In my experience, though, the letters are repetitive, especially when it comes to his exposition of his materialist philosophy. It would be interesting to have a selection of his letters, emphasizing his accounts of his own life and of other people, his reading, his historical interests, and his travels. This would be a reader's edition, perhaps 300 and no more than 400 pages; and so if, say, the best accounts of a visit to New Orleans were separated in two letters, it would be better to abridge the two letters and print the best from each, rather than print one or the other (or both in full). The complete texts will be available for those who want them. I have Gittings' thick single-volume edition of Keats's letters (Oxford) and the two hefty hardcovers of the complete letters (Harvard), and it's the former that I use more often. It certainly should not be edited by Mr. Joshi, for whom Lovecraft scholars must have much appreciation, but by someone who has wider interests and a more well-founded taste. Possibly Michael Dirda would be willing to write an introduction. The book should include at least a couple of photo sections on good paper. The book should cost no more than $35. It should be issued by a large university press that advertises outside the narrowly academic world or by a familiar mainstream publisher, not by a small press in a limited edition. The publisher should send review copies to standard American and British periodicals.
