Help a Read Street reader
Glynn Marsh Alam, author of the Luanne Fogarty mysteries, left Baltimore a little disappointed this week. She wrote: "I was at Bouchercon and expected to find lots of Poe memorabilia in the hotel gift shop among many other places. I actually found nothing, not even a postcard or a t-shirt. We walked to the grave site and found nothing there or on the way. I wondered why Baltimore or someone living there hasn't picked up on the money maker? Surely there are items made in China. I guess I [didn't expect] something on the scale of Elvis, but to find zero was a surprise."
I don't know any Poe shops. (I consider Ravens football jerseys to be Poe memorabilia, but that may be a stretch.) I have a call out to our Poe museum; I could point her to Richmond and Philadelphia, but I'd rather keep the business here.
So please help Glynn. Where's a good place (online or bricks-and-mortar) to buy Poe merchandise?
Categories: Bouchercon/Charmed to Death, Edgar Allan Poe
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
Comments
I've picked up some Poe things before in the Enoch Pratt gift shop, but that was a few years ago. I'm not sure what they have these days.
Posted by: Mike | October 16, 2008 8:20 AM
The last Poe-thing (mug? shirt?) I saw was at Barnes & Noble.
Posted by: Eve | October 16, 2008 8:51 AM
The gift shops at Harborplace have Poe merchandise. I have a figurine sitting on my desk.
Posted by: Sam Rogers | October 16, 2008 9:03 AM
Annabell Lee Tavern at Clinton & Fleet in Canton. Great food & friendly service too!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 16, 2008 3:02 PM
Baltimore's Poe House and Museum just sells books, so the curator suggests ordeing online from Richmond's Poe museum.
I saw a Poe doll in the window of the Hometown Girl shop in Hampden. (The shop was closed, so I couldn't investigate further.) The website is: http://www.celebratebaltimore.com/
Posted by: Dave | October 17, 2008 1:25 PM
It figures. You know the Philly Poe House has lots of cool souvenirs and books. Alas, no body (yet).
Posted by: Ed Pettit | October 17, 2008 10:53 PM
No luck at the Pratt. Here's a response from the library's Roswell Encina: Unfortunately we do not sell any Poe merchandise. But we do have a lot of collectibles in our Special Collection Dept.
Thanks.
Roswell
Posted by: Dave | October 20, 2008 10:24 AM
I am an educator as well as one of the owners of the Poe Decoder, who is also in the process of writing a book about Poe. I noticed that Glynn Marsh Alam was looking for Poe "stuff." Glynn needs to visit the Poe Decoder where she will find truly one of a kind Poe silkscreen t-shirts (my son is the artist). We have shirts in over 40 states and 10 countries.
Thanks!
Martha Womack
Educator - Fuqua School
http://www.poedecoder.com/PreciselyPoe/
http://www.poedecoder.com/Qrisse/tshirts/
Posted by: Martha Womack | October 21, 2008 11:38 AM
Having just attended the Poe bicentennial in Baltimore, I was able to load up on a lot of merchandise. Revisit the places mentioned above, and check out the huge variety of shirts at Cafe Press on line. The Philly and Richmond museums have some good stuff.
Posted by: delphine demortaine | January 21, 2009 7:25 PM