Standard Reference Works about Edgar Allan Poe


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Some of the following items are, unfortunately, no longer in print. Most should be available at any good college or university library. None of these items are available through the Poe Society. To find items that are still in print, please check with your local bookstore.

  • Canny, James R. and Charles F. Heartman, A Bibliography of the First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe; Hattiesburg, Miss.: The Book Farm, 1943 (Reprinted, Millwood, New York: Kraus Reprint Co., and also by others) (The best, though by no means definitive, compilation of information on Poe first printings and early reprints.)
  • Carlson, Eric W., ed.,  A Companion to Poe Studies, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. (A useful collection of 25 original essays by leading Poe scholars, commenting on Poe’s life, works, art, thoughts and significance in world literarture.)
  • Dameron, J. Lasley and Irby B. Cauthen, Jr., Edgar Allan Poe: A Bibliography of Criticism, 1827 - 1967; Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia (for The Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia), 1974. (This bibliography has been continued in the publication Poe Studies.)
  • Deas, Michael J., The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe; Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989. (Issued in both hard and paper back editions, but both long out of print.)
  • The Edgar Allan Poe Review, Poe Studies Association. Vols. 1- . (2000 - present. One of two scholarly periodicals dedicated to studies of Edgar Allan Poe and his works. Issued in Spring and Fall of each year. Some back issues are available from the PSA. Some older issues are available in PDF form through the PSA website.)
  • Harrison, James A[lbert]., ed, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 17 vols, New York: T. Crowell, 1902. (Reprinted by New York: AMS Press, 1965.) (This edition is far from complete, but contains the majority of Poe’s most significant writings. It also contains several items that have since been identified as not being by Poe.)
  • Hull, William Doyle II, A Canon of the Critical Works of Edgar Allan Poe, with a Study of Poe as Editor and Reviewer (1941, dissertation) (Although never officially published, this disseration is the most comprehensive attempt to evaluate Poe’s authorship of criticial reviews, most of which were printed without attribution during his lifetime. Mabbott accepted many of Hull’s conclusions, although he disagreed with some. For a few items, additional external evidence has emerged to assign or unassign Poe as the unsigned author.)
  • Kennedy, J. Gerald and Scott Peeples, eds.,  The Oxford Handbook of Edgar Allan Poe, New York: Oxford Universtiy Press, 2019. (A broad collection of 45 original essays by leading Poe scholars, commenting on Poe’s life, works, art, thoughts and significance in world literarture.)
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe; (Vols 1 - Poems, Vols 2 & 3 - Tales and Sketches) Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Vol. 1 - 1969 (Second printing 1979), Vols 2-3 - 1978 (Second printing 1979). (This is the definitive collection of Poe’s works, continued by Burton Pollin. All three volumes were reissued in paperback by the University of Illinois Press in 2000.)
  • Ostrom, John Ward, Burton R. Pollin and Jeffrey A. Savoye, eds., The Collected Letters of Edgar Allan Poe (third edition), New York: Gordian Press, 2008; 2 vols. (Originally The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. John Ward Ostrom; 2 Vols. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1948. Reprinted with a supplement, New York: Gordian Press, 1966.) (The definitive collection of Poe’s letters. The third edition is heavily revised, and features an exhaustive subject index.)
  • Poe Studies, Pullman, Washington 99164-5910: Washington State University Press, Cooper Publications Building, Washington State University. Vols 1 - 36. (1967 - 2003. The second, but older, scholarly periodical dedicated to studies of Edgar Allan Poe and his works. Issued rather erratically, but intended to be twice yearly. Recent issues have been double volumes, comprising a full year. Some back issues are available from the University.)
  • Pollin, Burton R., ed., The Collected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 - The Imaginary Voyages: Pym, Hans Pfaall, Julius Rodman; Vol 2 - The Brevities: Pinakidia, Marginalia and Other Works; Vol 3 - The Broadway Journal, Non-fictional Prose, Part I: Text; Vol 4 - The Broadway Journal, Non-fictional Prose, Part II: Annotations; Vol 5 - Writings in the Southern Literary Messenger), Vol 1 - Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981, reprinted by Goridan Press. Vol 2-5 - New York: Gordian Press, 1985, 1986 and 1997.
  • Pollin, Burton R., Word Index to Poe’s Fiction, New York: Gordian Press, 1982 (includes the two volumes of Tales and Sketches edited by T. O. Mabbott and the volume of Imaginary Voyages edited by B. R. Pollin)
  • Quinn, A. Hobson, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography ; New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1941 (Reprinted - New York: Cooper Square, 1969 and again, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.) (In spite of decades of careful scholarship, this is still the most useful, reliable and fair biography of Poe. The 1998 reprint was issued in paperback.)
  • Quinn, Patrick F., ed., Poetry and Tales, New York: The Library of America, 1978. (Not absolutely complete, but a very good basic collection. There are some errors in the text.)
  • Silverman, Kenneth, Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance; New York, 1991. (Although this interesting biography is quite popular, it has been much derided in academic Poe circles. It has much to offer, but suffers badly from a deep bias against Poe, a silly preoccupation with discredited psycho-analytical approaches, a convenient over-simplification of the subject matter and an inadequate identification in the text of its rather selective sources. Read it if you must, but take what it offers with large doses of skepticism. The footnoting style is particularly annoying.)
  • Thomas, Dwight and David K. Jackson, The Poe Log: a Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809 - 1849 ; Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1987 (Notes about Poe’s life arranged in chronological order. An excellent and virtually exhaustive resource, essential for any Poe research. Available in both hard and paper back editions, although long out of print. Portions of The Poe Log evolved from Dwight Thomas's 1978 doctoral disseration on Poe in Philadelphia­, although the earlier work has generally superior capsule biographies of persons mentioned in the text.)
  • Thompson, G. Richard, ed., Essays and Reviews, New York: The Library of America, 1984. (A good basic collection.)
  • Wiley, Elizabeth, Concordance of the Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, Selingsgrove: Susequehanna University Press, 1989 (includes all of the poetry, keyed to the Mabbott edition)
  • Woodberry, George E. and Edmund Clarence Stedman, eds., The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 10 vols, Chicago, 1894-1896.


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