Mrs. L. Miles

There is nothing known about Mrs. Miles beyond the implication that she was the author of a book on Phrenology. The book Poe reviewed was the U. S. printing, as a bound volume, of a work originally published in London, as a set of 40 cards in a book-shaped box. Both editions are called The Casket of Knowledge. The London edition is dedicated to “their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria,” but there is no reason to presume from this very conventional dedication any formal connection between Mrs. Miles and the royal family. Indeed, the strong probability exists that Mrs. L. Miles is little more than a pseudonym.