Rare Poe Book Sets Bank Busting Record

Scarce books by Reggie Oliver and Thomas Ligotti can command eyebrow raising sums these days. So can Stephen King first editions, or multi-page letters by H.P. Lovecraft. However, an exceedingly rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane and Other Poems has set a new record in the world or horror, trumping all previous ones in weird fiction by near mythological levels. The website Popfi.com reports the details:

Book expert for auction house Christie’, Francis Wahlgren, described the book as “the black tulip of U.S. literature.” Not bad for a book that was published without an author attribution! Tamerlane and Other Poems, written by “a Bostonian,” is actually the first published book by Edgar Allan Poe. There are 12 copies known to exist, out of an original print run of 40-50 books. That’s why it’s one of the world’s rarest books, and that’s why the book went for a record $662,000 at auction!

Poe, arguably the most well renown and successful of weird literature's dark personalities, continues to tower among his fellow weirdscribes from beyond the grave. This auction should banish any doubts about his lingering commercial success. It also serves as a fine capstone to 2009, which has celebrated the bicentennial of his birth since last January.

-Grim Blogger