8vo (184 x 121 mm). Original elaborately gilt tan roan, all edges gilt (rubbing, darkening to spine, preliminary leaves disbound but present, some soiling to rear board); slipcase.

FIRST APPEARANCE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE'S CLASSIC TALE, "THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM."

FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE with 1843 date on title and 1842 date on copyright (both dates removed for the second state which followed shortly thereafter). Now considered to be one of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works, "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a story of an unnamed narrator that endures various tortures in a terrifying prison cell, which made its first appearance in the 1843 edition of
The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present MDCCCXLIII, published by Carey and Hart and edited by Eliza Leslie. Four other short stories by Poe would make their first appearances in Leslie's annual "gift" books, including "William Wilson," "Eleanora," "The Purloined Letter," and "Manuscript Found in a Bottle." Heartman & Canny, p.69; BAL 16137.