Has anyone received their copy yet of this new publication from Hippocampus Press?

Any earlier thoughts on the content?

I picked it up at NecronomiCon and have read 200 pages so far. Very interesting!

My copy arrived last week. I'm going to get it up on wikithulhu at some point, just been busy with the hurricane and other projects. Still, great to finally get all this stuff in one place.

Does this book contain all of Smith's little illustrations that were included in Clark Ashton Smith: Letters to H.P. Lovecraft (Necronomicon Press)? I seem to recall there were some scribbled symbols right in the middle of one letter, which I cannot find in Dawnward Spire .... But perhaps I am mistaken, perhaps it was at the end of the letter?

Although I have not had time yet to immerse fully in the book, it is a beautifully produced volume.
In one letter, for example, Lovecraft presents Smith with a separate full document of his own weird fiction library, listing several authors I have never heard of before. His only volume by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, however, was The House by the Churchyard, which perhaps explains his lack of enthusiasm for this author.

Unfortunately there is a lot more letters by Lovecraft than by Smith. Not sure what Lovecraft did with those lost Smith letters. It appears that Smith's latest heartthrob, Carol, sold parts of his correspondence, to support her kids. And now collectors are sitting on those letters, refusing to share them with the rest of us.

Oh, and I must say that the chosen title for the book is really excellent! At first I was a little confused, but when one muses over it, Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill is of course absolutely perfect!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 7 Dec 17 | 12:03PM by Knygatin.

It is a good title, and lots of great material. I'm still working on correlating the letters in DS with those published in other sources - Joshi & Schultz re-dated several (and noted why, natch) so it's not as straightforward as I was hoping. Once I get that sorted, though, I can get started on the abstracts.

Is it fair to say that Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill essentially supersedes the earlier Necronomicon Press Clark Ashton Smith: Letters to H.P. Lovecraft volume? Or put another way, was there anything in the Necro Press edition that is not in the newer edition from Hippocampus Press?

I'm interested in getting a copy of DS, but it's a pricey item, so I'm curious whether or not it can now be considered the "standard edition" of the CAS/HPL letters.

Oldjoe Wrote:
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> Is it fair to say that Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill
> essentially supersedes the earlier Necronomicon
> Press Clark Ashton Smith: Letters to H.P.
> Lovecraft volume? Or put another way, was there
> anything in the Necro Press edition that is not in
> the newer edition from Hippocampus Press?
>
> I'm interested in getting a copy of DS, but it's a
> pricey item, so I'm curious whether or not it can
> now be considered the "standard edition" of the
> CAS/HPL letters.

True, it's a pricey item, but the amount of material far supersedes what came before. (Not in any way disparaging the Necronomicon Press volume, which is quite a nice item itself.) This is a massive tome, and yes, I think this will be considered the standard, at least for a very, very long time.

Oldjoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or put another way, was there
> anything in the Necro Press edition that is not in
> the newer edition from Hippocampus Press?


All the correspondence from the Necronomicon Press edition you will find in the newer edition, plus a lot more - about three times as many pieces by CAS.

But the letter illustrations were better reproduced in the Necronomicon Press edition - they are tiny here. And I would liked to have seen a few reproductions of original letters and postcards interspersed within the pages; but the approach here is much more studiously academic than in August Derleth's spirited Arkham House era.
However, it is a beautifully produced book, made of good genuine materials - quite exquisite (especially without the dust-wrapper).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 25 Jul 18 | 07:13AM by Knygatin.

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and acquire a copy of DS!

Oldjoe Wrote:
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> I'm curious whether or not it can
> now be considered the "standard edition" of the
> CAS/HPL letters.

I would assume, that if more letters surface eventually they will be gathered and printed in a complementary booklet. Rather than forcing us to buy the same big book over again, in updated version.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oldjoe Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm curious whether or not it can
> > now be considered the "standard edition" of the
> > CAS/HPL letters.
>
> I would assume, that if more letters surface
> eventually they will be gathered and printed in a
> complementary booklet. Rather than forcing us to
> buy the same big book over again, in updated
> version.

Why would you assume that? In any event, it is unreasonable to expect any volume of this nature to be absolutely complete, regardless of whether it gets updated with additional material later.

Platypus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knygatin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > I would assume, that if more letters surface
> > eventually they will be gathered and printed in a
> > complementary booklet.

>
> Why would you assume that? In any event, it is
> unreasonable to expect any volume of this nature
> to be absolutely complete, regardless of whether
> it gets updated with additional material later.

Perhaps rather I should have written, in my wishfull thinking I hope.

But doesn't small press quite often, or at least occasionally, complement main works with specialized small publications of additional discovered material, to satisfy fan base?

Say that, for example, eight more uncovered letters surfaced over the next ten years - it would be baroque to expect the relatively small dedicated readership to buy this big heavy expensive book all over again - even offensive, to make this long awaited edition obsolete after a short while. That at least is my moral stance on the matter; call me naïve dreamer, unaware of real business tactics, if you like. But certainly, in another 40 or 50 years perhaps, when a new generation wants to read the Lovecraft/CAS correspondence, then if would come more natural to present another big and updated volume.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> But doesn't small press quite often, or at least
> occasionally, complement main works with
> specialized small publications of additional
> discovered material, to satisfy fan base?

Supplement is the term. Necronomicon Press had a lot of those I believe.

Also I don't think the overall fan base of Clark Ashton Smith are economically wealthy enough to spend money readily on expensive books.