The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe


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The Collections and Books:

Editions Authorized by Poe:

During his lifetime, Poe published three collections of his tales, and one novel. A posthumous collection, edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, incorporates some additional manuscript changes, although Griswold did not have access to a few other important corrections and is therefore less than definitive. These collections are listed chronologically. Within each of these, there is a list of tales which links to the appropriate text of text.

Later Collected Editions:

After Griswold's death in 1857, there were several alternate attempts to collect Poe's works. The most important of these were collections edited by John H. Ingram, also in four volumes (initially published in 1874-1875), the ten-volume set edited by Edmund C. Stedman and George E. Woodberry (initially published in 1894-1895), and the seventeen-volume set edited by James A. Harrison (published in 1902). (Although at least one of these editions bears the title of The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, none of them are, in fact, actually complete. In some instances, they also contain works that have since been identified as not being by Poe.)

  • The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by John H. Ingram   (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1874-1875 — The tales are collected in two parts, in volumes 1-2)
  • The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Edmund C. Stedman and George E. Woodberry   (Chicago: Stone and Kimball, 1894-1895 — The tales are collected in five parts, in volumes 1-5)
  • The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by James A. Harrison   (New York: T. Y. Crowell, 1902 — The tales are collected in five parts, in volumes 2-6)

Modern Scholarly Editions:

The most widely recognized scholarly edition of Poe's tales and sketches are the volumes edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, (published in 1978, nearly a decade after Mabbott's death), completed by his widow, Maureen Cobb Mabbott (and several assistants), with one volume of the longer tales remaining in the edition as continued by Burton R. Pollin. All of these volumes are thoroughly annotated, with introductory material, notes and variants.


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The Tales:

The following list contains at least one entry for all sixty-nine of what may properly be designated as Poe's tales (both short fiction and novels). Because Poe often revised his work, sometimes quite heavily, the same story might have been printed under more than one title. In the case of multiple titles, all of the titles have been listed, with an indication of the later name. (See, for example, “Epimanes.”) Each entry on this list links to a page dedicated to the individual tale, with a listing of various printings and texts. In addition to these items that are assigned to Poe's pen with confidence, two doubtful items have been included because there were at one point suggested by a credible authority as possibly having been by Poe. (In the list below, they are noted as “doubtful.”) Some printed collections, such as the high-regarded one edited by Thomas Ollive Mabbott, have chosen to bring together a broader definition of what might be termed Poe's imaginative prose, including such miscellaneous items as “Autography,” “Instinct vs. Reason” and “The Philosophy of Furniture.” For this website, these items have been placed in what seem to be more suitable categories. Information on a number of French translations has been provided by Dominque Demelene, of Belgium.

These items are arranged alphabetically by the name of the tale. Within each name, the items are listed chronologically. A few tales were published by Poe under more than one name, or under a name assigned by later editors. These tales are listed under the name most commonly used.


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  • Eleonora
  • Elk, The   (later title of “Morning on the Wissahiccon”) (In this collection, this entry is classified as a sketch rather than a tale.)
  • Epimanes   (original title of “Four Beasts in One”)

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  • [Gaffy] (sadly, no text of this early story survives.)
  • The Ghost of a Grey Tadpole (Actually a parody by Thomas Dunn English)
  • The Gold-Beetle (an alternate title of “The Gold-Bug,” used in some British reprints. N. P. Willis first commented that such a change in title would help in England, where the word “bug” tends to be applied only to a bedbug.)
  • The Gold-Bug
  • The Golden Bug (An erroneous name sometimes given for “The Gold-Bug,” usually in notices about its publication in 1843.)

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  • Anderson, Carl L., Poe in Northlight: The Scandanavian Response to His Life and Work, Durham, NC: Duke Unversity Press, 1973.
  • Crépet, Jacques. “Travaux sur Poe: Tableau chronologique de publication," Histoires Extraordianaires par Edgar Poe, Paris: Louis Conard, Librarie-Éditeur, 1932, pp. 387-390.
  • Edsall, Thomas, ed., The Poe Catalogue, Baltimore: The 19th Century Shop, 1992. (This catalogue includes a few reprints of material which are not noted elsewhere.)
  • Harrison, James A[lbert]., ed, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 17 vols, New York: T. Crowell, 1902.
  • Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943. (The best overall bibliography of Poe, although it does contain errors and is somewhat outdated.)
  • Lemonnier, Léon, “Bibliographie,” Les Traducteurs d’Edgar Poe en France de 1845 à 1875, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1928, pp. 191-199.
  • Ljungquist, Kent P., “Some Unrecorded Reprints of Poe's Works,” ANQ, Winter 1995, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 20-22.
  • Ljungquist, Kent. P., “ ‘Valdemar’ and the ‘Frogpondians’: The Aftermath of Poe's Boston Lyceum Appearance,” in Emersonian Circles: Essays in Honor of Joel Myerson, ed. Wesley T. Mott, Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1997, pp. 181-206.
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-3 Tales and Sketches), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1978. (Second printing 1979)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1838.
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, Phantasy-Pieces (1842) (An annotated copy of Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, with Poe's own handwritten title page. Only volume I exists. It is presumed that Griswold cut up the second volume as copy for his posthumous collection of Poe's works.) (A fine facsimile was printed in an edition of 50 copies by George Blumenthal about 1920.)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, The Prose Romances of Edgar A. Poe, Philadelphia: William H. Graham, 1843. (Contains only “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Man That Was Used Up.”) (The number of copies printed is unknown, but probably fewer than 250.) (Facsimile reprint by George E. Hatvary and T. O. Mabbott, eds., St. John's University Press, 1968.)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, Tales, New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845. (This collection was edited by Evert A. Duyckinck. Poe was unhappy with the selection of tales. It omitted “Ligeia,” which Poe considered to be one of his best stories. See Poe's letter to Philip P. Cooke, August 9, 1846, Ostrom, Letters, pp. 327-330.) (At least 1,500 copies were printed.)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, 2 vols, Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1840. (Only 750 were printed. The sales were disappointing and Lea and Blanchard declined to purchase the copyrights from Poe.)
  • Pollin, Burton R., ed., The Collected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe; Vol I - The Imaginary Voyages (Including The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Unparalled Adventure of one Hans Pfaall and The Journal of Julius Rodman), Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981.
  • Pollin, Burton R., “A Comprehensive Bibliography of Editions and Translations of Arthur Gordon Pym,” American Transcendental Quarterly, Winter 1978, issue no. 37, pp. 93-110. (This bibliography includes many relatively modern editions, well beyond the historical boundaries for this website listing.)
  • Quinn, Patrick F., ed., Poetry and Tales, New York: The Library of America, 1978. (A good basic collection, although there are errors in some of the texts.)
  • Richard, Claude, Edgar Allan Poe: Journaliste et Critique, Librarie C. Klincksieck, 1974, pp. 658-664.
  • Vines, Lois D., ed., Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999. (An extremely useful compendium of articles by various authors, divided by country or region.)
  • Woodberry, George E[dward]. and Stedman, Edmund Clarence, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 10 vols, Chicago, 1894-1895. (Reprinted in 1903 and 1914.)
  • Wyllie, John Cooke, “A List of the Texts of Poe's Tales,” Humanistic Studies in Honor of John Calvin Metcalf, Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1941, pp. 322-338.

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[S:1 - JAS] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe