Hi All,

I have all of the Nightshade and Ballantine CAS editions. I am now wondering if it is worth the expense and trouble to collect the original Arkham House volumes. Can any of you who own the original AH editions describe the tangible or intangible appeal of these printings? These could include editorial issues as well as physical features such as paper quality, pleasing musty odors, story selection, etc. One appeal of the AH editions seems to be that CAS himself selected and (presumably) ordered the stories, so it might be a nice experience to reread his favorite stories from the beginning as he wished. It could take over $1000 to get a decent set of AH reading copies. This may have made sense five or six years ago, but now with the Nightshade volumes I am not so sure...

Also, if any of you have feelings on the William Hope Hodgson Nightshade vs. Ballantine vs. Arkham House discussion I wold be curious to hear what you think. I have heard the Nightshade WHH books have a lot of editorial errors.

Thanks in advance...

While not as "nice" as the AH editions, the British publisher Nevill Spearman did the Brit editions of a lot of AH book.

JBP

Fedogan and Bremer have returned to life, and for me their books come closest to "feeling" like the old Arkham House books. Bob Price has edited a recent Cthulhu Mythos anthology for them, and S. T. Joshi is editing SEARCHERS AFTER HORROR for them, which he insists will not have a Lovecraftian theme (although I've just sold a very Lovecraftian tale to the book).

The only Arkham House CAS I have is POEMS IN PROSE, a beautiful edition that I HAD to own. There is something very special about the old Arkham House editions, and I think they deserve that special fondness that so many of us have for them. They are lovely books, with usually wonderful jackets. The frustrating thing for me, concerning CAS and Arkham House, is that he was either too ill or to lethargic to work with Derleth on the volumes by supplying definitive texts &c. I wish I knew more about Smith's relationship with Arkham House and Derleth, I think it must be a fascinating history. How I ache for a definitive Clark Ashton Smith biography.

"I'm a little girl."
--H. P. Lovecraft, Esq.

John D. Haefele has just reminded me of his article, "Far From Time: Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and Arkham House," which appeared in S. T. Joshi's journal, WEIRD FICTION REVIEW No. 1 (Fall 2010). I had forgotten all about this essay and am going to reread it this instant.

"I'm a little girl."
--H. P. Lovecraft, Esq.