Letterpress Lovecraft

An amazing new edition of "The Colour out of Space" was recently published!

http://www.shelterbookworks.com/the-colour-out-of-space/

Looks stunning! Limited to 40 copies. About time Lovecraft gets the royal treatment :)

Very nice! I would be tempted if I had not already acquired the Centipede Press edition of Lovecraft's complete works.

2: I love Centipede Press. But these are two totally different animals. First off, the CP edition is not Lovecraft's complete works. It may include most of his famous stories, but far from his complete works (for example, he wrote a large amount of poetry). Anyway, beautiful letterpress with illustrations is far different than giant omnibus. Get both :)

>3 astropi: "I love Centipede Press. But these are two totally different animals." Indeed, the Centipede Press itself is working on an illustrated copy of At the Mountains of Madness that will include a limited edition letterpress version.

>4 kdweber: Very interesting!

There's also a letterpress edition of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" from the Heavenly Monkey Press, now OOP:
http://www.heavenlymonkey.com/Innsmouth.html

>4 kdweber: Do you have any more information about this, or perhaps a link? I looked on the Centipede Press website, and could not find anything related to it.

>7 ultrarightist: I received a small 20+ page illustrated prospectus with one of my CP orders a few months ago. I recently confirmed with Jerad that the project was still moving forward. No release dates of which I am aware.

>8 kdweber: Thank you

https://www.peganapress.com/h.p.-lovecraft.html

For those that may have missed this lovely edition.

So, I don't suppose our spammer, #11 "Alireza Asheri" was related to Abdul Alhazred :)

>12 astropi:

That way lies madness, my friend.

The artist that did the amazing letterpress Colour Out of Space published another book last year. It is $900, but its also 100 pages. It's honestly nice to see some larger works published by small independent presses!

http://www.shelterbookworks.com/

>14 astropi: What was the price of Color Out of Space if you remember?

>15 filox:

IIRC, it was about $600 or $650, enough to turn me off from purchasing a short Lovecraft story, despite the beautiful binding, illustrations and book design.

>15 filox: I honestly don't remember. I thought it was actually $450 or so, which is still arguably a crazy amount of money for a Lovecraft story. Totally worth it though, at least for those of us that love such works. With a limitation of 40, I can't see it ever depreciating in value. Nor have I seen any copies for sale in the second-hand market.

Still have the paypal email in my email archives, it was exactly $500. I'm in agreement with >17 astropi:, while I think the typography not exactly something that stands out with this production the quality and style of binding I believe more than makes up for it and would definitely be one of the last volumes in my collection to go where I in a dire position to flog everything off.

Count me in as another owner of this edition. It's one of my favorite books. The tracycase is also really well built.

There is a new edition of the 'The Shadow over Innsmouth' from Heavenly Monkey being published, with some extra content, in an absolutely beautiful quarter-leather binding - http://www.heavenlymonkey.com/Innsmouth2020.html

>20 jeremyjm: Maybe a "new" edition, but it's not new work.

Sixteen sets of unbound extra sheets from HM’s 2005 edition of The Shadow Over Innsmouth were found when the bindery closed...Some years after publishing Innsmouth, several dozen copies of the Necronomicon pamphlet were presented to HM, from the estate of the original printer, with the invitation to put them to some use.

This is a rebinding of extras of the original publication with the pamphlet added. It's also $2000. Looks lovely, but beyond the reach of most mortals I daresay.

And two grand for a short work is otherworldly. I love Lovecraft, but not THAT much.

>22 Glacierman: I would say it's definitely not a short work. The original HM Shadow was around 150 pages. With the pamphlet and a few extra you get another 15 or so. For a letterpress work, this is a lot. Still way too pricey for most of us, but it is a good length. I'd love to see more works of this length at "reasonable" prices.

I have managed to pick up both the Batrachian issue and the Ichthyic issue of the HM Shadow over Innsmouth on the secondary market. The cost of both of those purchases combined was far less than the $2k they're asking for here. With patience, one should be able to pick up at least the Batrachian issue at a pretty reasonable price.

That said, the binding and design is gorgeous and if it were priced right for my budget, I would snap it up.

Looks beautiful. Unfortunately, too pricey for me.

NOT letterpress, but Easton Press has released a beautifully illustrated Deluxe Limited Edition of
At the Mountains of Madness
https://www.eastonpress.com/deluxe-editions/at-the-mountains-of-madness-3806.htm...
Tempting...

>26 astropi: I like the looks of the illustrations in this one, but after 6+ years it sounds like the Centipede Press letterpress edition might actually be nearing production.

Jerad mentioned back in January that he was getting ready for print tests.

>26 astropi: I really like these illustrations as well -- thanks for the tip on this.

>27 NathanOv: I am so looking forward to the CP edition. Certainly a lot could have changed, but if it's anything like the original prospectus details, it will be a serious edition (and seriously expensive alas! At least the letterpress versions). But again, who knows how much could have changed . . .

>28 eanson: will you share the prospectus details?

>29 ultrarightist: Let me see if I can find it -- I don't have a copy myself, but someone (somewhere!) had posted it online awhile back and the details were really something. Of course it was years ago, so who knows how much has changed . . .

>6 kermaier: I don't care if this Heavenly Monkey Press particular edition is letterpress or not. It just looks awful. Sorry, make it lettepress and call it a day just wrong. It needs to have full package. Covers, illustrations etc.

>26 astropi: I don't know if its me but I can't find Lovecraft name on EP spine. That just wrong and this alone put me away from buying it. I like illustrations though

>32 horrorbooks:
The Lovecraft volume is one of 35 (so far) in a series that features the art and the artist’s signature. Many of them have the author’s name on the spine, but some do not. Lovecraft is in good company, though, as not even Jules Verne is acknowledged on the spine of “20,000 Leagues.”

>30 eanson: There will be an offset edition and a letterpress edition, the latter costing more than a couple thousand dollars, and likely have a small limitation like the first letterpress book they published.

Photos of the prospectus are available on FB (public link anyone can access):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2572580089680801/posts/2624977654441044/
This edition of At the Mountains of Madness features the original novel, a special selection of letters by HP Lovecraft to friends and associates, wherein he discusses the novel; nearly two dozen original artworks created solely for this edition; a special printing, never before published, of both HPL's original handwritten manuscript and first typescript of the novel; two essays about the novel and its history; and an interview with Guillermo del Toro, wherein he talks about ATMOM and HPL. The deluxe editions of this monumental work will be printed letterpress in an oversize format, and a smaller trade edition, printed offset, will also be available. All copies will be signed by most contributors."

There's also another image that describes the making of the book.

From a 2020 newsletter:
"After that long list for forthcoming titles from last week’s newsletter, some of you asked, “Hey, what about At the Mountains of Madness?” Yes! That is still in the works. With new artwork by Michael Whelan, Travis Louie, Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell, Brom, Bob Eggleton, and many others, this is going to be one hell of a book. Oversize, letterpress, and lots of extras. I’ll try to get some updates to you as winter approaches. So, yes, it is still in the works. Really hoping for a 2022 pub date. The printer is local Denver-based letterpress shop that has been doing some terrific work for us lately. Stay tuned!"

>34 What_What: thanks for linking to that.

I couldn't access it without logging into my Facebook account first, so here are the photos in case others are interested:

>34 What_What: It’s in the prospectus, but just to highlight it separately:

The original limitation was to be 10 Roman numeral letterpress copies, 100 clothe-bound letterpress copies, and 300 offset trade editions.

Given it’s been a decade and there’s been consistent interest, however, I would not be surprised it the clothe-bound / numbered limitation increased. I guess it probably depends on how tied there hands are on contracts and signing agreements.

>33 jroger1: I see now. Thanks for your explanation. it was kind of weird for them not to have author's name on the spine, but I understand they doing some kind of artist series where they hire different illustrators. Well, correct me if I'm wrong.

>31 horrorbooks: That's your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it. That said, I'm guessing you do not own the book do you? First, the size and dimensions are exactly the same as the original publication. Secondly, it does have illustrations. In fact it has a a fold-out map of Innsmouth as well as 6 wood engravings inspired by images found in the paintings of Heironymous Bosch - I think this is an exquisite work and frankly has been underappreciated for a long time, but that time seems to be passed. At one point there were a few copies on the second-hand market for a few hundred dollars (a steal), but those dried-up years ago and not a single copy is found on abe or anywhere else I could see. Magnificent edition that any Lovecraft/horror fan will want to own.

>38 astropi: Glad you like it, but my opinion about it stands on the basis of pictures that I saw. I'm very happy that you think its magnificent edition. And, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I don't care about how much it cost, since I never buy books to resell them. I did not say it did not have illustrations. I simply don't like them. Again, matter of a personal taste. I also don't like EP and FS books, but its a different matter altogether.

>39 horrorbooks:
>38 astropi: It's a lovely, small publication. I don't remember what I paid for it but I don't think the original price was much over $100 for the cloth edition.

Here are a few pictures that do it more justice but a couple of them are from a different presentation.
http://www.heavenlymonkey.com/Innsmouth2020.html

I'm looking forward to the CP version!

>40 SDB2012: I am still upset to have somehow entirely missed this when it was (re)released in 2020. I imagine now it would go for 5-10x that.

>40 SDB2012: thanks for sharing. A long time ago, my wife purchased this limited edition of Lovecraft from FS with hand marbled end papers and creepy illustrations

https://postimg.cc/gallery/ctKhjB1

>34 What_What: Ah, many thanks there! That's exactly what I'd seen . . .

>35 abysswalker: Thank you! I had not seen the prospectus before you posted the photos. Interestingly, the prospectus is ~10 years old and describes the letterpress printing in the past tense. Did CP really print it ~10 years ago and hold it?

>38 astropi: I agree with your assessment of the book.

>42 horrorbooks: That's one of my favorite FS limited editions. The whole production is top-notch. The binding was controversial or disappointing for some but I love it. Letterpress and better paper would have been nice but we can't have everything at that price.

>46 SDB2012: and now the cheapest one is $1700 and goes up to $2999. Well, FS is not known for letterpress limited editions

>35 abysswalker: It's weird seeing my old bedspread (and fingertips!) pop up here in this forum where I occasionally lurk. Well, that's the internet for you. Everything comes back to haunt you. I'm still patiently waiting on Jerad's edition, as are most of us, I'm sure. As to him having already printed the pages all those years ago- all I can say is after I posted about the prospectus on Facebook, someone sent me a few sample letterpress pages of the book. Don't know if they were merely that- samples, and it hadn't gone past that stage or not, but- they look great, either way.

As to the Heavenly Monkey SOI edition(s): well, count me in the camp of Massive Fan. In over 30 years of book collecting- it may be my absolute favorite book on my shelves. It is just a perfectly sublime volume. Elegant, wonderfully designed, and the perfect size for this work- something a lot of folks get wrong. I've had the Batrachian for many years, and even (gulp) spent the most I ever have on a book- by thrice!- on that new 16 copy edition last year. And, while that new edition is a truly lovely thing- and, worth every penny to me- I'm still drawn to that exquisite, unassuming cloth bound Batrachian edition. If anyone gets a chance to buy one- I would highly recommend it.

A little OT in this thread, but: My Black Star Press (website and socials are nascent yet) is about to launch our Kickstarter for a beautifully designed (and printed letterpress) edition of The King In Yellow, if anyone is interested. It's been years in the making, but we are just about ready to hit "launch" and are very excited and hopeful of a successful campaign. I'll post about it in the proper area when the time comes.

>48 swintek: That’s exciting! I’ve been reading Alan Moore’s Providence- his take on the Lovecraft mythos- and The King in Yellow features heavily throughout. Really had me wishing there was a fine press edition of the book, so I’m totally on board with this!

>41 NathanOv: Yeah. Me too.

>48 swintek: Looking forward to seeing your work!

>48 swintek: Wow, exciting news on the King In Yellow! Do you have a Kickstarter account setup yet that we can follow for updates?

>49 SolerSystem: I'm a huge Alan Moore fan (my collection is a really good one- some very rare items), and, of course, absolutely love PROVIDENCE. I daresay reading that probably had no small hand in our decision to launch BSP with THE KING IN YELLOW. If we get this thing out of the gate as soon as we hope- we like the idea that our edition will be the first letterpress edition since the original! Every time I turn around now, there seems to be another letterpress Weird Fiction book about to be launched, so- its a race! Honestly, ours is so well-designed (we slaved over it for years) that I'm confident folks will want to have it on their shelves, even if there are others out there. Ok, back OT! I'll let folks know more in an appropriate thread here soon!

>48 swintek: I will absolutely back a letterpress release of The King In Yellow, whether the individual story or the book of the same title. Used to have a second edition of that work, with the textured cover.

>53 swintek: great stuff. Are you going to be focusing on weird fiction?

>55 SDB2012: Absolutely! The "sophomore" release- a logical stone-classic WF choice- is already being designed.

swintek exciting news! All of us are looking forward to hearing more!

As for the FS Lovecraft book. I think it's good. Notice I say "good" and not "great" nor "amazing". My own personal opinion. A few things

1)The FS released a "standard" edition of the book which is basically the same as the LE without the signed print, fake leather binding, nor solander box. Oh yeah, and it's available now for $140
https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/the-call-of-cthulhu-other-weird-stories-core.ht...

2)The signed print is nice, but there was nothing that floored me about it.. Honestly, I would have rather just had the artist's signature within the book instead of in a loose print, but that's just my opinion. I know signed prints have a long history in book collecting, but I always found them a bit superfluous.

3)The fake leather binding on the book (eco-leather) was a talking point on the FS forums. I had not issues with it, although that said I can understand why people were upset and do agree that traditional leather would have been more Lovecraftian in nature.

At the end of the day, all those "extra touches" did not justify the price increase in my mind. If it has been letterpress, it would surely have been in my forever collection. As it stands, I think the standard edition is absolutely the way to go. The cheapest copy is not $1700 as noted by >47 horrorbooks:, or to be precise, I should say it's $1700 Australian dollars which is about $1111 dollars.

Again, I'm not trying to start an argument or anything, just sharing my opinions.

>57 astropi: I know you like EP books and even trying to promote EP books in this and EP forum. FS limited edition is still much better than any Lovecraft books Easton Press published, including font that EP still needs to learn how to print, so people can actually read their books. After so many years in business, EP still struggles with font clarity as well as quality of their books. Well, I'm not a big fan of FS books, but can say that they are much better reading copies than EP. Just stating my humble opinion, and also not looking for arguments over this matter. And, yes agreed I do have letterpress Lovecraft books from small press publishers and like them better than FS limited edition of Lovecraft

>48 swintek: you can add me to the list of interested parties as well!

Heavenly Monkey -- The Dunwich Horror --







Pictures do not do justice. I'm sure someone with more camera skills than I will show you better pictures, but let this whet your whistle!

>60 astropi: I read my copy today for Halloween! I was delighted they got it out a little early, given its very much Lovecraft’s Halloween story.

The rougher, off-white handmade paper with the tactile medium-bite letterpress evokes such a perfect feel for the story, and I love the other little design elements like the drop caps and tail ornaments as well.

I was skeptical of the illustration concept, particularly the description that they were intended to fit the mood more than illustrate the story. However, my 3 illustrations within the story actually fit the content pretty perfectly. For example, I received the same illustration shown in your post, but it was opposite the description of the Horror’s tentacled body.

Why didn’t I order this?! If anyone here decides they are unhappy with their’s feel free to let me know. Haha

Received mine earlier this week. It's fantastic.

>61 NathanOv: Well said! I also own HM's The Shadow Over Innsmouth which is a lovely production. But, Dunwich is in a different category altogether. It's really a masterpiece of book design. The other Lovecraft work I am aware of that is of this caliber is The Colour Out of Space by Shelter Bookworks --



>62 Nightcrawl: Keep your eyes on the second-hand market. I imagine a copy or two will show up and I'm willing to bet they'll be snagged immediately.

>63 SDB2012: Indeed it is :)

I echo all the views expressed here. It is truly outstanding.

Very cool to see the final result, I bought a couple non-hm books from Rollin and he was kind enough to include a leaf from this production.

>62 Nightcrawl: I’ll second that.

There's already one on the second-hand market.

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?utm_source=vialibri&utm_mediu...

Seller is asking $1500 USD -- it will sell.

I read my copy earlier in the week and I concur that it is fantastic. An excellent example of the book arts, and the aquatint illustrations are wonderfully tactile.

>61 NathanOv: Barcham Green handmade paper is some of the finest paper ever made.

>67 astropi: That didn’t last long!

My copy of The Dunwich Horror finally arrived today, delayed by the random vagaries of inernational post, and I can only say "Wow!"
I also have a (Batrachian) copy of HM's The Shadow Over Innsmouth which, while possessing its own charms (though I'd love to have a copy of the Icthyic state), is not in the same class of production.
The Horror is a thing of beauty. :-)

Not letterpress (except for the Roulet edition covers), but possibly of interest all the same are the Helios House Press editions of The Shunned House and their forthcoming The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (currently undergoing crowdfunding). I have the former, it's a nicely made book, and am backing the latter.

>71 Shadekeep: Thanks for that! It looks lovely. My dream is that one day someone will publish a truly fine press edition of The Dream-Quest... sigh. It's my favorite work from Lovecraft.

>72 astropi: Perhaps CTP will include it in the Lovecraft volume(s) of their forthcoming Weird series

>73 ultrarightist: I would love if CTP did a "Dreamlands" anthology for their HP Lovecraft title, rather than just another of Joshi's "greatest hits" collections like he's done for half a dozen publishers.

I respect Joshi as an editor, but I'd like to see more creativity here, especially when there's the opportunity to do something much more thematic and have book design, illustration and story selections all coalesce together.

If they simply have to include the likes of Call of Cthulhu, they could also make it a "bas relief" collection with AtMoM, Dagon and Shadow Out of Time as well, which would lend itself to some interesting illustration.

>73 ultrarightist: That would be wonderful.

>74 NathanOv: Agreed. I feel the story gets overlooked far too often. There are a gazillion Lovecraft anthologies, some of them quality publications, like the FS's edition. But, I've never seen a fine press Dream-Quest.

Whatever fine press tackles it, I'd love for them to do all the Randolph Carter stories together. And while I'm making wishes, a volume devoted to Hodgson's Carnacki stories would be fantastic as well.

I'm a fan of Pickman's Model myself, although there are a great many of Lovecraft's stories I thoroughly enjoy...most of them, really.

>76 Shadekeep:. Oh, I agree wholeheartedly!!

I will say they struck gold with House on the Borderland. That is perhaps my favorite "Weird Tales" work of all time -- hard to say. Certainly one of my favorites! I read it after reading a bunch of Lovecraft, Bierce, etc. and it really stood out. It was almost gothic in nature, but had elements of science and mythology. I also loved his Sargasso Sea Stories which I hope CTP also publishes :)

>74 NathanOv: >77 Glacierman: Just so! There's a lot of ways you could frame an HPL collection without rolling out the standard playlist every time. For example, a volume of stories centering on accursed buildings (The Haunter in The Dark, The Horror at Red Hook, The Outsider, etc) might be one way to tie together a theme and an art style, while exposing readers to a different slate of titles. Or you could do all the stories that involve a farm and the countryside, or all the ones with a nautical slant, or all the ones involving medical/scientific horrors. Any of these would make a welcome change to me.

>79 Shadekeep: Exactly! That's exactly the approach I'd love to see instead. I just think there are plenty of options out there for "samplers" of these authors, and if you're trying to unify the book design and illustration, the stories should be somewhat unified as well.

>74 NathanOv: I too would like to see a thematic treatment by CTP that lends itself to thematic treatment of the illustrations in the same style and ideally by the same artist. I am leery of CTP doing the Dreamlands theme, though, because I have collected the Dark Dreamlands set from Pegana Press and they are superb.

>78 astropi: Agreed, but I'm also looking forward to some fine press treatment of Machen and Blackwood, neither of which has been afforded it to date, I believe.

>81 ultrarightist: Well, there certainly would be some overlap there. Though Pegana hasn't struck strictly to the "Dreamlands" stories, and also is quite unlikely to ever do The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. >76th idea of a Randolph Carter anthology would be a way to avoid complete overlap though, or would bundling Kadath with some of the other bas relief stories. It really is at the intersection of a lot of Lovecraft's work.

>83 NathanOv: You could also get Dream Quest into a volume with Call of Cthulhu and Pickman's Model under the "tortured artist" theme. I'd probably add Haunter of the Dark to that one as well.

>84 Shadekeep: And then hire a tortured artist to illustrate it ;-)

>85 ultrarightist: Precisely! Or you could find one you like and then torture them. 😁

Re: Heavenly Monkey's Dunwich Horror: I received this last week and have just had time to properly look it over. It's exceptional! I can't wait to sit down and read it later today. Since- as usual- the book was announced and sold out before I knew of it's existence, I had to rely on a (very helpful) dealer to get a copy for me, aftermarket. Does anyone happen to know the publication prices of the various editions? Or, indeed, have some kind of prospectus that was emailed?

Thanks, Astopi, for the pics above. Very nice to see all of those wonderful, various editions stacked together like that.