The assumption that these volumes were named merely for the sake of their strange names has been tacitly implied or openly held by all who have hitherto shown any interest in the topic. In the course of preparation of my edition of Poe's works I have slowly worked on the identification of books referred to by him in one connection or another, and particularly I have been interested in the volumes read by the stricken hero of "The Fall of the House of Usher." There is a long series of them - and they have been left by most of Poe's editors either without comment, or with the barest details of author and date of publication.
Poe has been so often accused of quackery in his display of learning that it seems only fair to record some instances of his peculiar knowledge in a field where one would little expect to find him expert - bibliography.
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