "Pit/Pendulum," "Red Death," "Amontillado," "Black Cat," and "Maelstrom" are my personal favorites.

[amilofinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Edgar Allan Poe has long been my favourite writer. I love his gloomy descriptions of old houses and sinister people, his weird macabre stories, his literary landscapes and the bizarre world he imaginatively creates. My favourite stories are the Fall of the House of Usher, an elaborate haunted house tale, the Tell-Tale Heart, where we get an inside look at the mind of a murderer and the Masque of the Red Death, where we meet the diabolical Prince Prospero and his palace of distinctly coloured chambers.

[luli81_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"An artist is usually a damned liar, but his art, if it be art, will tell you the truth of his day." D.H. Lawrence.Burying people alive, ghosts, macabre deaths of usually delicate and young women, dark magic, effects of inebriation and hallucination, torture, whirlpools sucking people out of their time, fatal plagues, torture, abnormal psychological states, obsessional behaviors... William Blake in prose.If D.H. Lawrence was any close to right about his predicament I wouldn't have liked to be in Mr.Poe's skin, such horrors!That Poe lead a tormented and dysfunctional life is no secret. Haunted by the death of her mother when he was barely a toddler and later by the long illness and ultimate death of the love of his life(his cousin Virginia)whom she married when she was only thirteen, Poe struggled to keep afloat between the feelings of abandonment and loss and his growing ill-health and addictions which eventually killed him in mysterious circumstances at the age of 40.Whether this gloomy life served him as inspiration or he released his pain into his work, the extremeness of his imaginative creations managed to capture attention, if not acceptance.The sickness-the nausea-The pitiless pain-Have ceased, with the feverThat maddened my brain-With the fever called "Living"That burned in my brain.Considered the father of the short story, Poe manages to control the soul of the reader, nothing intervenes or distracts once you are engulfed in one of his curious and terrifying tales, you feel pulled down by an inexplicable and exotic sort of nostalgia which catches at your breath and prevents you from stopping to read. But make no mistake, Poe plays with you, giving you hope in a futile attempt to search for the truth and offer a plausible explanation for the unaccountable, even though you know deep inside that the end will be doomed from the start.His literary quality is irrefutable, he borrows from the European Gothic tradition and adds elements of detective stories, creating a new register which seeks for the horrendous truth, for the paincuts into your soul, although sometimes a rare kind of beauty oozes from the text, whether conscious or unconsciously I can't say:Then silence, stillness, and night were the universeBut mainly, Poe appears as a ruthless, crude and pessimistic voice who wants to put order amid the chaos, who wants to explain the inexplicable to elevate the name of the artist; offering an alternative to the newly born optimism, complacency and materialism of his age, and asking for nothing in return. He didn't seek for approval and often had to endure rebuke, few of his contemporaries valued his work at the time and being considered an oddball he was banned from society (or he excluded himself willingly).It is through the anguish and torment expressed in his poems and short stories that it is plausible to imagine his existence rather miserable and that he suffered from a precariously balanced state of mind. But then, once again, I ask myself the same question which always arises when I try to link the real life of a writer with his work, was it his eccentricity that made his works so special? Were they the product of a genius or a deranged mind ? Or both?The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the nineteenth century in general. I am convinced that everything is going wrong. Besides, I am anxious to know who will be President in 2045. As soon, therefore, as I shave and swallow a cup of coffee, I shall step over to Ponnonner's and get embalmed for a couple of hundred years.In any case, although his haunted mind offered no respite, Poe's lucid writing managed to push the scales of reality and redefine the artistic world of beauty and lyricism towards a new daring approach where the probability of terror and darkness prevailed and where the motto could be summed up as to deny what is, and explain what is not .As it usual happens in real life, neither black nor white, just a blurred smudge of indistinct grey.

[georgeslacombe_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book! It contains the seeds of all modern narrative of this style. The ilustrations are great.

[missboyer3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Spiral down dimly lit streets liined with madmen and their black deeds, through cold twists of catacombs, and across a sea that strikes with tight, angry fists. From the tortured mind of Edgar Allan Poe, three tales--"The Cask of Amontillado, " "The Black Cat, " and "The Fall of the House of Usher"--speak to the hidden places within us all.

[unko_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

5 stories of famous writer, Edgar Allan Poe.These are not fun,but just horrible.I like ''the Fall of the House of Usher'' best .I was scarced of it very much.If you are not interested in horror ,I don't recommend this.

[willymammoth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There's a reason why Poe is regarded as one of the best writers of American Literature--and indeed literature in general. The man was a genius, practically inventing the current mystery, horror, and short story forms. Therefore, I have to give this book five stars. There are simply too many great stories packed into one book, from "The Fall of the House of Usher" to "The Tell-Tale Heart" to "The Masque of the Red Death."For me this wasn't the type of book I could sit down with and read from cover to cover. Like a fine cut of meat, I had to take my time in chewing and digesting at times. And even Poe drags on with his stories sometimes, so it's good to have a break now and again. My copy was the Easton Press leather bound edition, complete with multiple illustrations which really added a lot of atmosphere to the book. The leather binding, paper stock, and typeface lent the book a wonderful feel. The tactile experience of reading it was nearly as enjoyable as the mental. It was a wonderful book from a wonderful publisher, and I couldn't give it a higher recommendation.

[perlle_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice collection of 22 of Poe's most popular works stories.

[kurumi_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The kind of this book is fantasy and horror.The story was written by Edgar Allan Poe,who is the master of horror.In this story,a man is expressed as mad person.However,he doesn't think he is mad and he do what is cruel.For example,he kill animals which once he loved and... I don't like this story because the story has only dark and depressed expressions.When I read this book,I feel gloomy.I couldn't enjoy reading this story.

[rdurie_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found this really hard going. I am not a big fan of horror stories as I scare easily but I found this strangely unmoving and very difficult to read. I think the main issue was the writing, expecially his sentence construction. If he could express something back to front, in a convoluted roundabout way he would. I lacked the patience to decipher it and kept re-writing it in my head. Very disappointing.

[lena_kate · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic collection of Poe's short stories. I definitely want to get my hands on the complete collection of his works after reading this. May favourite stories have to be "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Premature Burial". His ability to creep me out never ceases to amaze me no matter how many times I read the same story

[christopherbarnette · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All of the greatest Poe works are here, the design of the book as well as the binding are very well done. The interior illustrations and typesetting are better than more expensive Poe collections. It is really fantastic work overall.

[lidaskoteina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read the bulk of these as an older child decades ago, but some were new to me this time. The landscape-descriptive ones (Domain of Arnheim; Landor's Cottage) did not appeal to me but were interesting as examples of P's writing before he started the heavy supernatural and mystery things; the same descriptions are used in the later tales to more evocative result. Dupin in the mysteries was more Holmes-like than I had recalled. P's evident philosophical and linguistic erudition had completely passed me by in my youth. His style seems more lush to me than it did then. And I hadn't noticed the recurring themes of burial alive, of strength of will causing the dead to retain their souls, of the perverse impulse (specifically mentioned in both the Imp of the Perverse and in the Black Cat). Still good reading!

[piquant00 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Harry Clarke's vivid and disturbing illustrations, reminiscent of the work of Aubrey Beardsley, bring hideous life to Poe's stories, and I find myself returning to both the stories and the illustrations again and again.

My parents had a copy of the original version of this book, published by Tudor Publishing Co. Calla Editions has done a truly excellent job with this reproduction, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

If you have any interest in either Poe's fiction, or weird art, this book will give you a lifetime of enjoyment--and if you're lucky, a nightmare or two!

[veilofisis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Edgar Allan Poe is the savior of Gothic literature: not only is he largely responsible for salvaging the Gothic imagination from a deeply stagnant mire of clichéd melodrama, over-rehearsed motifs, and unreservedly bad writing, he is also the father of two genres that, in essence, did not exist before he put pen to paper: the detective story (chiefly) and what we refer to today as the ‘psychological’ horror story. His use of Gothic devices, though, insured that the mode did not entirely disassemble: rather, it took on new shapes and meanings—new colors: without Poe, there would be no Stoker and no Lovecraft, no Turn of the Screw or Picture of Dorian Gray; it can even be argued that, without Poe, there would be no Melville or Conrad—no Heart of Darkness, no Moby-Dick. Our literary debt to this one central figure is so incredible that, a century and a half after his death, he remains one of the most widely-read and influential of all American authors, both here and abroad (particularly in France, where he was the father of Baudelaire, and hence the Decadence). This is no small feat for a man whose common leitmotifs include premature burial, decomposition (of both body and mind), mourning, insanity, and a general disavowal of the more common Romantic applications of allegory and moral. Much of his reputation in his own day relied as much upon his poetry, numerous satires, humor pieces, and scathing critical reviews as upon his ‘tales of the grotesque and arabesque,’ but I will limit this review to the latter.How does one who has been touched by the influence of another properly, objectively, offer an opinion on this other’s work? She doesn’t—she responds with reaction, not the critical eye. To that end, the work of Poe which has most prefigured and cast its crimson shadow upon my own is his remarkable ‘Masque of the Red Death.’ An early example (perhaps the first example) of Decadent literature, the familiar comeuppance of ‘happy and dauntless and sagacious’ Prince Prospero at the hands of the dreadful plague he had sought to avoid through reclusion can be viewed as a sort of A Rebours in miniature. Those seeking an allegory or final moral in this profoundly symbolic piece will find none: it is a fable, but it owes very little to Aesop. In common with Poe’s other out-right horror-work (‘The Pit and the Pendulum,’ ‘The Black Cat,’ ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ and the remarkably gruesome ‘Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar’), ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ is more an examination of the limits of the psyche: and these limits, in ‘The Masque of the Red Death,’ are examined, chiefly, through a reader’s inability to refrain from attaching any ultimate ‘meaning’ to the story presented. To this end, Poe demonstrates what is, perhaps, the totality of his vision: that ambiguity itself can become a theme in literature, particularly when this ambiguity mirrors its own content (as in ‘The Assignation,’ ‘Silence,’ ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ or the mingled horror/humor of ‘King Pest,’ which Poe claims contains an ‘allegory,’ but which, of course, contains none at all). For Poe, symbolism can exist outside of allegory—this was what Baudelaire and the Decadents responded to most intensely: a scent can have a color, a sound a feeling. Poe invented this system of correspondences, even as he distanced himself from the idea of ‘correspondence.’At the other end of the spectrum, Poe’s detective stories—he deemed them tales of ‘ratiocination’—remain among his most immediately influential: without Poe, as in so many other cases, there would be no Arthur Conan Doyle, and hence no Sherlock Holmes; nor would there be an Agatha Christie or Hercule Poirot. Poe initiated the movement, featuring his ingenious C. Auguste Dupin, with the widely-read ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ alongside its sequel, ‘The Mystery of Marie Roget,’ and ‘The Purloined Letter.’ Poe tried his hand at other tales of this nature, as in ‘The Gold Bug,’ but his creation of the central detective character—with all his justified arrogance, clarity of vision, and near-inhuman skill—was to have the greatest impact of all Poe’s literary inventions. Poe was famously haunted by the recurring theme of ‘the death of the beautiful woman.’ His characters, though, so often taken to a particularly poisoned state of mourning, behave in dramatically different ways: the narrator of ‘Morella,’ with his near-hatred for the lost ‘love,’ stands in striking contrast to that of ‘Ligeia,’ whose intensely unhinged state (the product of both opium and sorrow) is responsible for an ending that can be viewed as either dream or reality, depending on the reader’s interpretation. In further contrast is the narrator of the horrifying ‘Berenice,’ whose obsession eventually centers upon one, solely physical, feature of his cataleptic lover, with gruesome results. Catalepsy is a recurring motif in Poe’s work, but premature burial itself was less a particular obsession of Poe’s than a general, widespread paranoia of Victorian audiences as a whole. Poe helped to crystallize the idea: our notion of premature burial is, today, less based on actual incident and more on the trappings of Poe’s fictional musings: chiefly, this is due to the fevered detail of ‘The Premature Burial,’ but the motif is also present in ‘Berenice,’ ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ and others. Alongside his theme of mourning, this preoccupation with the macabre remains one of the strongest links between the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the subject of Death as an abstraction.Remarks on Poe’s poetry, essays, and only novel (The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym) will demand further entries in this journal. By way of conclusion, some personal reflection: Edgar Allan Poe was the first author I discovered as a child: a collection titled The Poe Reader was both my first exposure to his work and the first adult book I ever owned, purchased at the tender age of nine. My immediate obsessions centered on ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ and his enchanting poem ‘Ulalume,’ and to this day they, more or less, remain there. As I grew older, I discovered the more famous pieces and some strange odds-and-ends, like his treatise on interior design, ‘The Philosophy of Furniture.’ Further exploration yielded the gorgeous, otherworldly pen-and-ink drawings of Harry Clarke, some of which are interspersed throughout this review (note: see the illustrated review at threalmoftheunreal.blogspot.com). More than any other author I have encountered, with the exception of Gustav Meyrink, Poe has impacted my thought processes, particular obsessions, and even the direction of my life: for without Poe I would never have been led to the literature of the Gothic or the Decadent, and my academic life would never have taken shape under the influence of those two movements. More importantly: without Poe, I would not write.In the end, it seems, Poe—the precursor of so many others—is both the father of my muses and the muse himself.

[widsith_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I remember visiting the Edgar Allan Poe museum the last time I was in Richmond, Virginia. At the time I don't think I had read any of his work, except perhaps The Raven. The museum was a creepy place, as you might imagine, with a lot of dark wood and eerie pictures and a strange garden that seemed to be in permanent shadow. It was a strange place and he was a strange man – a hard writer to pin down: distinctly American, but hugely influential in European letters; not technically a very brilliant writer, and yet the founder of half a dozen new literary genres.Reading him feels, to me, like an act of almost shameful self-indulgence; rich but sickly; you feel you need a brisk walk afterwards. His weird stories mark a bridge between the Gothic and the new movements of symbolism and decadence and, later, the genres that would become known as horror and science fiction. He also invented the modern detective story.I think of him as one of those writers that translates easily. In the same way, Tolstoy is venerated by non-Russians while native speakers find his prose mediocre. French speakers often say something similar about Victor Hugo. And the French were, it must be said, quite obsessed with ‘Edgar Poe’, particularly after his works were translated by Baudelaire.Quelque chose de monomanique was the shrewd judgement of the Goncourts. Hard to argue with that. The predominant theme is death, but death elevated to a supernatural vividness and importance. The archetypal image of his works, for me, is the image of the young, beautiful, dead woman. This trope features heavily in ‘Morella’, ‘Berenice’, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, ‘Ligeia’ – and indeed in Poe's own life, because he married his thirteen-year-old cousin and she went on to die of tuberculosis when she was twenty-four. The death clearly left a lasting imprint on him.So, yes: thanatophilia. I'm rolling out the long words. But it's true. Have a look at how he chooses to end ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, for instance:And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.Sleep tight, kids! Another story ends: ‘the grave was still a home, and the corrosive hours, co-mates.’ Another ends: ‘there lay a nearly liquid mass of loathsome—of detestable putridity.’ Another ends – well you get the idea.Poe's prose is melodramatic and rococo and makes full use of Grand Exclamations! And italicised phrases of dread! Oh the Horror and the Agony! And nothing but the drear grave and the worm for evermore! And so forth. But he is also imaginative and, sometimes, positively economical, setting the scene brilliantly in just a few short sentences and creating an atmosphere all his own (what Allen Ginsberg called his ‘demonic dreaminess’). His vocabulary, steeped as it is in the high-flown tradition of dark romanticism, was a constant delight to me, built of ornate items like sulphureous, pulsation, exergue, faucial, chasmal, cachinnatory, asphyctic and many more goodies besides.Jorge Luis Borges said that Poe's writings as a whole constitute a work of genius, although each individual piece is flawed. This is a very appealing assessment. He is an important writer, and often a very fascinating and enjoyable one – but that said, I don't really feel the desire to spend all that much time in his company.However, make sure you get a version with Harry Clarke's angular, Beardsley-esque illustrations. They are superlative.

[bnielsen_30 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Indeholder "Introduction", "The Gold Bug", "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", "MS. found in a Bottle", "A Descent into the Maelström", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt", "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"."Introduction" handler om ???"The Gold Bug" handler om ???"The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" handler om ???"MS. found in a Bottle" handler om ???"A Descent into the Maelström" handler om ???"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" handler om ???"The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" handler om ???"The Purloined Letter" handler om ???"The Fall of the House of Usher" handler om ???"The Pit and the Pendulum" handler om ???"The Premature Burial" handler om ???"The Black Cat" handler om ???"The Masque of the Red Death" handler om ???"The Cask of Amontillado" handler om ???"The Oval Portrait" handler om ???"The Oblong Box" handler om ???"The Tell-Tale Heart" handler om ???"Ligeia" handler om ???"Loss of Breath" handler om ???"Shadow - A Parable" handler om ???"Silence - A Fable" handler om ???"The Man of the Crowd" handler om ???"Some Words with a Mummy" handler om ???

[nyakyakyanya · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book had 5 short stories. My favorite story was 'William Willson' He, but his name was not William Willson, met a same name man at school. Both of them are alike and William1 was afraid of William2. Wiliiam1 quited school and went to a lot of places. But Wiliiam2 was almost always near William1. At last William1 tried to kill William2. Another stories were　also exciting for me to read so I read this early.