Happy Birthday Edgar Allan Poe!

Today marks Edgar Allan Poe's 206th birthday, so we thought we'd celebrate by sharing some interesting stuff from the Valancourt Archives. Back in 2013, we published Andrew Sinclair's The Facts in the Case of E.A. Poe (1979), a brilliant hybrid of fiction and nonfiction that surely ranks as one of the most interesting books on Poe ever written. In order to write the book, Sinclair followed in Poe's footsteps from Richmond to Charlottesville, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, and documented his research in two volumes of journals, which he sent to us.  

Poe Cottage, Bronx, NY, where Poe wrote "Annabel Lee"

Poe Park, Bronx, NY

 The Constellation, Baltimore, Maryland. A note in the journals indicates that the bowsprit points to where Poe was found dying.

 The Edgar Allan Poe Society at 512 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore

Poe was originally buried without a headstone; this stone marks the spot of his original grave.

Andrew Sinclair at Poe's tomb.

 Main Street, Richmond, outside the Poe Museum.

 Grave of Poe's mother, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, at St John's Episcopal Churchyard, Broad Street, Richmond

 The Gold Bug Restaurant & Lounge, Sullivan's Island, SC. Poe's story "The Gold Bug" was set on Sullivan's Island.

 Fort Moultrie, where Poe was stationed from Nov. 1827 to Dec. 1828.

"Visit the house where Poe wrote The Raven": Baltimore. In the late 1970s, when Sinclair visited, this neighborhood was particularly bad. When we visited last year, it hadn't improved much.

Hope you enjoyed these photos -- all of them come into play in Sinclair's book, which we hope you'll check out.  It's available in paperback or as a $2.99 ebook (free for Amazon Prime subscribers).