Today at the local B&N, I noticed a pile of the Lovecraft fiction collections edited by Joshi. It is the second printing.

JBP

Does anyone know if this edition have the many typos fixed?

The English Assassin Wrote:
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> Does anyone know if this edition have the many
> typos fixed?

It doesn't. :(

Martinus Wrote:
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> The English Assassin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Does anyone know if this edition have the many
> > typos fixed?
>
> It doesn't. :(

Well that's a waste of every bodies time! I guess it allows those who missed it last time to snuffle up a copy without being ripped off, but surely this is a missed opportunity by B&N.

There are never going to be error-free (or nearly so) editions of the works of writers such as Lovecraft and CAS until university professors with large budgets, research assistants, and lots of time start to work on them.

These works also need to be published by competent publishing houses, such as university presses, or Norton Critical Editions. (Penguin should be competent, and I used to think they were, but no longer). Until that happens--somewhere around the twelfth of never, according to my calculations--we will always have error-riddled editions of Lovecraft and CAS, and Martinus will remain a busy man. ;-)

Absquatch Wrote:
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> (Penguin should be
> competent, and I used to think they were, but no
> longer).

I'm not so sure, I'm always finding typos in ye oldie Penguin paperbacks... I think they've always been fairly slack.

There was a Library of America Lovecraft collection. It is certainly the most aesthetically pleasing edition so far. I wish all books looked like the LoA ones. I should mention I have a minor obsession with the Library of America.

English Assassin:

You may be right about Penguin. I think it depends upon the edition, but my point stands: They have the resources to be better, yet are not.

Jo Jo Lapin X:

Not to denigrate Library of America, as it is a fine series, and certainly a step up from the usual publishers of Lovecraft and CAS, but it's not at the level I have in mind. Peter Straub is not exactly at the level of the typical Norton Critical Edition editor, either.

Absquatch Wrote:
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> Peter Straub is
> not exactly at the level of the typical Norton
> Critical Edition editor, either.

Of course not; Straub is a pretentious hack and unpleasant idiot. (Although in fact I suspect he had very little to do with it; the truth may be even more horrifying and involve somebody with the initials S, T, and J.) I was commenting on the typography and binding.

I suspect you are right, re. the S, T, and J. That monopoly needs to end, and soon.

Aye, I notice the description for I am Providence on Hippocampus say "This book constitutes S. T. Joshi's final word on Lovecraft the man, the writer, and the thinker." As worthy as his previous word shave been, I can't help but think that he must have bled this particular stone dry by now... time to move on, maaan!

The English Assassin Wrote:
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> Aye, I notice the description for I am Providence
> on Hippocampus say "This book constitutes S. T.
> Joshi's final word on Lovecraft the man, the
> writer, and the thinker." As worthy as his
> previous word shave been, I can't help but think
> that he must have bled this particular stone dry
> by now... time to move on, maaan!

I'm afraid I can't agree with that one. In this context, I cannot help but recall Prof. T. O. Mabbott, who continued to publish various critical works and/or editions of Poe throughout the majority of his life -- the last of them being published following his death, in fact; and those of us who find pleasure in such in-depth and perceptive examinations of such a subject would all have been much the poorer had it been otherwise.

So with STJ and Lovecraft. Though I certainly have my disagreements with Joshi on HPL (and other things, for the matter of that), I also feel he continues to contribute insightful, thought-provoking, and enjoyable works on the subject, and would hate to see him cease publishing such work as long as he has something worthwhile to say. And, given that he is constantly engaged in projects on numerous topics both within and without the weird fiction field, it is hardly as if this were his sole area of endeavor....

As for the Library of America edition and Straub... whether it is accurate or not, he does talk about that in the documentary Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown, acknowledging that he had a rather shallow view of HPL as a not very good writer until he was asked to undertake the task of choosing for that volume. According to him, at that time, he "engaged" with Lovecraft more than he had ever done, and found his perceptions of him changed considerably, coming to feel that, while he had his faults, he deserved the esteem he has earned over the years, and belongs at least with what Straub calls the "minor major writers"... that is, not among the truly great writers of all time, but certainly not that far from them, either....

Jojo Lapin X Wrote:
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> Absquatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Peter Straub is
> > not exactly at the level of the typical Norton
> > Critical Edition editor, either.
>
> Of course not; Straub is a pretentious hack and
> unpleasant idiot. (Although in fact I suspect he
> had very little to do with it; the truth may be
> even more horrifying and involve somebody with the
> initials S, T, and J.) I was commenting on the
> typography and binding.

I'm afraid you'd be wrong there -- at least as far as the selection is concerned. STJ obviously had nothing to do with that. Straub said in an interview that he was looking for what he perceived as typically Lovecraftian, not Lovecraft's best stories. You may rest assured that Joshi would have picked a wider selection.

I was thinking of the notes.

I also wonder who selected the photo for the dust-jacket; it is one of the least flattering ones in existence. Lovecraft looks like a 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy in it.