First edition of Tamerlane and Other Poems 

This slender volume of poetry was Edgar Allan Poe’s first book. Published anonymously at Poe’s own expense, the book received no critical attention. Following the author’s death at the age of 40, one scholar surmised that Tamerlane might never have been printed: no copies of the book were identified until 1859. Today, only 12 are extant. The New York Public Library holds two: this copy, which bears the signature of an early owner, Susan Saunders, on the cover, and a second copy, which was discovered in Maine in 1938. Although he never obtained financial security, Poe became one of America’s most popular writers with the publication of his poem “The Raven” in 1845 and is remembered today as the father of the modern detective story.