Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, short-story writer, editor and literary critic. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. Born Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809; he was informally adopted by the Allans of Richmond after his parents' death. He attended the University of Virginia and briefly attempted a military career, before embarking on a literary career. After publishing an anonymous collection of poems in 1827, Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals. He married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, in 1835, who died in 1842 not long after publishing his famous poem 'The Raven'. He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), but died in 1849 before being able to see it produced.

Described by the Independent as 'a profound text which will fascinate anyone who gets their hands on it'.