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Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849) The Murders in the Rue Morgue & A Descent into the Maelstrom, published in Graham's Magazine.
Philadelphia: George R. Graham, February, 1841-December, 1841.
First editions of Poe's two tales; octavo volume containing eleven issues of the magazine bound as one; illustrated, some plates with hand-coloring; bound in contemporary half calf with marbled endleaves, binding worn but intact, content of Poe material with some spotting, "Murders" nicely preserved; 9 3/4 x 5 3/4 in.
Two women have been brutally slain inside a locked fourth-floor room, and yet one's body is outside, the other is disturbingly and firmly stuffed up the chimney. Writing at a time before the term "detective" was coined, Poe drew on no pre-existing trope of drawing room logical revelation. Such a conceit is now so overwhelmingly prevalent, it's hard to imagine a time when it had yet to bore its way into any written story. Poe's Dupin defines the archetype, applying logic, objective facts and reason to solve the case in dramatic fashion.
