The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe is another in the Rock Point Timeless Classics series. The introduction by Daniel Stashower gives a good basic overview of Poe's life.

Any complete collection of Poe is worth having and this particular edition is an attractive addition to any library. If you are going to be studying Poe or like to reread and annotate your copies, I would suggest keeping this for casual reading and presentation and having some smaller less attractive copies for making your notes.

While the introduction is adequate, I was disappointed in the suggested reading list. On two counts, one of which is really more a personal issue. I think a longer list that included more critical writing rather than quite so much that is just about Poe's life. My personal issue is that one of my mentors, a well known Poe scholar who has consulted and contributed on documentaries about Poe as well as speaking at numerous Poe events both in the US and France was not included in the list. But in fairness to the list and Stashower, there is not much in the way of depth in either the introduction or the list and J Gerald Kennedy goes below the surface, so it may be more than Stashower could comprehend. But again, that is just a personal thing, I automatically deduct points (not rating stars) when one of the leading scholars on a subject is missing from a list of readings, and in the case of Poe, it happens to be someone I studied under.

Definitely recommend this to both fans of Poe as well as those readers who may only have read a couple of stories in school. There is a lot to enjoy here. If you really want to round out your Poe, I would suggest getting copies of some of his critical writing as well, his ideas are still valuable for both writers and readers.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )