Your first Lovecraft book

[dask]

Well I'm not going to list the Lovecraft I have like some folk around here but stick to the original question...

My very first Loveraft was a Lin Carter 1971 Ballantine edn. entitled The Doom That Came To Sarnath and Other Stories.

Whilst it's a pre-Joshi publication, it's still remains for me one of the best collections of his work that I own.

When I purchased the item in question I knew little of this fellow called Lovecraft other than by reputation and the few stories I had read in anthologies up to that point. In that light, I recall I selected the book more for its cover than the author. My perspective has since been rudely shifted....

This cover is fantastic! Who's the artist (and where's his Hugo)?

 

[w h pugmire esq]

That cover is by Michael Whelan. He's great, although some critics find his work too graphic. Hey, PM me your mailing address and I'll send you one of my extra copies of ye Penguin edition, The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, whut has The Case of Charles Dexter Ward complete and annotated!!!!!! A single volume annotated edition of the novel has been prepared by S. T. Joshi as is hopefully soon going to be published in a hardcover edition.

 

[j d worthington]

My first "book" by HPL was THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD, anthologized in NIGHT'S YAWNING PEAL (abridged paperback) edited by August Derleth. Decades later I'm still hoping to come across the unabridged edition somewhere cheap. (I've never seen a copy.)

I used to have a copy of the Arkham/Pelligrini & Cudahy edition... quite a nice book, that:

Night's Yawning Peal: A Ghostly Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

though one should be made aware that "The Churchyard Yew" is not by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, but entirely a Derlethian hoax. As you can see from the Abebooks listing, the lowest tends to be around $75.00 US. (True, mine was less, but I bought the darned thing almost 30 years ago....)

August Derleth - Night's Yawning Peal - Arkham House - Hard Cover - First Edition - Dust Jacket - AbeBooks

The Michael Whelan covers were, if I recall correctly, details from a larger piece of art which was used almost uncut for the Ballantine/Del Rey volume The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Supernatural. While the art did not necessarily have anything to do with a literal interpretation of the stories (though in some instances it came pretty close), nonetheless it is quite effectively eerie and haunting, and one of my favorite pieces of Whelan's art (which, given my generally high opinion of his work, is saying something)....

 

[Nesacat]

I was a good Cat and wrote down the Lovecraft editions I have. I had not though I had this many. There are some more which are collections mostly by writers other than HPL.

The Watchers out of Time - HPL & August Derleth (DelRey 2008)
The Trail of Cthulhu - August Derleth (Jersey Neville Spearman 1974)
The Trail of Cthulhu - Derleth (Panther 1976)
The Mask of Cthulhu - August Derleth (Jersey Neville Spearman 1974)
Best Supernatural Stories of HPL - Edited by Derleth (The World Publishing Co 1946)
The Shuttered Room - HPL & Derleth (Panther Horror 1974)
The Shuttered Room & Other Tales of Horror - HPL & Derleth (Panther 1970)
The Horror in the Museum - HPL & Others (Panther 1975)
The Doom that Came to Sarnath & Other Stories - HPL (Ballantine 1971)
The Horror in the Burying Ground - HPL & Others (Panther 1875)
The Tomb - HPL (Panther 1975)
The Shadow Over Innsmouth & Other Stories of Horror - HPL (Scholastic 1971)
The Dream Quest of Unkniwn Kadath - HPL (Ballantine 1982)
The Haunter of the Dark & Other Tales - HPL (Panther 1974)
At the Mountains of Madness & Other Tales of Terror - HPL (Panther 1974)
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (Vol I & II) - HPL & Others (Beagle Boxer 1971)
At The Mountains of Madness (Omnibus 1) - HPL (Grafton 1985)
Dagon & Other Macabre Tales (Omnibus 2) - HPL (Grafton 1985)
The Haunter of the Dark (Omnibus 3) - HPL (Grafton 1985)
The Lurker at the Threshold - HPL & Derleth (1989)
Necronomicon - The Best Wierd Tales of HPL (Gollanz)
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos - HPL & Others (Del Rey 1990)
The Road to Madness: The Transition of HPL (Del Rey 1996)
Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror & The Macabre: The Best of HPL (Del Rey 1982)
Dreams of Terror & Death: The Dream Cycle of HPL (Del Rey 1995)
Lovecraft Tales - The Library of America (2005)

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

That is quite a collection, Nesa.

 

[Nesacat]

It's been put together over many years, thanks in large part to Dealers' Rooms at conventions and good friends, such as JD. Many are duplicates as you can see but the cover art is too wonderful to pass up. I also often give away duplicates to people wanting to give the Old Gent a try. And when I first discovered Lovecraft, I searched very, very hard for everything I could find. That's settled down somewhat now. though the covers are still a lure.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Yes, I think my wife is somewhat resigned to the fact that I pick up multiple copies of certain favourite works. I try to reason that it's the same thing as her multiple translations/renditions of favourite mythological works, but of course it isn't.

 

[Nesacat]

I'm very much in your wife's corner here and probably yours too. I've got multiple editions of favourite mythological works too and so I'll argue that's it's the same really. I tell everyone that they are a fine investment really, plus they hold the walls up and keep the rooms warm. And there's not much to compare to the hunt for books and the joy in finding them.