Lovecraft and the Bibliophile

[Viatorium Press]

A very curious part of the HPL bibliography found at Chaosium's site:

The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume I: "Memory" (Roy A Squires, C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)
The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume II: "Ex Oblivione" (Roy A Squires, C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)
The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume III: "Nyarlathotep" (Roy A Squires, P/B C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)
The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume IV: "What the Moon Brings" (Roy A Squires, C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)

I am unable to post links yet, but if you search for "various classic Lovecraft books" at Chris Perridas' "H. P. Lovecraft and His Legacy" blog, and click on the first entry (Thursday, February 14, 2008) and scroll down, you will see what I think are the above volumes splayed out in a fan pattern, and they are beautiful to behold, though there are no interior shots.

Does anyone out there possess these delightful looking chapbooks who can elighten me with further details about them? I am becoming a little obsessed with Roy A. Squires' press work, but there is very little information out there about him or about the books he printed. I'm seeing occasional things for sale (right now Clark Ashton Smith's Burden of the Suns is floating around out there, last time I checked), but I have serious doubts that these Lovecraft chapbooks will be available any time soon, and if they were, I am assuming the cost would be quite crazily high.

In general though, I wanted to encourage the bibliophiles out there to showcase or discuss favorite volumes of Lovecraft's work here, or perhaps even books of Weird literature from other authors. I am a fan of the old Arkham books; the one I was able to get a hold of for an affordable price (Dagon and Others) is a reprint from the 70's, but a very fine little volume.

 

[Ningauble]

A very curious part of the HPL bibliography found at Chaosium's site:

The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume I: "Memory" (Roy A Squires, C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)
The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume II: "Ex Oblivione" (Roy A Squires, C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)
The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume III: "Nyarlathotep" (Roy A Squires, P/B C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)
The Prose Poems of HP Lovecraft Volume IV: "What the Moon Brings" (Roy A Squires, C, 1969, Collection of Poetry)

I am unable to post links yet, but if you search for "various classic Lovecraft books" at Chris Perridas' "H. P. Lovecraft and His Legacy" blog, and click on the first entry (Thursday, February 14, 2008) and scroll down, you will see what I think are the above volumes splayed out in a fan pattern, and they are beautiful to behold, though there are no interior shots.

Ooooooh, shiny!!

I have a soft spot for Fedogan & Bremer books myself -- especially the ones from the early 90s, which have a very distinct smell in addition to being very nice books.

 

[j d worthington]

Abebooks has a listing for "Memory" at least, though the price is $90 US. Their description is as follows:

Miskatonic Edition, 1969. Original Wraps. Book Condition: Near Fine. Limited/Numbered. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Limited Edition. Original Wraps. Number 44 of 99 copies. One book of a quartet "The Prose Poems of H.P. Lovecraft." Near Fine copy with original envelope. Envelope has some browning on edges.

It can be found on this page:

H. P. Lovecraft - Memory - AbeBooks

I don't have any of these, having come along too late to get them new, and -- until much later in life, by which time they were quite scarce and expensive -- not particularly intent on particular editions of HPL (save the Arkham editions, at that time); just interested in having the text.

As for the Arkham you have: I assume this one has the dj by Lee Brown Coye? For some reason, I have always had a fondness for Coye's covers for the Arkham volumes of Lovecraft. If you can ever find the edition of Three Tales Arkham did, with several of Coye's interior illustrations... that one is a real treat! (His illustrations for Hugh B. Cave's Murgunstrumm also add tremendously to that particular book, and become increasingly grim and grotesque the deeper into the volume one gets).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon_and_Other_Macabre_Tales

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Tales_of_Horror

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murgunstrumm_and_Others

 

[Viatorium Press]

J. D., Thanks for the tip on Memory! Wish I had the cash to afford it right now. Who knows, if it hangs out there for a while...

I had assumed (without consulting the flap) that the Dagon cover was by Frank Utpatel, who did some great little primitivist drawings for Fungi From Yuggoth. I really like what I'm seeing of Lee Brown Coye's work. Has the right feel of creepy oldness and primitiveness that works well with Lovecraft.

Ningauble, I don't have any of the Fedogan and Bremer work, can you recommend a particularly good volume I should aquire? I know what you mean about the smell of the book itself, that is very important to me, especially in old books. My old Ballantine copy of Fungi From Yuggoth and others has the sweetest honey-smell from its yellowing pages. Arkham's Rendesvouz in Averoigne has a luxuriant scent as well.

 

[Viatorium Press]

not particularly intent on particular editions of HPL (save the Arkham editions, at that time); just interested in having the text.

But what is the text exactly? Is it wholly an abstract thing that can be detached from the forms and arrangements of letters and their disposition on a substrate? Does the quality of those forms and arrangements shape the experience of the abstract thing called the text? I find myself reacting differently to the same text as it is arranged in different books and formats. It shapes my reaction and ability to immerse in the tale. I know that good typography should be invisible, it should allow the author's words to shine through without reflecting anything of itself. But so much of today's book design doesn't do that. I become distracted by the poor quality of typography or design or even the materials of the book itself. The Penguin editions are a good example of this. I really like the font, Sabon, that Penguin uses. It is a classic by the master Tschischold, who was a major designer for Penguin. The supple feel of the books is so pleasing. And the covers are genius. But there is one major distraction to me, occasionally the typography just goes bad, entire pages where the spacing goes crazy. There just isn't that attention to detail one finds in the old Penguin books. Really though, that old "attention to detail" wasn't seen as such, it was just the common way of doing things back then, when good typography was ingrained in designers.

 

[Ningauble]

Ningauble, I don't have any of the Fedogan and Bremer work, can you recommend a particularly good volume I should aquire?

Tough one -- there are a lot of them. But off the top of my head I'd say the Cthulhu-themed anthologies that Robert M. Price edited for them: Tales of the Lovecraft Mythos, The New Lovecraft Circle and Acolytes of Cthulhu. And all the stuff by the Wandrei Brothers: Donald's Colossus, Don't Dream and Frost, and Howard's Time Burial, The Eerie Mr. Murphy and The Last Pin.
Shadows over Innsmouth and Weird Shadows over Innsmouth edited by Stephen jones are also good to have, in part because of the illustrations.

I know what you mean about the smell of the book itself, that is very important to me, especially in old books. My old Ballantine copy of Fungi From Yuggoth and others has the sweetest honey-smell from its yellowing pages. Arkham's Rendesvouz in Averoigne has a luxuriant scent as well.

I heard once that a sure sign to check whether a book comes from Fritz Leiber's personal library is to smell it -- Leiber was a heavy smoker...

 

[j d worthington]

Indeed he was. My ex-wife once took a course at the University of Houston taught by his son, Justin, who talked a good deal about his father, and this was one of the things he mentioned on occasion....

I agree with you about the book, but the text itself can be many things. And of course, at the age I am talking about (my teens) I was much less conscious of such things... though even then I reacted very strongly (and favorably) toward older books with that wonderful smell and the feel of something which had been around; one of the many reasons I am so fond of older books now (the oldest I own is a copy of Garth's Dispensary from 1699, and it is a quite wonderful little thing....). And, as you point out, there has been a distinct change, and not for the better, when it comes to the technical aspects of making a book. I was a typesetter and proofreader for many years, and I, too, find such aspects very annoying when they go awry....

I would second Martin's suggestions on the Fedogan & Bremer books. Not all of the pieces in those Lovecraft-themed volumes are gems, by any means; but they are often fascinating in their own way, and the books are very attractive and do have that wonderful smell and feel....

If you'd like further information on the Squires edition of HPL's prose poems, let me know, and I'll send you what S. T. Joshi has on them in his bibliography... which, by the way, is quite a nifty (and useful) item itself, especially in its new revised, expanded, edition from the Universit of Tampa Press....