Collected Essays series

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

the Smith correspondence was partially lost when vandals set fire to CAS's home a few years before his death, as well ... several of his manuscripts were either lost or partially burnt in that conflagration.

I haven't heard anything about some of HPL's letters to CAS being lost, even though many of CAS's manuscripts certainly were (but it's not impossible). I HOPE that since Derleth & Wandrei were fishing far and wide for HPL letters at that time, they may actually have been in the hands of Arkham House at the time.
The letters were of course scattered after Smith's death, but before that Roy Squires made a photocopy of all of them, which is now at the John Hay Library. The latest I heard is that they will be published as a joint correspondence, since HPL retained many (but not all) of the letters that CAS sent to him.

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

Well, having had a chance to see the table of contents for this final volume, there may be some things some of you here might be interested in looking at, as this contains:

4 pieces of autobiography by HPL
tributes to colleagues Robert E. Howard and Henry S. Whitehead
a raft of several unfinished pieces, such as the fragments Derleth used for The Lurker at the Threshold, his notes to At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Out of Time", "The Challenge from Beyond", "The Shadow over Innsmouth" and the revision story "Medusa's Coil"
his "Commonplace Book", where he wrote down his story ideas and germs -- a fascinating document that has been out of print for far too long... very suggestive stuff in there....
and a complete chronology of his works (22 pages in length)

not to mention a plethora of other things (the volume is something like 380 pages in length)

Anyone curious about origins of Lovecraft's work, or seeing how he used some of the materials surrounding him, will find plenty of food for thought here....

Oh, how cool!! I haven't seen the volume yet since I'm waiting for the hc. Thanks a lot!

However, I must point one thing out:

his "Commonplace Book", where he wrote down his story ideas and germs -- a fascinating document that has been out of print for far too long... very suggestive stuff in there....

No, it hasn't been out of print since 1995, when it was included in Miscellaneous Writings.

[j. d. worthington]

Ach! Ningauble... you are, of course, quite correct. How I made such a gaffe... must have been asleep at the wheel! The only thing I can think of is that I must have meant to say "in an annotated edition" -- which this is, albeit not, from what I understand, nearly so much so as Schultz's 2-volume 1987 edition through Necronomicon Press (which I somehow missed out on and haven't been able to track down... )

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

The only thing I can think of is that I must have meant to say "in an annotated edition" -- which this is, albeit not, from what I understand, nearly so much so as Schultz's 2-volume 1987 edition through Necronomicon Press (which I somehow missed out on and haven't been able to track down... )

Hippocampus Press announced an expanded reprint of that (with rare essays by HPL, fragments, etc.) titled Out of the Ordinary in 2001 (?). I even pre-ordered it, but then it was put on hold and now I don't see it on the website.
But the last I heard was that it would be even more heavily annotated than the version in CE5 anyway.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Ningauble

Hippocampus Press announced an expanded reprint of that (with rare essays by HPL, fragments, etc.) titled Out of the Ordinary in 2001 (?). I even pre-ordered it, but then it was put on hold and now I don't see it on the website.
But the last I heard was that it would be even more heavily annotated than the version in CE5 anyway.

Ah... I hadn't known about Hippocampus that far back -- was going through some serious life-changes then that had me out of the loop on quite a lot; and I've not seen anything about it since I became aware of the site, so it may have been put on hold indefinitely. I know Schultz's edition of Fungi from Yuggoth has been hanging fire for a very long time... but it'll be worth it once it's out, considering his work so far....

And I'm not surprised that it's more heavily annotated. From what I hear about the Necronomicon Press edition, it had quite extensive notes and commentary... the best edition of the Commonplace Book so far, from what I understand; while Joshi's notes here are (by his own account) limited to specific uses in the stories and such....

[Ningauble]

Now I've got volume 5!

A magnificent volume -- easily the best in the series, judging from the table of contents. It's even got some illustrations, such as Lovecraft's own rendering of a member of the Great Race.

At the same time, I got the third volume of Clark Ashton Smith's poetry. It's just his translations from Spanish and French, but it's still a very lovely book.

[ghyle]

Have you mentioned the cd-rom yet Ningauble?

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by ghyle

Have you mentioned the cd-rom yet Ningauble?

I believe that was mentioned elsewhere on here, though I may be misremembering. Has it been released yet? I've not heard anything about it for a while....

In case it has not, and for those interested:

H. P. Lovecraft Collected Essays: Complete (CD)- Hippocampus Press

[ghyle]

It has yet to be released, but I am unaware if mention has been made of all the goodies on it. It may not help to repeat the information here.

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by ghyle

It has yet to be released, but I am unaware if mention has been made of all the goodies on it. It may not help to repeat the information here.

I don't think the contents have been mentioned here, no.

[ghyle]

I meant to say that it would not hurt, not that it would not help. Silly me.

[Ningauble]

Originally Posted by Ningauble

I'm sorry to say that the letters to Derleth (2 vols.) have been dropped by the publisher.

But the letters to Barlow will, Cthulhu willing, appear from University of Tampa Press in August.

Update: As J. D. already has posted, the letters to Derleth will be released by Hippocampus Project in October. (It will also include the few letters from Derleth to Lovecraft that have been preserved.)

There is no firm release date for the letters to Barlow yet, but I checked with UT Press and it should be out early this fall. It'll be a big book -- 504 pages! I hope it'll be available as a hardcover.

[j. d. worthington]

Thank you for the update on that... I would imagine it would be available in both formats... and now I'm going to have to sell an organ or two to buy the thing....

But for his correspondence with Barlow... it will definitely be worth it!

[j. d. worthington]

Well, here goes a double-post....

I just spoke to them at University of Tampa Press. The book is coming along nicely, probably out around October. You can pre-order, if you like, and the contact information is here:

UTPress / University of Tampa

From the description (I got to talk to one of the people working on the book) it sounds like a gem....

EDIT: Just received an email from them on this... they've decided that any preorders will received 10% off the usual price ($40 for the regular edition; the limited, 26-copy signed edition has not yet had a price set).

[Ningauble]

According to a mailing list where I hang, the Lovecraft/Barlow book, O Fortunate Floridian, has now been received from the printer. The limited edition is not yet available.