ABSTRACT
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author and critic, who is renowned for his poetry and short stories, principally his stories of the mysterious and the macabre. So, it may seem odd that he addressed the issue of house furnishings head-on. However, his ideas on home design were a clear reaction to the spirt of his time. Poe also saw how a person’s identity was readable through external signs, so that the design of a home would reflect both their personality and social status. Poe set out in the article to establish the nature of the problem of unqualified material progress and the ensuing cure. The article was later edited and republished in the Broadway Journal on May 3, 1845 as ‘House of Furniture’. This chapter is about furniture design more widely but used Poe’s article as a starting point.
