B&N Does Lovecraft (Mark IV....)

[j d worthington]

With apologies to pablo, ningauble, and all others who tried to keep this thing going despite the invasion of the technogremlins.....

For those who missed the announcement and who may be interested, Barnes & Noble have done a massive tome of Lovecraft for their Library of Essential Writers series. This includes all fiction with the exception of revisions and collaborations (and includes one of those, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key", where most of the writing is definitely Lovecraft's), in chronological order, including fragments, prose-poems, etc. It also includes an appendix holding his earliest juvenile tales and a discarded draft for "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"; also present is his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature". There is, as well, a relatively brief but informative introduction by S. T. Joshi. The texts included here are of the authoritative texts established by Joshi from correlating original sources, letters, and the like to match Lovecraft's preference.

The volume is also almost ridiculously inexpensive, and an excellent way to have all Lovecraft's original fiction in a single volume, as well as a quite affordable introduction to his work for newcomers.

Here is the link:

H.P. Lovecraft, Library of Essential Writers Series, H. P. Lovecraft, Book - Barnes & Noble

For those who are only aware of Lovecraft the creator of the "Cthulhu Mythos", this will be a bit of an eye-opener. For those who only think of him as a writer of horror fiction, there are a few things here to demonstrate that he could also quite effectively turn his hand to humor and satire, as well as acute literary criticism, writing an essay which has remained one of the most important single pieces ever done on the field of weird fiction, and which was also among the first (if not the first) to cover the entire field from an historical perspective.

 

[pablo]

So has everyone acquired thier copy? What do you think of this tome?

 

[Ningauble]

So has everyone acquired thier copy? What do you think of this tome?

Not yet. Someone on some other forum said that the paper quality is so-so, but the printing is good and the binding was better than this person had expected.

I just put in an order for five copies from my friendly contact in the US (not wanting to bother getting a B&N account).

 

[j d worthington]

I've received mine and, though I've not had a chance to "go over it with a fine-tooth comb", I must say I'm quite impressed with it. An excellent edition, and certainly a great introduction to Lovecraft's fiction for newcomers as well....

 

[pablo]

I'd be interested to read anything regarding textual congruity, as these are supposed to be the definitive texts collected here for the first time.

 

[Ningauble]

I'd be interested to read anything regarding textual congruity, as these are supposed to be the definitive texts collected here for the first time.

I have a list of mistakes that crept into the Penguin editions and the Arkham editions. I can post excerpts from them here, so you can check for yourself.

One error I can remember off the top of my head was in "What the Moon Brings" (a really short text so you should be able to track down the relevant passage fairly quickly). The correct phrase is "dead faces". Miscellaneous Writings has "dead forces".

 

[pablo]

I have a list of mistakes that crept into the Penguin editions and the Arkham editions. I can post excerpts from them here, so you can check for yourself.

One error I can remember off the top of my head was in "What the Moon Brings" (a really short text so you should be able to track down the relevant passage fairly quickly). The correct phrase is "dead faces". Miscellaneous Writings has "dead forces".

The text reads "dead faces" indeed. Good news.