8vo (184 x 127 mm). 4pp. publisher's catalogue at end. (Browning and spotting throughout.) Original purple-gray cloth stamped in blind (rebacked preserving original endpapers, scattered soiling with a few stains to covers, color heavily faded); folding case. Provenance: C.W. Cary (bookplate, gift inscription on front free endpaper); to Debrey C. Harrison; Rev. L.G. Vass (gift inscription, ownership signature).

SECOND EDITION, bound from first edition sheets with a cancel title-page. Almost certainly published in Poe’s lifetime (likely printed for the 1848-49 holiday season), Tales was first issued in 1845 and represents the first collected edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s short fiction published under his supervision. The volume brings together many of Poe’s most important and influential stories, including “The Gold-Bug,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” works that helped establish both the modern detective story and the American Gothic tradition.

VERY RARE: According to online records, we could locate only 2 copies that have appeared at auction in over a century. BAL 16146; Heartman & Canny, pp.94-96.