1885 Scarce Victorian Book - LENORE by Edgar Allan POE, First Illustrated edition by Henry Sandham.
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(Description)
Author: Edgar Allan Poe. (Henry Sandham, illustrator).
Title: LENORE
Publisher: Boston, Estes and Lauriat, no date (1885). First illustrated edition by Henry Sandham.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 9" X 7".
Pages: Unpaginated.
Binding: Very good original quarter cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly worn, soiled and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. All edges gilt.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, name of a previous owner on the first endpaper - as shown)
Illustrations: Beautifully detailed, haunting illustrations throughout by Henry Sandham.
Estimate: (USD 300 - USD 400)
The book: Scarce and attractive first Henry Sandham illustrated edition of Lenore, a poem by the American author Edgar Allan Poe. It began as a different poem, "A Paean", and was not published as "Lenore" until 1843. The poem discusses proper decorum in the wake of the death of a young woman, described as "the queenliest dead that ever died so young". The poem concludes: "No dirge shall I upraise,/ But waft the angel on her flight with a paean of old days!" Lenore's fiancé, Guy de Vere, finds it inappropriate to "mourn" the dead; rather, one should celebrate their ascension to a new world. Unlike most of Poe's poems relating to dying women, "Lenore" implies the possibility of meeting in paradise.
The author: Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
The illustrator: Henry "Hy" Sandham RCA (24 May 1842 – 21 June 1910) was a Canadian painter and illustrator. He was the brother of author and numismatist Alfred Sandham.