The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft (Knickerbocker Classics)

Finally! I've been after HP Lovecraft's works for years but never got around to it. When this Knickerbocker Classics edition showed up I had to get it.

The book is gorgeous to touch, the printing is fantastic, the paper is thicker than expected and the slipcase, though dented in one corner, is thoroughly sturdy and will protect the book for years to come.

I'm gonna make my way through it now - years in the waiting. I'm so excited!

Lovecraft is an excellent writer. His prose is perhaps a bit beyond modern audiences, but it's perfect for anyone who likes intelligent, dark cosmic horror; fans of Edgar Allen Poe and Gothic horror writers will definitely enjoy his Cthulhu Mythos works, while fans of Tolkien will appreciate the Dream Cycle stories ("The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" is definitely one of the best fantasy stories ever written). This book contains all of his Mythos and Dreamlands stories, while leaving out some of his extraneous works (including, fortunately, the ones with more overtly xenophobic tones to them). If you enjoy horror literature, you absolutely MUST pick up this book.

The box which holds the book DID have some minor damage when it arrived, but it's largely negligible. The book itself was in excellent condition.

Over the years I have spent at least 10X the price of this beautiful volume on paperbacks with 2 or 3 Lovecraft stories & lots of "filler" written by others. Now I have his complete fiction in one really nice book that looks & feels like it should last a lifetime (and it even has a "built-in" ribbon bookmark).

Beautiful book that should be in anyone's horror collection. Silver leaf and holographic cover. Could not give this a poor review to any degree, it covers his entire work from when he was a child to when he was an adult and has a well written prelude for every story talking about what he was doing at that point in his life and what the story might relate to,

This was a gift for the step son. He loved it! The book was a great addition to his odd assortment of reading material. The book was in excellent condition, like new in every respect! The seller made special effect to delivery before Christmas and all was well! I will definitely keep this book seller on my "nice list".

Leather bound book with a ribbon bookmark. A quality keepsake for anyone who enjoys the weird tales from HP Lovecraft, whom Stephen King and other famous SiFi authors' believe is the master of horror fiction. Very nice book. This is the only book I have seen that claims to have all of his short stories.

H.P. Lovecraft was the definitive master of other worldly horror, the weird, the surreal. The way he spun words to create powerful, mostly grotesque images was superlative. Creating an entire fictional universe in both the waking and the dreamworld spoke volumes to his creativity and imagination. This volume contains the entire collection of short stories and novellas credited to him alone. It is well known among his fans that Lovecraft also helped other lesser authors with rewrites and edits to their stories. However, those stories are not really credited to him and therefore not his own, so they are not included within these pages (except Under The Pyramids, which he ghost wrote for Harry Houdini, not one of my personal favorites as the first half of this story reads like a Cairo tour guide). But those stories are all available in other books available on the store, namely The Crawling Chaos And Others, and Medussa's Coil and Others.

Included here are classics such as the seminal Call of Cthulhu, the story that originated the so-called "mythos" and spawned other works by authors old and modern. My personal favorite, Shadows Over Innsmouth, simply oozes atmosphere. You can feel the narrator's desperation and final resignation at his revelation of his background at the end. And while reading Dream Quest Of The Unknown Kadath, I couldn't help but wonder if Lovecraft was a fan of Frank L. Baum and his wonderful Land of Oz.

That said, Lovecraft was very much a product of his time, with social attitudes and biases common in the early 20th century. He makes it very clear in his writing, especially early on, that he looks down upon and considers people of swart beneath him. The name he chooses for his cat in Rats In The Walls has had many thin skinned sensitive logophobes seeking therapy. Therefore, if the sight of racial slurs is enough to send you running for your safe space, you'd be well advised to look elsewhere for your reading entertainment. There is plenty of politically correct modern literature aimed at the thin skinned sensitives of today who consider mere words "hurtful". Otherwise, be prepared to be whisked into a world of unspeakable horrors and other dimensional chilling gods.

Pros: Beautiful cover, great and fairly thorough collection of Lovecraft's writings. Very pretty and well made book.

Cons: The name of the series "leatherbound classics" is misleading, as this is not leatherbound. I have the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy from the series which actually is leatherbound, with padding inside. I really liked it, and wanted another. This book is merely a hardcover, though the hardcover is very pretty. A better description/picture may have prevented this.

We all know H.P. Lovecraft's work is amazing, there's no doubt about that.

The book itself is of great quality, it's big and heavy, of really good construction, it's sturdy and made with quality materials. It just feels good to hold, you know? And the protective casing it comes with is just the cherry on top. The pages are a little on the thin side, but that's hardly a problem as long as you're rationally careful when handling the book, and really, you should always handle any good book with care. There are some spelling mistakes here and there, but they're also easily forgivable in my opinion.

Bottom line, I love it, and I would highly recommended it.

Thrilling gothic world that changes your whole inner perspective of dealing with demons and the end of the world. How much of it is in your head and how much of it is real? Does it matter?

Be warned.. this will mess you up.

This book is impressive. As others have stated, it is of high quality. Its size is a little large, but more than manageable for sitting in a chair and reading on a rainy day. It looks great on a shelf, not that mine has sat there very long. I had a little experience with Lovecraft before purchasing, but the more I read this book, the more my appreciation for his wit and creativity. A must have for a fan of Lovecraft or anyone interested in getting into his work.

I found Lovecraft's other worlds and dimensions, which intersect with our own, fascinating. His views on characters, that are initially considered evil or horrific, but which upon closer examination and consideration are actually neither good nor evil, just beings with ethics, senses and belief systems alien to our own, are quite interesting. The idea that creatures, which for centuries of human culture, have been viewed as demonic or abominations, are actually alien intelligences different from our own and thus to be feared, is a unique concept which I had never even considered before reading his works.

This book is perfect. It collects all the works of H P Lovecraft bar his collaborations and is very well displayed. It is the 2011 edition with silver trim pages and the purple book mark so it has none of the mistakes that drive people crazy in the 2008 edition. The book is perfect and well worth getting and it was delivered early which was great, but to the wrong house. After a call to the courier service do it was fine and now I just cant wait to start reading it.

I don't buy very many books but when I found this one, I had to get it! It's such a great collection from a well known author. I love H.P. Lovecraft's stories. The only thing bad about this book is that the about the author page is gone at the very end of my book.

Alas, this volume is not complete. It is missing one story, "In the Walls of Eryx." Admittedly his only attempt at true science fiction, it is not needed for this collection of weird fiction. I don't feel that this little problem is worth the loss of one star. The product itself if beautifully done. A solid addition to any HPL collection.
Also there is supposed to be a biography at the end of the volume. My copy is missing this. Still I am pleased with the purchase since I have over 200 books on HPL and later writers. I am well versed in his life.

I've only recently discovered H.P.Lovecraft & immediately fell in love. His writing is intelligent & concise & the scares are more subtle than outright. Each story has a constant creepy undertone that keeps you on your toes. This is a great collection with all of his best works. I highly recommend it.

This is a great collection that contains every single story that H. P. Lovecraft wrote by himself. Each story has a wee note by esteemed editor, S. T. Joshi, concerning the story. The first edition, which sold for $12.95, was riddled with hundreds of typographical errors; you can tell if you have that edition because it has a gold book ribbon and gold gilt on the edge of its pages. The 2011 edition has almost all of the typos corrected; it has a purple book ribbon and silver gilt on its pages, and that is the edition you want. The problem with ordering the book here at the store is that you have no idea what edition they will send you as you cannot inspect the book yourself. But it is a great book, and includes rare items such as "A History of the Necronomicon," plus it has lovely end papers and a sewn-in book ribbon. Here are the complete contents:
Introduction by S. T. Joshi
The Beast in the Cave
The Alchemist
The Tomb
Dagon
A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson
Polaris
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Memory
Old Bugs
The Transition of Juan Romero
The White Ship
The Street
The Doom That Came to Sarnath
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Terrible Old Man
The Tree
The Cats of Ulthar
The Temple
Facts Concerning the Late Arther Jermyn and His Family
Celephais
From Beyond
Nyarlathotep
The Picture in the House
Ex Oblivione
Sweet Ermengarde
The Nameless City
The Quest of Iranon
The Moon-Bog
The Outsider
The Other Gods
The Music of Erich Zann
Herbert West--Reanimator
Hypnos
What the Moon Brings
Azathoth
The Hound
The Lurking Fear
The Rats in the Walls
The Unnamable
The Festival
Under the Pyramids
The Shunned House
The Horror at Red Hook
He
In the Vault
Cool Air
The Call of Cthulhu
Pickman's Model
The Silver Key
The Strange High House in the Mist
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Colour out of Space
The Descendent
History of the Necronomicon
The Very Old Folk
Ibid
The Dunwich Horror
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow over Innsmouth
The Dreams in the Witch House
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
The Thing on the Doorstep
The Evil Clergyman
The Book
The Shadow out of Time
The Haunter of the Dark

Appendix: Juvenilia
The Little Glass Bottle
The Secret Cave
The Mystery of the Grave-yard
The Mysterious Ship (short version)
The Mysterious Ship (long version)

Discarded draft of "The Shadow over Innsmouth"

Supernatural Horror in Literature

One of the outstanding features here seen is that the tales are published in chronological order, as it is interesting to see what things came first, what inspired other stories, &c. Here we find the stories that Lovecraft wrote during his two-year exile in New York ("Under the Pyramids" was written just before his marriage, and the MS was lost at the train station, and so he had to retype the MS during his honeymoon) and then we see the surge of amazing creativity that Lovecraft experienced upon returning home to Providence, a time during which he penned "The Call of Cthulhu" and his two (unpublished during his lifetime) novels.

The long version of the early tale "The Mysterious Ship" appears in print for the first time anywhere.

Writes Joshi, "The discarded draft of 'The Shadow over Innsmouth' is found on the back of the extant manuscript of the final draft of the story, and individual pages of it have apparently been incorporated into the finished story. It has several points of interest, including the narrator's visit to the Marsh retail office--a scene excised from the final draft."

The book ends with Lovecraft's magnificent essay, SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE.

Once the fully corrected text edition is published at the end of 2011, this edition of H. P. Lovecraft's solo Works will be THE definitive edition of all of those tales that he wrote on his own (and his collaboration with E. Hoffmann Price).

Later this year Arcane Wisdom Press will bring forth the first of two volumes of Lovecraft's revisions and collaborations, THE CRAWLING CHAOS AND OTHERS, edited and annotated by S. T. Joshi, and once the second of those volumes is published we will have all of Lovecraft's fiction available. It's a sweet time to be a Lovecraft fan, aye.

When I was young H.P. Lovecraft and Pink Floyd kept me together (on a level my parents could not quite understand). I lost all of my Lovecraft Arkham House editions to a bad marriage and blame her for the loss. Now, I have it all again and in one GORGEOUS package (Can't replace "Selected Letters" Vol's 1-5 though ... grrrr). Still despise the Ex for the loss of many things, but this definitely helps. GREAT!

Made a mistake on the last review and included gripes about the packaging, which of course had nothing to do with the product itself. The book itself is wonderful and is exactly what I wanted and what was advertised. Please disregard my last product review please.

A little disappointed with the book I received. I found at least 6 pages that had no text at all! In other words the book had actual blank pages where printed text should be! Also, some pages only had traces of print on the page! I have never had that happen with any book I've purchased and was surprised to find it to be the case in this version. I know it's not the store's fault, but I thought this should be noted for those that may not read the book right away. Check your copy well and flip through every page. I have already sent the book back to the store (great service), but alas they are already sold out and I can't get another one. The book and box are attractive and, if it was actually made correctly, would be a nice collection to own.

Great condition and was very short delivery time. I was very happy with the vendor and I'm very happy with the book. Lovecraft was a great author and if you want a good place to start this book is the one.

I bought this book for my husband. He was extremly mpressed the thhe price of this book, he has been looking for it in book stores an has not been able to find it. So now his book library is complete.

This is a must for any Lovecraft fan. I have read the majority of the stories in this book several times over, and can't wait to read them again. I especially love this edition because of the hard cover, the art work, the material used, and his entire catalog!

Lovecraft was the writer who inspired many of the modern horror writers. He was the beginning in a genre that has developed over the years. It is useful to see where it all began. I read an occasional story from time to time.

This is a beautiful book! The cover is bound in a fabric-like material that really makes the book feel high end. I've never had any hardcover version of Lovecraft and its awesome to have all these wonderful stories in one place.

First off, this negative review is mostly about the state of the book as I received it today, not the stories within it. I reviewed th book promptly, however there were a couple dozen pages with this weird excess of paper sticking out of the top left corner (see photos). The loose leaf cover was also torn on the bottom as I took it out of the box (see photo). As for the content, if you like Lovecraft, it's an amazing compliation of all of his works and makes for a very good read!

The cover is rather lame; it is overly commercial-looking, which Lovecraft would not approve of. It misses the "eldritch" quality of the works.

The works, of course, are excellent for what they are - high quality supernatural horror stories that sit far closer to Poe than King.

On of the best Horror writers to date, in my opinion.
I have enjoyed almost everything included in this collection.

However, It is a hard to ignore the blatantly racist things that pop up from time to time.

A sturdily bound and beautifully presented collection of macabre tales from the outright master of the genre. I have all of Lovecraft's work in three paperback volumes so I had no need to buy this for myself. However, I bought this for my mother on request and she is delighted with the quality of the book, the box it comes in, and the wonderfully hideous stories inside.

She has yet to appreciate, however, that prolonged exposure to the wretched contents of this loathsome volume will, given time, produce a creeping disorientation in her perception of reality, one which, if left to fester, will as surely as the hollow moon casts its sickly glow upon the fetid earth below, result in a permanent madness of the ghastliest kind imaginable.

On a more prosaic note, at under $30 this book is an outright bargain and is proof, if ever there were any needed, that there is plenty of life left in physical books as opposed to their ever-so-convenient, but utterly soulless digital counterparts.

I feel sure that if Lovecraft were alive today he'd create a tale in which purveyors of digital books would be condemned to an eternity of unspeakable horrors inside the bowels of some hitherto unknown abomination, summoned under the will of Lucifer himself to lay waste to the medium once and for all!

Personally speaking, I do enjoy reading a good book on my tablet, which no doubt explains my recent, dreadful nightmares and the complete sense of foreboding that accompanies me during the twilight hours before I temporarily depart this earthly plane.

If these unsavoury manifestations are a truly a portent of things to come, then my soul is already dead. No god can save me now!

The imaginary New England of H.P. Lovecraft is an eerily mundane place -- small towns where inhuman creatures lurk, lightless tombs and caves, sea-borne horrors that sleep under forgotten cities, and other cold, slimy, claustrophobic places.

So when reading "The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft," expect a constant gnawing sense of dread, even on the rare occasions when something creepy isn't going on. While his purplish prose can take some getting used to, Lovecraft's imagination was an avalanche of slow-burning nightmares -- and rather than explaining everything, he lets us know that everything seen and experienced is only the tip of the iceberg.

His stories include tales of immortal sorcerers, of mysterious creatures living in caves, soldiers haunted by alien worlds, a hick haunted by horrifying telepathic visions, an ancient family of cannibals, the mysterious Whately clan, a doctor whose reanimation fluid creates zombies, a house that opens into an abyss, the fishy people of Innsmouth, a mine with horrors in its depth, alien creatures that possess the bodies of humans, and a lot of people who end up in mental asylums due to having seen things Too Horrible To Describe.

Certain stories are part of Lovecraft's invented mythos... and it's a lot grosser and more terrifying than anything by Tolkien or Dunsany. He wrote about fishy monsters dwelling under the sea, of ancient ruined cities under the sea or ground, of vast indifferent Elder Things of immeasurable power, of people driven to complete insanity by what they've seen ("It shall not find me. God, that hand! The window! The window!").

Everybody is at least familiar with Lovecraft's oeuvre -- he's responsible for everybody's favorite tentacle-bearded Great Old One, and he's been a shaping influence on many horror writers, including Stephen King, Tim Powers, Mike Mignola and so on. And what do you think of when someone mentions Lovecraft? Probably tentacles. Lots of tentacles. Also, old horrifying godlike-creatures that will drive you mad instantly. And tentacles.

But it doesn't really sink in how expansive his imagination was until you read ALL of his short stories, and see the breadth of his subject matter -- everything from gothic horror to Poe-like suspense stories, and even early sci-fi. But one thing is always true of his stories: there is always the sense that something immeasurably vast and horrible is lurking under the ordinary world, and that what horrors we're seeing are only a minuscule glimpse of the whole.

However, Lovecraft's writing style takes a little getting used to. It tends to be ornate and verbose, and only the unrestrained grotesqueness keeps it from being purple prose ("for the taint of thunder was in the clouds, and a hellish phosphorescence rose from the rank swamp at the bottom of the hollow"). And his descriptions of the misshapen supernatural creatures are enough to make you want to crawl under the bed and never come out ("Vast, Polyphemus-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms").

Flaws? Well, it's not a secret that Lovecraft had racist views that would make the KKK blanch, and there are moments that can make today's readers cringe. And that's the stuff that's explicit rather than merely subtextual (the fish-people of Innsmouth are meant to be a warning against interracial/interethnic relationships).

Expect things squamous and slimy in "The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft" -- while the writing style takes a bit of getting used to, the imagination and sense of creeping, slimy horror are second to none.

DO NOT BUY THIS FROM the store! . . . it's cheaper at Barnes and Noble. :) But it is a wonderful compilation, provided you get the silver-edged 2011 edition with the purple bookmark, NOT the gold-edged edition with the gold bookmark. I've heard it's riddled with distracting typographic and usage errors. However, it is a beautiful, high-quality edition whose binding curves just right in the palm of your hand and whose pages stay mostly open on a flat surface, which I love in a hardcover book, especially one that is a compilation of short stories. It's beautiful and very readable, but again, get it from Barnes and Noble--it's cheaper. Last I checked it was $20 in-store and $18 online (but shipping's not free. :()

One star, because the product was not as described. The Kindle version is currently listed as an alternate format of the Barnes & Noble "Leatherbound Classics" 2011 edition, which contains an introduction and story notes by Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi.

Instead, the Kindle version appears to be a collection of the public domain works, without additional content (except for a brief biography of Lovecraft that is copied verbatim from Wikipedia). No publisher or editor is identified.

I received "H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction" as a gift from my son; it is truly one of those gifts that keeps on giving.

My previous exposure to Lovecraft was limited to a short story here or there in a horror anthology, so obviously I am not a hardcore Lovecraft (or horror fiction) aficianado. Whether or not this is truly the 'complete' fiction of Lovecraft (this seems to be a matter of disagreement by fans) I am likewise in no position to judge. However there are some truly stellar aspects of this collection that I would like to share.

The brief introduction at the beginning of each piece by editor S.T. Joshi was a nice addition. Generally a short paragraph giving a bit of background on the piece, it helps place the work in the continuum of Lovecraft's writing career. I did not feel that they contained any major 'spoilers', but rather discussions of stylistic forms, date of first publication, and notes of interest such as rejection by a certain publisher. As a novice Lovecraft reader I found them helpful.

The book takes you more or less chronologically through Lovecraft's work, rather than grouping the stories by style or subject. I enjoyed being able to see how the author evolved over the course of his apprenticeship into the craftsman he was to become. You can see how other authors influenced him, and how he truly learned by doing, integrating ideas from his previous works into what became the Cthulu mythos.

This is a heavy book, in subject as well as mass, so it's not one to read nonstop in the course of a few days. This has held the place of honor on my nightstand for months, to be tasted in discreet and enjoyable morsels, mulled over and digested, then tasted again. It has certainly brought some interesting color to my dreams.

Thoroughly recommended!

Great one-volume including some of the most well-known short stories of Lovecraft's career, however I would caution everyone against buying the paperback version of this, which looks like somebody has printed it out at a Kinkos and shipped it. Small text, amateurish stock cover that looks like it has nothing to do with anything.

I'll be donating this to a local library and finding a hardcover copy instead. This doesn't belong on a bookshelf, it belongs in a recycling bin.

Like many of the reviewers, I've got a lot of Lovecraft's fiction spread out in a selection of incomplete and mouldering paperbacks, so it's good to have his stories collected in one high-quality volume.

It's true, this does not contain Lovecraft's collaborations with other writers - I find a lot of those partnered stories are very uneven, and so it's not something I'm missing.

At his best, like in "Mountains of Madness," or "Shadow over Innsmouth," Lovecraft cannot be matched. Even Stephen King at his best can only equal Lovecraft (although King's best short stories definitley outnumber Lovecraft's surprisingly thin library). Since this is a complete set, there are plenty of fairly weak entries that depend on surprise endings with no evidence to support the conclusion - but, they were written when he was much younger, and while they might seem derivative, it's because a lot of modern writers have copied Lovecraft, not the other way around.

I bought this collection for the best stories first, and for the completion second. I can re-read "Dunwich Horror" or "Shadow Out of Time" 100 times and they always seem fresh. I agree with another reviewer that this is not a book to read cover-to-cover. Pick a few stories at a time, then let it sit for a couple weeks.

For fans of short horror stories, I'd put this and King's "Night Shift" as must-have volumes in any library.

This is the only fiction book I keep a copy of (this copy). My opinion on literature generally is I read something and I'm done with it, except when it comes to Lovecraft. He's so imaginative, and I love that all of his protagonists are generally well-educated professors or students of one thing or another. It raises the stakes because I know the characters involved are capable of plenty, so when it hits the fan you expect more from them and get it. Often his characters show a resilience in themselves I find unlikely to have myself but I guess I'll never know. I wasn't as into the dream stories as the horror and sci-fi but I'm not ruling out going through them again. Also At The Mountains of Madness is the best horror story ever written.

The unique style writer Lovecraft occupies a special place in world literature. He has created a book full of mystery and horror, called "Necronomicon". His violent fantasy still prevails in his works. During the life Lovecraft led a secluded and simple life. In fact, we can rightfully assert that writings novels was the only work in which he could truly be revealed as a master of the Thriller and mystery. I think Lovecraft is the true successor of the traditions of Edgar Allan Poe. In this collection presents the best works of Lovecraft. When reading, we are will instantly immersed in this mysterious and dangerous world. And each time, reading his works, I want to go back to reading. Why? In order to indulge in the world of mysteries and secrets.

Not as monumentally large as it looks in the photo, which is good. When I first ordered it I thought it would be like one of those unwieldy 8 inch thick books that are annoying to hold and I'm afraid the spine will break at any moment (for example, I have a paperback version of all the Lord of the Rings books as one book, and sitting down to read it is quite annoying)

Anyway, the size of this book is smaller than the preview photo would have you believe, is what I'm trying to say. It's probably about 3 inches thick. It is very nice to hold, and the material is very smooth.

Since getting this delivered last week I've been pretty addicted. Lovecraft has a lot more going on than just his C'Thulhu mythos or whatever. The writing is sufficiently challenging, yet accessible, so it feels pretty rewarding to get through each story.

I've been looking for awhile now for a more complete collection of Lovecraft's work. As somebody just getting into him after purchasing the "Great Tales of Horror" collection at Barnes and Noble, I was looking for a suitable upgrade. Whether or not this collection is truly "complete" appears to be up in the air, but either way it's an absolute steal for the price. It's a very well made book, and absolutely unbeatable for the price. If you're looking for a great collection of Lovecraft's work then look no further than this. You won't be disappointed.

This is a very handsome volume - considerably nicer than dad's old 1944 World Publishing collection of "The Best Supernatural Stories of H P Lovecraft", which I pretty much singlehandedly destroyed by nonstop reading between c 1965 and 1971. With this, the Annotated Sherlock Holmes, and the Oxford Shakespeare, all I really need is a desert island!

Most of my favorite stories are in this collection - such as At The Mountains Of Madness, The Call Of Cthulhu, The Music Of Erich Zann, The Colour Out Of Space, and The Shadow Over Innsouth. Others, that I have never heard of, also grace its pages and made it worth grabbing up.
Its nice to have, in one's hands, a good old fashion book to read at night, as the storm outside rages, and the darkness fights to get inside.
The only problem with that is this is not a bus or airplane book - because it is such an old fashion hardcover book. If you enjoyed this book may I suggest Mysteries of the Worm: Early Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (Call of Cthulhu Fiction)?

As others have stated, make sure you get the current (at this time:2015) edition with a purple ribbon. Truly, Lovecraft is a great read, and this book is flat out gorgeous. Honestly, the stories are short, and that makes this book actually usable. I does warrant mention that the book is huge and heavy and wouldn't do for serious amounts of time - but I guess thats the price of this awesome looking tome. It sits front and center with East of Eden and Atlas Shrugged on my mantle :) Happy 2015!

This Barnes and Noble Leather-bound edition contains the complete stories written by horror master H.P. Lovecraft. It contains an insightful introduction by eminent Lovecraft scholar, S.T. Joshi. Here is a listing of the titles found in this collection:

The Beast in the Cave
The Alchemist
The Tomb
Dagon
A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson
Polaris
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Memory
Old Bugs
The Transition of Juan Romero
The White Ship
The Street
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Terrible Old Man
The Tree
The Cats of Ulthar
The Temple
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
Celephaïs
From Beyond
Nyarlathotep
The Picture in the House
Ex Oblivione
Sweet Ermengarde
The Nameless City
The Quest of Iranon
The Moon-Bog
The Outsider
The Other Gods
The Music of Erich Zann
Herbert West - Reanimator
Hypnos
What the Moon Brings
Azathoth
The Hound
The Lurking Fear
The Rats in the Walls
The Unnamable
The Festival
Under the Pyramids
The Shunned House
The Horror at Red Hook
He
In the Vault
Cool Air
The Call of Cthulhu
Pickman's Model
The Silver Key
The Strange High House in the Mist
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Colour out of Space
The Descendant
History of the Necronomicon
The Very Old Folk
Ibid
The Dunwich Horror
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow over Innsmouth
The Dreams in the Witch House
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
The Thing on the Doorstep
The Evil Clergyman
The Book
The Shadow out of Time
The Haunter of the Dark
Appendix: Juvenilia
The Little Glass Bottle
The Secret Cave
The Mystery of the Grave-yard
The Mysterious Ship (short version)
The Mysterious Ship (long version)
Discarded draft of "The Shadow over Innsmouth"

Lovecraft's essay, "Supernatural Horror in Literature" is also included in this edition which I consider a bonus since there are other compilations that only contain extracts of the essay. In short, this is a great value edition for any fan of Lovecraft's weird fiction.

I've been a long-time fan of Barnes and Nobles' Leather-Bound classics collection. They are handsome and quality editions with ribbon page markers and each title has a beautiful cover. I purchase them as soon as I'm aware that a new title has been published because they tend to sell fast. There have been cases where I've had to resort to buying some of the titles from third party sellers here on the store when they are sold out at B&N. These leather-bound editions are beautiful and will enhance any collector's library.

This is a nice collection. Very good price. My only complaint is the usual for Kindle books - navigation.
The collection is one, large "story" with page numbers from front cover to the end of the collection. In order to find a particular item you have to Go To Cover, Navigate to the Table of Contents, Flip Through Index, Then select the story. Once in a story you can't use Go to Farthest Page Read because you may have already read a story further in the collection.

All in all, this is a minor inconvenience considering the convenience of having all his works in one place.

I picked this up hoping for a one-stop-shop book of Lovecraft's works that looks beautiful on the shelf and feels substantial in the hand. I got that and more! I was delighted that the stories were printed in chronological order with a short, but informational introduction, thus enabling one to witness the development of Lovecraft's writing from his earliest short stories, through his graphic horror stage, to his later Cthulu mythos stage and beyond. With a nice, concise introduction by S.T. Joshi, this book has everything a Lovecraft bibliophile could ask for and at a very reasonable price. Be sure to get the one with the purple ribbon to avoid the errors present in the earlier edition (the one with the gold ribbon), and you'll be more than elated.

As a side note, this is the first of the Leatherbound Classics that I purchased. I have been pleased enough to purchase several more for my reading and collecting enjoyment.

There is some sorrow in working through an epic compendium like this - so much Lovecraft, and yet knowing that once finished that is essentially it (poetry and letters only remain.)

Reading Lovecraft is like a study in influence of modern horror (and some sci-fi) his shorter earlier fiction shines brightest the longer novellas being hit and miss, some pieces such as the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath were rambling distractions of terminology where The Case of Charles Dexter Ward possess intriguing characterisation along with signature supernatural elements.

My new favourite is The Thing on the Doorstep, a short story with the strongest mythos (aside from Chu-Chu himself) and most memorable characters.

The music of Erich Zann, The Rats in the Walls, are two stand-out stories, Mountains of Madness is a strong piece although bogged down in mythology.

Obviously some of these pieces are getting dated, the blatant racism, mild sexism and elitism are surprisingly unjarring although quite noticeable.

BEWARE: The Books U. S. A. "Collectible - Like New" "Genuine Leather-Bound" appears to be a Barnes & Noble copy made of Bonded-Leather, and by way of its Gold Gilt Pages seems to be the 2008 edition that is full of errors (the corrected 2011 version has Silver Gilt Pages)

Just picked this up last night at a local Barnes and Nobles and was able to find the corrected 2011 edition. I don't think anyone should have a problem getting the correct edition because I imagine all the 2008 editions have all been disposed by now. The book itself is wonderful....beautiful front cover of what obviously seems to be some psychedelic outer space landscape. Perfect timing too I must say....I can't think of a better way to spend these bleak and dreary autumnal days than to laboriously pour through this monstrous text of stories filled to the brim of the macabre and other other worldly nightmares.

**I know this doesn't directly pertain to the review, but It's interesting because where this book was in B&N was a plethora of other inspired books from other authors. B&N have their own series out call "Leatherbound Classics" compiling 95 books ranging from Sherlock Holmes, Shakespeare, Star Wars, Wizard of Oz, Edgar Allen Poe (complete tales and poems!), Mark Twain..etc. All with the stylish and creative leather bound design. Definitely check it out because B&N is killin' it right now!**

It's HPL, so there is nothing that really needs to be said if you are already a fan. I own all the stories in one form or another in various compilations, but it is nice to have them all in one setting.

Do not read the introductions before reading the stories since editor S. T. Joshi often gives away crucial bits of their plots or aspects of their narratives that spoil elements of their mystery. In fact, since I found the editor's critical opinions worthless, I soon began to pass over the introductions even after reading the stories.

This was a gift for my brother as I borrowed is paperback and am still taking the time to read it. He loved it as he is collecting nicer bound classics. The picture doesn't do it's justice as how nice this piece looks.

I guess my view is in the minority here but I have to say I was bored and I bailed on it maybe 20% through. I'd known of Lovecraft's reputation since I was a boy as a reader of sci fi/horror and I finally got around to jumping in when I saw a blurb on this book. I started off well enough. I immediately saw that he had talent. He was a wordsmith of the first order and a good story teller, able to pack a lot into his short stories. But as I read more and more of them, I saw that there was a repetitiveness. One sounded and felt like the one before it and the one before that and the one before that. (While I have issues with Poe, I would never accuse him of being repetitive.) He also annoyed me with his overuse of hyperbole to express horror, awe, shock, anxiety, etc. And maybe his most grievous sin: like M. Night Shyamalan, he may be dark but he really isn't very scary. Eventually I got bored and I bailed. I gave it 2 stars because he is basically a good writer...just not overly creative. BTW, the hard copy is too big to read comfortably. If you have to read this book, I'd recommend doing it via Kindle.

H. P. Lovecraft is one of the masters of horror stories, and this volume gathers together all of his fiction, along with a book length essay about the nature of the genre. The latter shows that he would have made a respectable professor of literature in its assessment of horror writing and its explanation of what that genre requires. Lovecraft sees the unspeakable and outside as the source of fear and the power of stories depending on that emotion.

One of the chief characteristics of his stories is the mythology that he creates, unifying much of his work. These beings from beyond the edge of our reality feel real, and the cults that Lovecraft describes as their worshippers are exactly what our fears of such groups would imagine them to be. Of particular note are the Randolph Carter stories. That character explores the dream world to reach to the ultimate secret of existence.

Lovecraft does have weaknesses. He tells us that the horrors are unspeakable, and he fulfills that claim. We are told far too often that there are strange somethings out there that cannot be described, and this telling lessens the effect. His favorite words are blasphemous and Cyclopean, and he relies on those words, rather than showing us what he's talking about.

But these stories are a fine achievement in horror literature and establish a model for how the genre can be conceived.

Review by the author of The Willing Spirit: Book One of the Dowland Saga (Volume 1)

This story, arranged chronologically, shows the beginning of Lovecraft's writing career when he wrote psychological Poe-esque horrors that only involved outside eldritch influences in a very vague sense. However, as you go through more of his works, you start to see him creating his own mythology and pantheon of Gods and aliens and see each story connect with each other through the sinister and familiar names you see in each one. The writing style is splendid, though anachronistic, and balances formality and vivid description and assures you that it is a human, not a narrator, shakily describing the unnameable horrors witnessed in the damned corners of New England.

It seemed like a very good deal in the store at $20, but if you want to be swept away to fantastic realms, DON'T buy this edition! No sooner do I begin to really get into a story than I'm rudely jerked back to reality by extremely obvious and irritating typos, misspellings, and grammar errors! The entire book is rife with glaring mistakes that should have been caught by any semi-competent proofreader. It really diminishes the quality of one's reading experience. What's more, the (very lovely) binding is regrettably pretty shoddily made. I've only owned this book for a few weeks, and the other day the thin layer of photographic foil on the front began spontaneously to peel and flake off! I find it distressing that such a pretty cover should start deteriorating so fast. Also, it is definitely not leather. Which is completely fine; I don't require my reading material to be wrapped in dead cow, but they should probably be clearer in their product description since they do say "leather."
Do go and buy some other Lovecraft collection, because the stories are wonderful, but if typos and misspellings bad enough to actually change the meaning of sentences (e.g. snakes "writing" instead of "writhing") are going to disturb your reading experience, THIS IS NOT THE ONE FOR YOU.

As has been stated in other reviews, the first printing in 2008 is riddled with typos and spelling errors. The new edition, printed in 2011 has corrected the failings of its predecessor. Since Barnes & Noble has sealed the book in plastic, you must check the color of the ribbon bookmark. The old version is gold, the new is purple. Make sure you get the purple.

I have spent quite a bit of time and money attempting to collect the entire works of HPL and to my knowledge this is the first volume that contains everything, including the hard to find History of the Necronomicon. As some have said, it is true that there are a handful of revisions and collaborations of his which are not found here, but honestly most of those are quite bad.

Bottom line: if you get the 2011 edition with the purple ribbon this is the best Lovecraft collection printed to date.

Considering the content, it may sound strange to say this is the most beautiful book I've ever received. Fifty years ago in college I read much of Lovecraft's work but not all. Nice to have all his work in one beautiful volume. I will treasure this book forever and enjoy reading one work every day.

This book is worth every penny it costs. Lovecraft is the BEST at supernatural fiction. This is everything he ever wrote bond in one copy. These are the stories that all modern supernatural horror writers try to recreate, but none even compare to this work.

As far as the stories contained are concerned, this is an ESSENTIAL collection for any horror aficionado (although they would probably own most of these stories already by now). Lovecraft was and is an amazing read. There are stories here that chill me - "The Colour Out of Space" and "Pickman's Model" are two that readily come to mind - and many more that I look forward to enjoying - like the novel-length "Case of Charles Dexter Ward" and "Dream Quest of Kudthu". Including his treatise on Supernatural Horror is an additional treat!

BUT!

These are NOT the complete works of HP Lovecraft.

This collects EVERY story he wrote BY HIMSELF (and two that he collaborated on), but leaves out his revision-stories. HP Lovecraft spent time working with other authors and eventually some of these authors had their stories rewritten by Lovecraft. Those stories - which includes the chilling "The Mound" and "In The Walls of Eryx" - are not included.

So, it is not the Complete Fiction advertised, however, it has a ton of stuff and it is the most complete collection in one-volume available today. If you don't have anything by Lovecraft, this is a collection that is worth the price. I highly recommend it ... but don't try to read too much in one sitting [cue dramatic evil laugh].

All the Lovecraft you need (besides his poetry) in one vast tome. It looks like a Bible, with its sleek silver tinged pages, and its purple page marker. However, it definitely doesn't read like one! This is great stuff. Inspirational for aspiring horror writers, and succeeds in making the reader think about the vastness of time and space through stories that transcend the pulp magazines they were once published in.

I received this collection as a gift from my father, and is one of my most prized jewels of the manuscripts on my shelf. The jacket and book cover is lovely enough to tingle us Lovecraft fans and evoke those less familiar with the scribes of Howard Phillips to submerge into the fathoms of his weird fiction Mythos.

I bought this some while ago now at barnes and noble. with quite a few other lovecraft collections in my personal library i thought it'd be nice to have them all in one place. it was also going to be nice to upgrade from the del ray editions which are riddled with spelling and context errors.

and this edition is even worse off. whoever edited this should be fired and never allowed to work in print ever again. it wasn't just one or two mistakes that could be disregarded, almost every page contains errors. some of them were relatively simple spelling errors - guilt instead of built. some of them were coding errors - " instead of Ö. some of them make you reread sentences over and over again, wondering if this passed through the hands of some non-native english translator before it was finished. if this were some work of non-fiction you might could just read past all this, but for me each one of them killed the atmosphere.

don't waste your money on this edition, or if you do make sure to buy it in person after going over it at length to decide whether they fixed its many, many, many problems.

I don't think I got the version with the misspellings. In any case, I can't properly review this. Either you want it or you don't. Lovecraft is all over the place online, so getting the book means you want almost all of it, and you want it around as a hard copy.

If you're new to him, check out some of his work online, then you just might be back.

In any case, Lovecraft the contradiction is worth reading.

When Lovecraft writes an incredible tale such as At the Mountains of Madness, or The Shadow Over Innsmouth, he really grabs the reader and pulls him or her into these strange places filled with squirmy, tentacle covered monstrosities, but the rest of the time his works can be rather dull and boring. While I feel it comes down to personal preference when one reads Lovecraft, I personally enjoy the monsters and such, and hate dream tales and weird flying orbs, I give this collection three out of five stars. I personally prefer Penguin Classic’s The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories deluxe edition. I feel that collection of Lovecraft tales focuses more on the wriggling creatures and less on the abstract and strange dreamscapes.

Lovecraft is often portrayed as the successor to Poe in the genre of short horror stories, but after reading Lovecraft's stories (and editing Edgar Allan Poe Annotated and Illustrated Entire Stories and Poems), I can tell you that he is no Poe. Lovecraft is much less a pioneer than Poe in both character and Gothic atmosphere. Lovecraft gave us the Cthulhu Mythos of cosmic horrors, of ancient horrors lying dormant, of horrors that transcend space and time and dimensions. He holds his rightful place of high esteem in horror literature for this and must be remembered as a result.

Lovecraft studied Poe. He worshiped him and rightly so. He wrote "The Outsider" in apparent homage to Poe. But the similarities stop there. Let's not forget that Poe wrote 80-100 years before Lovecraft, too. Lovecraft also used the word "foetid" more than any other writer that has ever lived by a factor of ten, but that's another article. Plus, he looked downright creepy, too. Although Lovecraft was no Poe he gave us some great stories and these are my favorites:

"The Call of Cthulhu"
"The Colour Out of Space"
"The Dunwich Horror"

Good in a number of ways but a writer of the times. There is a lot of racial disparagement as well as talking of mixed races being a low intelligence mongrel people. Blacks are compared to gorilla like characteristics. The inherent good genes of the white nobility.

At the times this was written the author may not even have been aware of being insensitive or racist by today's standards, more of a general cultural/institutional racism.

I have encountered this in other books of the time similar views so not just him

I would not recommend Lovecraft based on this - in particular for minority readers - being extremely offensive.

If you can ignore this I would recommend the book based on it being a foundation for so much of the horror genre that followed.

As to the item, this is a great book and a great version of all of Lovecraft's works. HOWEVER you can get this book brand new at Barnes & Nobles for $20 tops!!! So 5 stars for the book but ONE star for the sellers that are trying to price gouge customers. Trying to get almost 200% profit on an item is ridiculous to say the least. If you don't have a physical store near you then go to their website. This is by no means a "rare" version or anything of the like. It IS an awesome version but very plentiful and the quantity does not justify the prices that I've been seeing on the store.

I myself have bought this book from Barnes and Noble and I loved it. Sadly, i decided to give this to an Ex of mine for christmas. (Worst mistake I have ever made). But the price on this book is just ridiculous, you can get it for just $18 at Barnes and Noble, this is just a rip-off and a scam. Who ever is selling this book, change you price now or you'll never get anyone to buy this.