1887 Rare Book - Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven, Lenore, Ulalume

An elegant little Victorian Poe, compact and atmospheric, with marbled boards and the dark music of “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee,” and “The Bells” within.

Author: Edgar Allan Poe.
Title: Poems.
Publisher: London, George Routledge and Sons, Broadway, Ludgate Hill; Glasgow and New York, 1887.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 5" x 3.5".
Pages: ix, 254 pages + publisher’s advertisement. 
Binding: Very good original decorative binding with red cloth spine and marbled paper-covered boards, gilt title on black spine label. Corners worn, light rubbing to edges, and rear cover lightly sunned, as shown. Binding remains attractive, sound, and well preserved. Protected in a removable mylar cover. 
Content: Very good content, bright, tight, and clean overall, with toning to endpapers and only light signs of age, as shown.

Estimate: (USD $150-$175).

The book: A charming late Victorian pocket edition of Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, published by George Routledge and Sons in 1887. The volume includes many of Poe’s most celebrated poems, among them “The Raven,” “Lenore,” “Ulalume,” “The Bells,” “Annabel Lee,” “The Haunted Palace,” “The Conqueror Worm,” and “The City in the Sea,” followed by Poems Written in Youth and Poe’s important essay The Poetic Principle. Its compact format and vivid marbled boards give the book a particularly appealing period character.

The author: Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an American poet, critic, and author whose work helped shape Gothic fiction, detective fiction, and the modern short story. His poetry, marked by musicality, melancholy, beauty, and psychological intensity, remains among the most recognizable in nineteenth-century American literature. The Raven and Annabel Lee in particular have secured Poe’s lasting place as one of literature’s great voices of mystery and longing.