»Landor’s Cottage« is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published in 1849. EDGAR ALLAN POE was born in Boston in 1809. After brief stints in academia and the military, he began working as a literary critic and author. He made his debut with the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket in 1838, but it was in his short stories that Poe's peculiar style truly flourished. He died in Baltimore in 1849.

A London writer comes to recognise his growing obsession with the Ewyas Valley on the border of England and Wales. Ewyas has been the site of persistent attempts to found or imagine utopian communities, all fascinated by the mythology of the west: Anglican renegade Father Ignatius, hippie communes, Allen Ginsberg, Bruce Chatwin, teepee dwellers, mushroom gobblers, narco pirates.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dickens Entertain at Home presents an account of the life of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dickens told in a series of parties, or "Occasions", given in their own homes. With each is given the lists of distinguished guests; a Victorian Menu taken from Kate Dickens's book What Shall We Have for Dinner?; and a matching one for use today. Recipes for carrying out both types of Menu follow each "Occasion". The book begins with the first dinner party of their married life in 1836 and ends with the completion of the book in 1852. Each chapter follows a quartet theme, with a repetition of four pages right through to the end. The first page of the quartet gives the date of the party (sometimes approximately), the home at which it was given, the guests present, and the life story. The second and third pages are devoted to matching Menus and recipes; and the fourth is an extract from Dickens's own works, chosen by his great granddaughter, Mrs. Stuart McHugh.

The Library of America presents “the first truly dependable collection of Poe’s poetry and tales”—featuring well-known works like ‘The Raven’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, plus a selection of rarely published writings (New York Review of Books). Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry is famous both for the musicality of “To Helen” and “The City in the Sea” and for the hypnotic, incantatory rhythms of “The Raven” and “Ulalume.” “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of Amontillado” show his mastery of Gothic horror; “The Pit and the Pendulum” is a classic of terror and suspense. Poe invented the modern detective story in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and developed the form of science fiction that was to influence, among others, Jules Verne and Thomas Pynchon. Poe was also adept at the humorous sketch of playful jeu d'esprit, such as “X-ing a Paragraph” or “Never Bet the Devil Your Head.” All his stories reveal his high regard for technical proficiency and for what he called “rationation.” Poe’s fugitive early poems, stories rarely collected (such as “Bon-Bon,” “King Pest,” “Mystification,” and “The Duc De L'Omelette”), his only attempt at drama, “Politian”—these and much more are included in this comprehensive collection, presented chronologically to show Poe’s development toward Eureka: A Prose Poem, his culminating vision of an indeterminate universe, printed here for the first time as Poe revised it and intended it should stand. A special feature of this volume is the care taken to select an authoritative text of each work. The printing and publishing history of every item has been investigated in order to choose a version that incorporates all of Poe’s own revisions without reproducing the errors or changes introduced by later editors. Here, then, is one of America’s and the world's most disturbing, powerful, and inventive writers. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.