‘The Spectacles’ by Edgar Allan Poe

This volume contains Edgar Allan Poe’s 1850 short story, The Spectacles.

A young Napoleon Boneparte alters his name in an attempt to inherit a sizable wealth from a distant relative. He falls in love with a seemingly beautiful woman at the opera, but, being extremely vain, refuses to wear his spectacles a mistake that he vows never to make again once he realises her true identity.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American author, editor, poet, and critic. Most famous for his stories of mystery and horror, he was one of the first American short story writers, and is widely considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre.

We are republishing this vintage text, The Spectacles, in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Extract from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Spectacles:

If I live a thousand years, I can never forget the intense emotion with which I regarded this figure. It was that of a female, the most exquisite I had ever beheld. The face was so far turned toward the stage that, for some minutes, I could not obtain a view of it – but the form was divine; no other word can sufficiently express its magnificent proportion – and even the term “divine” seems ridiculously feeble as I write it.

The magic of a lovely form in woman – the necromancy of female gracefulness – was always a power which I had found it impossible to resist, but here was grace personified, incarnate, the beau ideal of my wildest and most enthusiastic visions.

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Here, at edgarallanpoe.co.uk, you can find the best of this fantastic author’s novels, short stories, essays, and poems.

You can also find a biography of Edgar Allan Poe, along with some of his most famous quotes and loved poems.

Through republishing works such as ‘The Spectacles’, it is hoped that the writing of this author of mystery and the macabre, can continue to delight – almost two centuries after its initial publication.

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