I am caught in a dilemma similar to Lovecraft's [86] and [144]* jottings in the COMMONPLACE BOOK.

Sometime in the mid 1980's I visited a used book store which had just received a bunch of fantasy horror pocket books for its shelves. I bought one of these, The Trail of Cthulhu, published by Panther.

But the one book that actually fascinated me the most I regretfully didn't buy, and the next time I came into the bookstore it was gone. It may have been the same publisher as for The Trail of Cthulhu, or some other, perhaps likely a Great Britain publisher, probably a 1970's publication. It is the cover illustration that I vaguely remember and that has haunted me all these years; there was one, or more, sinister evil-looking priests or monks, robed, standing in a field of opium poppies. I doubt that it was a C. A. Smith collection, but it may have been a collection of different classic horror authors.

*[86] "To find something horrible in a (perhaps familiar) book, and not be able to find it again."
[144] "Hideous book glimpsed in ancient shop - never seen again."

> It is the cover illustration that I vaguely
> remember and that has haunted me all these years;
> there was one, or more, sinister evil-looking
> priests or monks, robed, standing in a field of
> opium poppies. I doubt that it was a C. A. Smith
> collection, but it may have been a collection of
> different classic horror authors.

This must be it:

[www.aumania.it]

It's by Bruce Pennington (responsible for some excellent Smith covers too) and is used on at least the second volume of the Panther Books edition of Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft and others, edited August Derleth.

WOW! THANKS!!

It is not quite the way I remember it, but I suppose you're right that this must be the book I saw that time in the bookstore.

The way I remember the cover the field was steeped in yellow sunlight; and the monk in the foreground wasn't so forward leaning and tense in his facial expression, but standing more upright in relaxed meditative state and facing the viewer with evil moral seductiveness. And the field sloped down into the picture.
But this must be the way my memory has warped what I initially saw.

Thanks again. This was GREAT. I will look for a copy of the book.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 23 May 05 | 10:45AM by Ludde.

I just saw a copy of the book at Ebay, and it was printed in much lighter and yellowish color. Now I recognize it better. It is surely the right book! :)