The Poe Shrine Format: other

Recounts the mysterious history of Edgar Allan Poe's life, work, and the museum preserving his artifacts, founded by devoted but troubled collectors.

Although he is one of the world's most popular authors who continues to thrill and chill readers of all ages, Edgar Allan Poe's life is as enigmatic as his sudden, unexplained death.

In a quest for solutions to the mysteries surrounding the poet's life and work, a group of Poe devotees founded the Poe Shrine in 1922. This body included the world's most prolific Poe collector, a psychiatrist who believed Poe was clairvoyant, and the grandson of Poe's worst enemy.

Within four years of the Shrine's opening, one of the founders had committed suicide, another was committed to a mental hospital, and a third had been banned from ever entering the Shrine again.

Somehow, over the course of 95 years, their museum has managed to assemble to world's finest collection of Poe artifacts and memorabilia featuring the author's boyhood bed, clothing, walking stick, and hair clipped from his head after his death.

Drawing on the museum's archives, The Poe Shrine tells the story of these coveted objects, the people who collected them, and the institution that serves as their repository.

The curator of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, CHRISTOPHER SEMTNER has served as author, co-author, or editor of several books on art, history, and literature while contributing articles to publications including Biography.com, Resources for American Literary Studies, Crime Writers' Chronicle, and The Edgar Allan Poe Review. Semtner has appeared as an interviewee on the BBC, Travel Channel, C-Span, CNN, PBS, and other networks. An internationally exhibited artist, he has seen his paintings enter numerous public and private collections. Four rescue cats share their Bon Air, Virginia, home with Semtner and his wife.