At a local B&N yesterday, I saw a collection of HPL tales in fancy binding and shrink-wrapped perporting to be the "Complete Fiction." I suspect this is just a fancier edition of the earlier B&N collection with Joshi's comments, but, as it was shrink-wrapped, I couldn't get a list of the contents. Sells for $20.

As an aside, does the value of the object diminish if it is removed from the shrink-wrap? Mint toys outside of the original container seem to sell for less than if in the box, so, by exension, does this mean one can't read such a wrapped book without losing a big chunk of monetary value in a future collectible market?

JBP

I once made a horrible mistake: I bought a signed, tray-cased Underwood edition of a Jack Vance novel. I never touched it or, god forbid, read it or anything, but recently I saw a copy listed for sale with the proud proclamation "in original plastic bag." Only at this point did I realize that I should have taken more care to protect the plastic bag protecting the case protecting the book itself.

It is the old text, warts and all. Wait for the second printing which should be out this fall; there will be a "Thanks to Martin ANdersson" on the copyright page to distinguish it from the earlier printings.

Martinus Wrote:
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> It is the old text, warts and all. Wait for the
> second printing which should be out this fall;
> there will be a "Thanks to Martin ANdersson" on
> the copyright page to distinguish it from the
> earlier printings.

Oh no! Then there will need to be yet another edition that corrects the incorrect capitalization of the "n"!

But, if shrink wrapped, how sill we know what we are getting? Oh, the subtleties of collecting.

JBP

The trick is: buy what you want to read - don't collect and speculate, then you can't loose...

I've read elsewhere that the corrected text still won't appear until 2011/2012! So that'll be three edictions with no corrections over four years! Lazy! Very lazy!

I assume that Martinus or someone else here will announce the appearance of the corrected text when it is finally published. I am content to wait until then.

The English Assassin Wrote:
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> The trick is: buy what you want to read - don't
> collect and speculate, then you can't lose...
>
Amen to that. A book may be flawlessly proofread, lavishly illustrated and beautifully bound; but if it is never opened and read, the pages might as well be blank. Arguably, a book is not truly a book until it is read.

Considering the number of books I own, I suppose I must be a collector. Yet I try not to be seduced by the fancy edition. To keep things in perspective, my first exposure to many of HPL's stories was in the collections Ballantine Books released in the mid 1970s--yes, the "grotesque face" editions. My copies of them are dogeared and yellowing; the pages are threatening to escape from the cracked binding. Yet I hold an affection for these cheap paperbacks which is hard to express, let alone justify.

Perhaps it is partly nostalgia--just the sight of the covers summons up memories of discussing Lovecraft and sundry other topics in the quad during lunch hour with my friends Leslie and Andy, fellow aficionados of the weird tale. But just as surely part of it stems from gratitude--for introducing me to a wider realm of fantasy. Gratitude towards a humble paperback!

I suppose I could part with them if I had to, but it would be a wrench to do so...

I just bought a very early edition of Lord Dunsany's Time and the Gods -- printed in 1917, I think, although no date is given -- and some of the pages haven't even been cut. I must admit it annoyed me a bit.

This ain't weird fiction, but still ... I bought a splendid edition of Prescott's historical works, 1880s or thereabouts, and I'm having to open the pages with a small serrated fruit-knife as I go along. Great writer, great books, 130 years old and nobody's ever read them (until now).

Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico & History of the Conquest of Peru is so incredible it seems like fantasy. But it's not. I read it 25 years ago while confined to bed with mononucleosis. The book transported me out of my sick bed.

BTW, I highly recommend Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas. It contains information and sources not found in the almost 150 year old Prescott. And it's written in a very easy to read style. I feel it supersedes Prescott.

To bring things somewhat back on topic, I don't know if it has been mentioned here before, but on the site below you can download the Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft and put them on your various hand held devices, Nook, Kindle, Android etc. But I assume "It is the old text, warts and all." But it would come in handy on an airplane, etc.

[cthulhuchick.com]

Tantalus Wrote:
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>
> To bring things somewhat back on topic, I don't
> know if it has been mentioned here before, but on
> the site below you can download the Complete Works
> of H.P. Lovecraft and put them on your various
> hand held devices, Nook, Kindle, Android etc. But
> I assume "It is the old text, warts and all." But
> it would come in handy on an airplane, etc.

And it isn't complete either. I have pointed out to cthulhuchick that "complete" means "everything", not "everything except the stuff that I for arbitrary reasons don't want to include", but so far the wildly erroneous title hasn't been changed.

Ken K. Wrote:
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> The English Assassin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----

> To keep things in
> perspective, my first exposure to many of HPL's
> stories was in the collections Ballantine Books
> released in the mid 1970s--yes, the "grotesque
> face" editions. My copies of them are dogeared
> and yellowing; the pages are threatening to escape
> from the cracked binding. Yet I hold an affection
> for these cheap paperbacks which is hard to
> express, let alone justify.
>

Same here, and almost verbatim. I also have the Beagle Books two-volume paperback of "Tales From The Cthulhu Mythos," with suitably weird covers (now scuffed and shelf-worn). And though I now have the Nightshade CAS hardcovers, I am loath to part with my Ballantine edition of "Xiccarph." I can still relive what a thrill it was to discover it, my first CAS collection. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one to feel affection for old paperbacks. Nostalgia aside, I've always found them to be very convenient: they're lightweight, relatively inexpensive, portable and never need to be recharged. And I think many of the cover designs and illustrations for that era (the 70's) were very good. At least to my taste (I'm thinking of certain Ace and Ballantine covers). I must admit, most of today's covers leave me cold--digital art just doesn't do it for me. And don't get me started on the plagues of vampires and zombies...hopefully these trends will burn themselves out soon.

Ken K. Wrote:
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> I think many of the cover designs
> and illustrations for that era (the 70's) were
> very good. At least to my taste (I'm thinking of
> certain Ace and Ballantine covers). I must admit,
> most of today's covers leave me cold--digital art
> just doesn't do it for me.

Again, I fully agree. Digital or not, the majority of today's covers have, to me, a generic feel, much like romance novels have always had -- stock characters and easily identifiable themes. Like you, I recall with admiration covers such as Gallardo's for the Ballantine HPL and CAS, as well as Bruce Pennington's work for the UK Pan/Ballantine editions. Publishers like Ballantine seemed to be going for art more than merchandising. Of course, I'm sure there were as many duds as delights among the covers back then, just as there are probably many worthy endeavors among the flat efforts of today. Nevertheless, I'll most likely hold on to my old paperbacks until they crumble as if touched by Quachil Uttaus.