Errata for the B&N volume

[pablo]

Hopefully there's a nice check from B&N for Ningauble for the second edition.

 

[Ningauble]

Hi Ningauble,
Thanks for taking the time to compile this list! I have bought the Barnes and Noble volume and was disappointed to read of it's many errors. Having discovered your list though, I've printed it out and I'm now reading through the stories with it next to me!
I hope you don't mind me using it in this way.

Of course not! Print it and distribute it to your friends, if you like. You might want to tell them that a crazy Swede named Ningauble compiled it -- if word gets around enough, it might enhance my reputation with the ladies. "Yes, I'm THE Ningauble..."

But please note that this isn't quite official. Most of what I found is indeed errors -- Joshi has confirmed that -- but there are a couple that were not (that "dream/a dream" thingy in "Under the Pyramids", for example).

It has certainly enhanced my enjoyment and decreased frustration!
One possible, additional error I noticed is in 'Beyond the Wall of Sleep' 43.21, 'dulness' instead of 'dullness'.

I checked and it is in the reliable sources. Thanks for the heads-up though!

I think reading the Barnes and Noble volume with your notes is probably the best version available!

At the moment, I have an almost-guaranteed-error-free version on my computer. I typed in all of HPL's fiction years ago for research purposes, and have proofed it three times, so by now it should be fairly reliable.

 

[Ningauble]

Hopefully there's a nice check from B&N for Ningauble for the second edition.

Nope, I volunteered my services, and don't expect to get paid for it. I did it for Lovecraft. But I am getting free copies of the 2nd ed.

 

[pablo]

Do let us know when it should be in stores, and, more importantly, how to differentiate between the two.

 

[Ningauble]

Do let us know when it should be in stores, and, more importantly, how to differentiate between the two.

Will do!
Since the 1st ed has sold out, I don't think the risk of running into it (except in a used-book store) is very great.

 

[Wolf873]

So a second edition is in works with corrections and all? I need to be sure since I was about to buy that $32 book available on Ebay.

 

[pablo]

Why so expensive? It was 13 bucks.

 

[Wolf873]

^ I know eh. Most likely they are looking for profit, adding a rare-book fee because its out of print now. Thank goodness I stumbled across this site for if not for info about 2nd edition in works, I'd have bought it.

 

[j d worthington]

As I said to Hoops in the Ligotti thread: If you think that's crazy, try getting your head around the prices on Amazon for new copies:

Amazon.com: Used and New: H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction

then used:

Amazon.com: Used and New: H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction

Then Abebooks:

AbeBooks: Search Results - H. P. Lovecraft and The Fiction and Barnes & Noble

(Biblio.com has pretty much the same prices as Abebooks; Alibris doesn't seem to have any -- at least, I didn't see any there.)

And it's because it is already turning into a scarce item; it's the first attempt to collect all his original fiction together in a single volume, and Lovecraft has become once again quite collectible....

 

[pablo]

Here is a handy link: BookFinder.com: Search Results (Matching Books)

I had no idea this was OOP already, and I had no idea any B&N books were collectible.

 

[Wolf873]

^They are quite expensive, so I think I will wait it out.

To Ningauble:

Where did you hear that they are doing a 2nd print for the book, because upon my inquiry, B&N people said that once they are sold out- they are gone for good, and they redirected me to bargain lot. The reason I'm asking is because I need to be sure for I recently bought new books of his works, and if this whole collection is going to be released in fall, in that case I'd rather return my current purchase. In mean time, could you permit me to have your typed up copy of his stories, I'd rather read error free work of his.

thanks.

 

[Ningauble]

^They are quite expensive, so I think I will wait it out.

To Ningauble:

Where did you hear that they are doing a 2nd print for the book, because upon my inquiry, B&N people said that once they are sold out- they are gone for good, and they redirected me to bargain lot. The reason I'm asking is because I need to be sure for I recently bought new books of his works, and if this whole collection is going to be released in fall, in that case I'd rather return my current purchase.

Heard it from Stefan Dziemianowicz, editor of the Essential Writers series (and well-known scholar of supernatural fiction), to whom I sent the errata (well, technically I sent them to Joshi and he passed them on, but that's with whom they ended up).

There also seem to be two paperbacks coming from B&N in May and July. I've tried to find out whether they have benefited from my errata, but haven't received a reply yet.

In mean time, could you permit me to have your typed up copy of his stories, I'd rather read error free work of his.

No, sorry. As these versions are posthumously published they are not covered by the "PD after 70 years" rule, I think. Besides, I bought every single source I've used myself, and typed them, and proofed them two or three times by now. They're not something I pass around, and I can't sell them. I can give you a list of what books to get in order to get the best versions (textually speaking) available, though, but that's an expensive option. (Come to think of it, I've probably posted such a list in some other thread.)

 

[Wolf873]

Heard it from Stefan Dziemianowicz, editor of the Essential Writers series (and well-known scholar of supernatural fiction), to whom I sent the errata (well, technically I sent them to Joshi and he passed them on, but that's with whom they ended up).

There also seem to be two paperbacks coming from B&N in May and July. I've tried to find out whether they have benefited from my errata, but haven't received a reply yet.

Thanks for the info. Will be on the lookout for those.

No, sorry. As these versions are posthumously published they are not covered by the "PD after 70 years" rule, I think. Besides, I bought every single source I've used myself, and typed them, and proofed them two or three times by now. They're not something I pass around, and I can't sell them. I can give you a list of what books to get in order to get the best versions (textually speaking) available, though, but that's an expensive option. (Come to think of it, I've probably posted such a list in some other thread.)

But aren't these stories also on the net? So, how does that rule apply? Just curious. I would appreciate the list, but in light of the complete-book releasing again, would you recommend getting those separate books? For the moment I have Tales of H.P. Lovecraft by Joyce and Shadows of Death by Del-Rye, are they good in terms of lack of errors?

 

[Ningauble]

But aren't these stories also on the net? So, how does that rule apply? Just curious. I would appreciate the list, but in light of the complete-book releasing again, would you recommend getting those separate books? For the moment I have Tales of H.P. Lovecraft by Joyce and Shadows of Death by Del-Rye, are they good in terms of lack of errors?

All versions of HPL's work that I have seen online are riddled with errors. For example, I've never seen "The Call of Cthulhu" online with the subtitle.

Your question isn't quite easy to answer. My list is complete, as it includes the revisions/ghostwritings as well. The B&N volume doesn't include the revisions, so it can't really be compared. On the other hand, it's cheap, whereas the complete fiction of HPL, pulled together from several different publishers and frequently overlapping, will set you back quite a lot.

Here's what I wrote in that other thread:

I once wrote an article on gathering the complete Lovecraft collection (in terms of text); unfortunately it's in Swedish, but I can summarise it here:

First of all the fiction. The recent Penguin volumes are supposed to correct some errors that managed to sneak into the corrected Arkham House volumes of the 80s; however, the Penguins also introduce lots and lots of new errors (trust me, I've compared them side by side, and once I've had confirmed from Higher Up that what I've found is indeed errors, then I'll post the errata lists here and there on the web). Therefore, I'll recommend the Arkham House texts anyway:

* The Dunwich Horror and Others (Arkham House, 1984)
* At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels (Arkham House, 1985)
* Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (Arkham House, 1986)
* The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions (Arkham House, 1990)
* Miscellaneous Writings (Arkham House, 1995)

In addition to these you may want:

* Nameless Cults (Chaosium, 2001) -- this volume contains the complete text of the round-robin "The Challenge from Beyond", whereas Miscellaneous Writings has only Lovecraft's contribution to the story
* Eyes of the God: The Weird Fiction and Poetry of R. H. Barlow (Hippocampus Press, 2002) -- this volume has the rare revisions "The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast" and "The Slaying of the Monster" (of interest mostly to the completist) plus the original version, based on the original manuscript, of "The Night Ocean". The version of "The Battle That Ended the Century" also has a couple of extra sentences, written by Barlow, that were probably later deleted by Lovecraft himself and therefore not included in Miscellaneous Writings (for some reasons I can't italicise that title now).
* The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories (Penguin, 2004) -- has the original versions of "Hypnos" and "The Shadow Out of Time"; however, with the customary new Penguin errors.


For the poetry, The Ancient Track (Night Shade Books, 2001)
For the essays, Collected Essays vols. 1-5 (Hippocampus Press, 2004-2007)

For the letters... That's the trickiest part, because they have been published all over the place -- Arkham House, Night Shade Books, Necronomicon Press, Hippocampus Press, Wildside Press, Ohio University Press, and soon University of Tampa Press. I'll get back to them at some later date.

Slightly dated when it comes to the letters, but still OK.

No, I'm afraid to say that Tales of H. P. Lovecraft and Shadows of Death don't use the corrected texts. The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions (which in fact has MOST of HPL's revisions) is the only Del Rey volume that's textually reliable. For example, check out "The Other Gods". Somewhere on its first or second page should be the phrase "the seven cryptical books of earth". "Earth" is wrong; it should be "Hsan". In "The dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", you'll see references to "Inquanok"; that should be "Inganok". "The Thing in the Moonlight" doesn't belong in the book at all, being a fix-up by J. Chapman Miske. And so on.

 

[Wolf873]

Wow, you've really given something to carefully think about. The Arkham texts are quite expensive, so I'm sure I'll pass on those until something else comes along that bears similar contents that of Arkham's. I'm still pretty much new into the world of Lovecraft, but does Barlow's work really count as canon at all? Because in the mean time, until a complete collection comes along, I'm only interested in essential stories that'd allow me to understand this "mythos" of his. Furthermore, could you shed some more light onto the B&N volume and explain exactly how crucial are these revisions for newcomers like me? It seems to me that I have no choice but to settle for Del Rye Publications as there doesn't seem to be any other way, unless you would recommend the B&N volume for a newcomer. I just wish they'd make it easier for the reader by publishing one huge volume with everything.

 

[pablo]

I think the B&N volume is fine. Just wait for the second edition.

 

[Ningauble]

Wow, you've really given something to carefully think about.

Thank you.

<<I'm still pretty much new into the world of Lovecraft, but does Barlow's work really count as canon at all?>>

My list is for the complete fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, so the ones he wrote in collaboration with others definitely belong. However, if by "canon" you mean "Cthulhu Mythos", then no.

<<Because in the mean time, until a complete collection comes along, I'm only interested in essential stories that'd allow me to understand this "mythos" of his. Furthermore, could you shed some more light onto the B&N volume and explain exactly how crucial are these revisions for newcomers like me?>>

That depends on what kind of reader you are -- if you're the kind of reader who doesn't care whether Frodo Baggins has had his name changed into Fred, then you'll do just fine with online texts. If, on the other hand, you want to read the last version of the texts that Lovecraft was satisfied with, then it's either Arkham House, the Penguin volumes or the corrected B&N that can help. Oh, and the Library of america volume, but that one has about as many typos as the B&N volume (including my favourite the "silent stutterer" instead of "silent strutter" in "The Horror at Red Hook" -- which I'd say is one huge *****ing difference).

But if we take a guaranteed spoiler-full example: "The Call of Cthulhu". Most editions drop the subtitle "Found Among the Papers of the Late Francis Wayland Thurston, of Boston)", which is highly significant in light of what then happens in the story. In the story, the narrator has some misgivings about whether he will survive his discovery of the Cthulhu cult -- and as the reader, you will have the fact of his death as a kind of filter over your reading of everything he says and does in the story. You will miss that dimension if you go for, e.g., Del Rey.

It seems to me that I have no choice but to settle for Del Rye Publications as there doesn't seem to be any other way, unless you would recommend the B&N volume for a newcomer. I just wish they'd make it easier for the reader by publishing one huge volume with everything.

For a newcomer? Sure, if it had been properly proofed (and the next printing should be!) it would be the best collection ever since it's got ALL of Lovecraft's fiction, and it's cheap (or it was when it was in print). The only thing it doesn't have is his revisions and ghostwritings (many of which are pretty good), and you can get MOST of those (certainly all the important ones) by buying The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions (the Del Rey edition was photographed from the Arkham House edition -- it looks exactly the same inside -- so it has the preferred texts).

If, however, you decide to settle for the Del Reys, you might as well save yourself a few bucks and look for the texts on the Internet.

 

[j d worthington]

does Barlow's work really count as canon at all?

I'm not Ningauble, but I'll take a swing at this.... No, Barlow's pieces aren't what most would consider "canon"; they are revisions of the work of another and, unlike some of the revisions he did for others, he didn't introduce elements of his "mythos" into any of them... though there are elements of the cosmic perspective so much a part of Lovecraft, especially in "The Night Ocean"... though that would seem to be Barlow's contribution as much as (if not more than) Lovecraft's, in that particular case.

Because in the mean time, until a complete collection comes along, I'm only interested in essential stories that'd allow me to understand this "mythos" of his.

Understanding his "mythos" is... a thorny question, as there are differing opinions as to what constitutes the mythos. If you're interested in Lovecraft himself, rather than the (so-called) Cthulhu Mythos, I'd suggest reading just his work first, before dipping into that of his colleagues and all the other contributors (some of which are definitely worth looking over, though there's a lot of absolutely dreadful stuff under that rubric, too....). That way, you have a much better idea of what Lovecraft himself was attempting to, and indeed did often, accomplish.

Furthermore, could you shed some more light onto the B&N volume and explain exactly how crucial are these revisions for newcomers like me?

The revisions in general -- assuming you are referring to those tales he revised for others, rather than the corrections to be included in the second printing of the B&N volume -- are less important; a lot of what HPL added to them was as much "window dressing", in many cases, as substantive. There are a few exceptions, however: "The Mound", "The Curse of Yig", "Medusa's Coil", the stories he revised for Hazel Heald, and the like, do add contributions to the conception of the mythos, though they are sometimes at odds with "canonical" passages ... something which Lovecraft himself, it would seem, had in mind, knowing that genuine mythology doesn't really have a true authoritative "original", but instead numerous variants throughout different cultures and times.

As for the corrections themselves... they can be vital, as they can entirely change the reading of various passages in Lovecraft's work, and cumulatively, this can alter the reading of the piece as a whole (At the Mountains of Madness is a good example). For all their faults with the new typos and such, as you're looking at a budget here as well, I'd suggest going for the 3-volume Penguin edition of Lovecraft. They are relatively inexpensive, much, much better than the del Rey editions, are much closer to an authoritative text (with one or two notable exceptions), and lack the editorial mucking-about which are a hallmark of so many of the older texts unfortunately still used for the majority of cheaper editions of his work. They also include the text of "The Shadow Out of Time" taken from Lovecraft's original ms., as opposed to the badly-edited version published in Astounding Stories, as well as the revised "Hypnos", and including the attribution (which provides the name of the narrator) for "The Call of Cthulhu". In addition, they are chock-full of informative annotations by S. T. Joshi as well, which can add to the varying layers of understanding when it comes to HPL's often dense work.

These volumes are:

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales
The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Tales
The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Tales

And, of course, if you're interested in the revisions (The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions), the del Rey edition's text of the tales is taken from the revised Arkham House edition....

 

[Wolf873]

Thank you, to all of you who did their best to help me out here: Worthington, Ninguable, and Pablo, many thanks . I may try out Penguin Classics until B&N comes out.

 

[Ningauble]

Thank you, to all of you who did their best to help me out here: Worthington, Ninguable, and Pablo, many thanks . I may try out Penguin Classics until B&N comes out.

You're welcome, and excellent idea! Even if you do get the B&N book, the Penguins are a goldmine of information and they will not become superfluous.