"If every man who receives a cheque for a story which owes its springs to Poe were to pay a tithe to a monument for the master, he would have a pyramid as big as that of Cheops." --Arthur Conan Doyle

Born in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 49) was brought up by the Allan merchant family after the death of his mother and being abandoned by his father. While studying at the University of Virginia he started self-publishing volumes of poetry, and after a stint in the military began writing essays and fiction for a living. He died of unknown causes - with rabies, cholera, alcoholism and tuberculosis among the hypotheses - in Baltimore.

THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR MS FOUND IN A BOTTLE THE BLACK CAT THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER THE PREMATURE BURIAL THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE THE OVAL PORTRAIT THE TELL-TALE HEART HOW TO WRITE A BLACKWOOD ARTICLE A PREDICAMENT THE ANGEL OF THE ODD AN EXTRAVAGANZA. LOSS OF BREATH THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP. THE COLLOQUY OF MONOS AND UNA SHADOW - A PARABLE SILENCE - A FABLE THE SPHINX NEVER BET THE DEVIL YOUR HEAD A TALE WITH A MORAL "THOU ART THE MAN" WHY THE LITTLE FRENCHMAN WEARS HIS HAND IN A SLING BON-BON SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY WILLIAM WILSON BERENICE ELEONORA LIGEIA MORELLA METZENGERSTEIN A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS THE DUC DE L'OMELETTE. THE OBLONG BOX KING PEST A TALE CONTAINING AN ALLEGORY THE DEVIL IN THE BELFRY