Tales Of Mystery And Imagination

A classic collection of short stories.

This collection of mystery and horror stories is regarded as Japan's answer to Edgar Allan Poe. Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination, the first volume of its kind translated into English, is written with the quick tempo of the West but rich with the fantasy of the East. These nine bloodcurdling, chilling tales present a genre of literature largely unknown to readers outside Japan, including the strange story of a quadruple amputee and his perverse wife; the record of a man who creates a mysterious chamber of mirrors and discovers hidden pleasures within; the morbid confession of a maniac who envisions a career of foolproof "psychological" murders; and the bizarre tale of a chair-maker who buries himself inside an armchair and enjoys the sordid "loves" of the women who sit on his handiwork. Lucid and packed with suspense, Edogawa Rampo's stories found in Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination have enthralled Japanese readers for over half a century. Mystery stories include: The Human Chair The Caterpillar Two Crippled Men The Traveler with the Pasted Rag Picture

A new selection for the NEA’s Big Read program A compact selection of Poe’s greatest stories and poems, chosen by the National Endowment for the Arts for their Big Read program. This selection of eleven stories and seven poems contains such famously chilling masterpieces of the storyteller’s art as “The Tell-tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and such unforgettable poems as “The Raven,” “The Bells,” and “Annabel Lee.” Poe is widely credited with pioneering the detective story, represented here by “The Purloined Letter,” “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Also included is his essay “The Philosophy of Composition,” in which he lays out his theory of how good writers write, describing how he constructed “The Raven” as an example.

A sweet little cat drives a man to insanity and murder.... The grim death known as the plague roams a masquerade ball dressed in red.... A dwarf seeks his final revenge on his captors.... A sister calls to her beloved twin from beyond the grave.... Prepare yourself. You are about to enter a world where you will be shocked, terrified, and, though you'll be too scared to admit it at first, secretly thrilled. Here are four tales -- The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death, Hop-Frog, and The Fall of the House of Usher -- by the master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. The original tales have been ever so slightly dismembered -- but, of course, Poe understood dismemberment very well. And he would shriek in ghoulish delight at Gris Grimly's gruesomely delectable illustrations that adorn every page. So prepare yourself. And keep the lights on.

This is a collection of 29 of Edgar Allan Poe's best-known stories, along with some of his more obscure tales. It is packed with stark black-and-white plate illustrations from Edwardian illustrator Harry Clarke, which present dark visions and glimpses of the macabre to equal Poe's storytelling.

This gorgeous anthology features 29 of Poe's stories ? including "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" ? illustrated with 8 full-color plates and 24 full-page drawings filled with brooding eroticism by a brilliant Edwardian-era artist.

Selected tales by Edgar Allan Poe as visualised by some of Gestalten's favourite contemporary illustrators.