H. P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, by S. T. Joshi.

I used to have a rather condescending biography of Lovecraft by L. Sprague de Camp; after I read this more understanding and complete study of “the gentleman from Providence” I sold de Camp’s book. Sunand Tryambak Joshi is a name that will appear several times in this Inventory connected with Lovecraft; his enthusiasm for weird tales and atheism makes him distinctively insightful into Lovecraft and his worldview. While Joshi’s atheism and anti-conservative bias (he wrote a book called “God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong (2003), an anti-religious polemic against various writers including C. S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, William F. Buckley, Jr., William James,” and others, and The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting it Wrong) make him a rather bitter and provocative figure, his enthusiasms for Lovecraft and his work makes his scholarship secure. As a passing note, why, when atheists denounce religion, are they so drawn to the dark side of belief rather than to a neutral kind of philosophy? I suppose they see it as a metaphor of rebellion against faith, but if they truly thought the universe was not good, they should see that it is not evil either. It just IS. The only dramatic tragedy therein would be not realizing this; instead atheist fiction seems to focus on the injustice and cruelty of the Universe, which, if there really is no higher moral basis against which it can be judged, itself means nothing. And yet humans (even atheists) continue to act as the mythopoetic beings that they are, as if such concepts as kindness, beauty, and sacrifice have meaning! And that’s what I have to say about … er … this book.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Biography. Literary. Soft Cover.

The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft, Edited and with an Introduction by S. T. Joshi.

A clutch of Lovecraft’s classic tales, annotated and illustrated with many photos and reproductions of artwork that inspired Lovecraft and were inspired by him. Most notable is the lengthy “At the Mountains of Madness.”

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Short Stories. Annotated. Horror. Softcover.

More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft, Annotated by S. T. Joshi and Peter Cannon.

Another selection of Lovecraft’s work, annotated and illustrated with maps and artwork, including Lovecraft’s own sketches of Mythos creatures. Outstanding of course is the formative “The Call of Cthulhu”.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Short Stories. Annotated. Horror. Softcover.

The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, Introduction by Robert Bloch.

This Del Rey book (1982) is an anthology of sixteen of Lovecraft’s most famous tales put into one handy reader. Its cover consists of the ‘tapestry’ by Michael Whelan that was cut up for the covers of the paperback reprints of the time. It used to be Mike’s.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Anthology. Horror. Softcover.

The Transition of H. P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness. Introduction by Barbara Hambly.

Twenty-nine tales of terror that Lovecraft wrote on his way to becoming the master of the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’, they include a variety of apprentice work, including Dunsany-type fantasy and science fiction. Includes the Gran Guignol of “Herbert West, Reanimator”. If the 1982 anthology from Del Rey was ‘the best’, this Del Rey book must be … ‘the second best’, let’s say. Barbara Hambly was the author of the Lovecraftian fantasy of “The Darwath Trilogy” from the early 80’s, which I used to have – mainly for the cover picture by David Mattingly of a wizard drinking a beer in a modern kitchen. Illustrations by John Jude Palencar.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Anthology. Short Stories. Horror. Softcover.

Supernatural Horror in Literature, by Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

A Dover reprint, with a cover with a picture from the movie “Kwaidan”, of all things. “A 28,000 word essay by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, surveying the development and achievements of horror fiction as the field stood in the 1920s and 30s. The essay was researched and written between November 1925 and May 1927, first published in August 1927, and then revised and expanded during 1933–1934. Lovecraft's essay ranges widely, but he first examines the beginnings of weird fiction in the early gothic novel. As a guide for what to read in the early gothic he relied partly on Edith Birkhead's 1921 historical survey The Tale of Terror, and he was also able to draw on the expertise of the great many experts and collectors in his circle. The bulk of the essay was written in New York City and thus Lovecraft had access to the resources of the city's great public libraries and also to the collections of his friends, and thus he was able to read widely and obtain obscure and rare works. His survey then proceeds to outline the development of the supernatural and the weird in the work of major writers such as Ambrose Bierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe. Lovecraft names as the four "modern masters" of horror: Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, M. R. James, and Arthur Machen. In addition to these masters, Lovecraft attempts to make the essay an encompassing survey, and thus he mentions or notes many others in passing.” – Wikipedia.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essay. Supernatural Literature. Softcover.

The Necronomicon and The Dunwich Cycle: Where the Old Gods Wait; Series Editor Robert M. Price.

Volumes issued by Chaosium Books, with a smidgen of Lovecraft and a huge body of other writers. They are themed: ‘Necronomicon’ features stories involving that forbidden book and ‘Dunwich’ has stories connected to “The Dunwich Horror”.

Ranking: Keepers.

File Code: Short Story Anthologies. Horror. Softcovers.

Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft, by Andrew Migliore and John Strysik.

How can you put the shadowy and indescribable up on the screen? But people have tried, with rather spotty success. Chockful of artwork, movie stills, and interviews, this is an excellent summation of Lovecraftian cinema up until 2006. Even films with the most tenuous connections with Lovecraft are considered.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Film. Reference. Softcover.

An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz.

A detailed guide to his life, his work, and his associates. “This encyclopedia is an exhaustive guide to many aspects of Lovecraft's life and work, codifying the detailed research on Lovecraft conducted by many scholars over the past three decades. It includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries on Lovecraft and presents extensive bibliographical information. The volume draws upon rare documents, including thousands of unpublished letters, in presenting plot synopses of Lovecraft's major works, descriptions of characters in his tales, capsule biographies of his major colleagues and family members, and entries on little known features in his stories, such as his imaginary book of occult lore, the Necronomicon. The volume refers to current scholarship on the issues in question and also supplies the literary, topographical, and biographical sources for key elements in Lovecraft's work. As Lovecraft's renown continues to ascend in the 21st century, this encyclopedia will be essential to an understanding of his life and writings.” – Google Books.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Reference. Literature. Softcover.