This may be a bit off-topic, but hopefully no harm done.

I just finished this novel and thought the first half one of the
best things I've read in months but apparently like HPL (SPOILER
ALERT AHEAD...) I thought the book lost a lot once Adam discovers his "Eve". Reading her child-like biblical-based questioning and reading of Adam's heart pangs (I want her, but I can't have her) was much less fun than reading the first half in which the insane protagonist is burning the world's great cities.

Anyway... my question regards the text. I know there is the
original version (apparently the version serialized in a magazine)
and a later EXPANDED version in which Shiel added sections and might have even modernized some of the narrative. It sounds as if I would prefer the original version but I'm not sure WHICH version I just read!

I read the 1973 Warner Paperback Library edition (3rd printing with previous printings in 1963 and 1966) which notes the copyright as 1930 by Vanguard Press. I might assume then that the text follows that 1930 edition. (But I can't be certain of that). Is there anybody here who knows if I read the original or expanded version? It runs only 191 pages but is in smallish type.

I hope I've read the expanded version and, if so, I will seek out
the original version. If I've read the original version, well... I think I'll pass on the expanded as I suspect the second half will be even more frustrating for me.

Im not sure if this helps but below is from "The House of Sounds And Others" The Hippocampus Press version:

Quote:

From 'Introduction by S. T. Joshi'

... Shiel's revision of The Purple Cloud deserves a treatise in itself. In sheer
wordage, the novel has shrunk from the 103,000 words of the 1901 edition to
93,000 words in the edition of 1929; but this does not begin to tell the whole
story, for scarcely a sentence has been left unaltered. ...

...However, since Lovecraft's
judgment of it is evidently based upon his reading of the 1901 edition, that is
the text we present here. ...

Quote:

A Note on the Texts

Of the stories in this volume, "Xélucha" and "Vaila" are taken from Shapes in
the Fire (1896); "The Pale Ape," "The Case of Euphemia Raphash," "Huguenin's
Wife," "The House of Sounds," "The Great King," and "The Bride"
are taken from The Pale Ape and Other Pulses (1911). The 1901 edition of The
Purple Cloud (not available since its original edition, aside from the Gregg Press
edition of 1977) has been printed here, as it is presumably the edition read by
Lovecraft.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2 May 06 | 02:52PM by Boyd.

That's very helpful, thanks! Seems I likely read the shorter yet much revised edition. And a reading of the original version seems like a worthwhile pursuit.

This might convince me to get the Hippocampus version sometime soon even though I have most of the contents. There's also an edition from A. Reynolds Morse (along with many short stories) that is simply offset from the original magazine appearance which is now on my want list.

I have the Arkham Xelucha and Others waiting to be read... the giant tome Shiel by Diverse Hands arrived just today... and, I ordered his Lord of the Sea 1970's hardcover only hours ago. I have plenty of Shiel to keep me busy.

I see his "House of the Sounds" is #2 on CAS's favorite weird stories list.

Strangely enough, I once had Clark Ashton Smith's copy of the Vanguard Press edition of THE PURPLE CLOUD, signed by him in pencil on the front endpaper. I guess it's still around somewhere, but I know I sold it in the late 1980's -

/mjt

Now that's impressive... I would loved to have seen (or better yet, bought) that book! I'm sure it would be too expensive for me though.