$480.15 to be exact (on sale, you know).

Has anyone else heard/seen this set and any opinions on same?
Here's a link I hope works:

B&N HPL book

FWIW,

-Cathexis

It is only $395 direct from the publisher.

[www.centipedepress.com]


Which reminds me that I still want to pick up the Conversations with the Weird Circle book.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 4 Sep 11 | 05:56PM by BeneathTheEarth.

I have seen the Blackwood book in this series...but unfortunately, these volumes are just ever so slightly beyond my monetary reach....

I'm sure there are far less expensive ways to gather every bit of content in them....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 4 Sep 11 | 06:45PM by K_A_Opperman.

I'm sure there is. Centipede is pretty much for book collectors.

A 1200 page volume seems unwieldy to me at any rate. They should have made it two volumes of the fiction.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 4 Sep 11 | 06:51PM by BeneathTheEarth.

I'd rather somebody put out--REASONABLY PRICED!!!---facsimile editions of The Outsider and Others and other early Arkham House publications.

Arkham House could just reprint them for themselves?

I personally prefer to read while lying down, with my chosen tome supported on my chest...I suspect that if I attempted to read the above-mentioned volume in this way, I would end up like a certain gentleman who was executed during the Salem witch trials..."more...weight"... Not only would I be broke, I'd be dead, too!

Except for the revised books of HPL, and I think the letters, Arkham House has never reprinted anything.

K_A_Opperman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I personally prefer to read while lying down, with
> my chosen tome supported on my chest...I suspect
> that if I attempted to read the above-mentioned
> volume in this way, I would end up like a certain
> gentleman who was executed during the Salem witch
> trials..."more...weight"... Not only would I be
> broke, I'd be dead, too!

Not quite. Though a hefty volume, The Outsider and Others (and, for that matter, Beyond the Wall of Sleep) are a long way from the weight of a similar volume today. The weight of the paper, for one thing, is different; and even the binding is somewhat lighter. It isn't exactly a convenient read from that position, I'll grant you; but the Barnes & Noble book (for example) is actually likely to be less comfortable. (Beyond the Wall of Sleep, given the wartime restrictions, used an even lighter paper, reducing weight farther yet.)

The problem with these volumes, of course, is the often severely corrupt texts, as with "At the Mountains of Madness" or "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath", etc. But the Finlay dust jacket would be nice to have on the shelf; and even a facsimile of such an historic collection would be worth getting....

Ah, you are right, jd! I remembered I have a copy of "Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural" published in 1944. It is 1080 pages, yet not a 'crushing' read (I have a certain Poe volume which I find suffocating for more than its claustrophobic horror...). It's pages are remarkably thin--sometimes I'm afraid I'll rip them accidentally! On the inside, it says: "THIS IS A WARTIME BOOK / the text is complete and unabridged, / but every effort has been made to comply with / the Government's request to conserve essential materials." Interesting bit of history, I suppose.

Yes, I have a later copy (printed in the 1970s, I believe) of that anthology, and even there the paper is extremely light. I know precisely what you mean about being concerned about tearing them.

On the early Arkham Lovecraft volumes: though I don't own copies of them, I have on occasion requested them through interlibrary loan, usually specifying the xerox'd edition put out by Books for Libraries (if I remember correctly; it has been some years since I last dealt with this); on the one occasion I didn't include that in the request, they actually sent me a copy of the original of The Outsider and Others... and not on a "library use only" basis, either; I was allowed to take it home for six weeks! I couldn't believe they actually sent the thing; but then I've received other, much rarer volumes from them before. At any rate, it was nice to have for a while, even if I did send them a note saying essentially: "I really appreciate it, but DON'T EVER DO THIS AGAIN!!!!"....

On the subject of the thread... While the Centipede Press books are far beyond my budget these days, I personally have no problem with such elegant productions for those who want a volume like this on their shelves. If the material is available in affordable form for general consumption, why shouldn't the collectors be able to acquire such a volume, with specially-commissioned artwork, fine bindings, and the like? The only complaint I have with such books is when they are the only edition made available of a particular writer or work. That sort of thing does seem wrong to me, simply on a selfish level of being able to read a work for a reasonable price; but even there it is a decision between writer and publisher which is perfectly reasonable in and of itself.

You're saying HPL had a say in this product?

...it is a decision between writer and publisher...

jdworth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On the subject of the thread... While the
> Centipede Press books are far beyond my budget
> these days, I personally have no problem with such
> elegant productions for those who want a volume
> like this on their shelves. If the material is
> available in affordable form for general
> consumption, why shouldn't the collectors be able
> to acquire such a volume, with
> specially-commissioned artwork, fine bindings, and
> the like? The only complaint I have with such
> books is when they are the only edition made
> available of a particular writer or work. That
> sort of thing does seem wrong to me, simply on a
> selfish level of being able to read a work for a
> reasonable price; but even there it is a decision
> between writer and publisher which is perfectly
> reasonable in and of itself.

I agree completely. I think some publishers are being short-sighted when they concentrate on pricey collector's editions at the expense of affordable mass market ones. An author's work must be readily available before a critical mass of readership demand can develop (as happened to Lovecraft, Howard and Tolkien--yes, they appeared in hardcovers initially, but it was the cheap paperback editions which drove their fanbases into the stratosphere). Ubiquity usually stimulates demand (always assuming the author is one of quality!)

I am thankful for publishers such as Wordsworth Editions, who put out paperback collections of supernatural fiction at a very affordable price.

Quote:

The only complaint I have with such books is when they are the only edition made available of a particular writer or work.

Is Centipede the publisher who is supposed to be releasing the complete poems in prose of CAS? If so, then does that mean we'll have the choice of either dropping three figures on that book, or completely forgoing it?