This volume contains 22 tales by H. P. Lovecraft, written between 1919 and 1935 and arranged in approximate chronological order of composition. The texts of these tales have been taken, with one exception, from three collections of Lovecraft’s works edited by S. T. Joshi: The Dunwich Horror and Others (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1984), At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels (Arkham House, 1985), and Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (Arkham House, 1986). “The Shadow Out of Time” is reprinted from The Shadow Out of Time (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003), edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz.
The Joshi editions present texts of Lovecraft’s works that attempt to reflect his original intentions as closely as possible, based on an examination of extant manuscripts, typescripts, periodical appearances, and book editions. Of the 22 tales in this volume, the Joshi texts of 17 are based on manuscript and/or typescript copies in the John Hay Library at Brown University, and one is taken from a typescript in a private collection. For the texts of three, the source is the magazine Weird Tales. One tale, “The Shunned House,” is reprinted from a privately published book edition.
Lovecraft published widely in magazines, but evidence suggests that his editors often revised his work without consulting him. He did not publish a collected edition of his works, and aside from a number of stories that were anthologized, only two of the tales included in this volume appeared in book form during his lifetime, both of them in private press limited editions: The Shunned House (Athol, Massachusetts: The Recluse Press, 1928)—of which, out of a printing of 300 sets of unbound sheets, only a handful of copies were bound during Lovecraft’s lifetime—and Shadow Over Innsmouth (Everett, Pennsylvania: Visionary Publishing, 1936), of which 400 copies were printed and 200 bound. The remaining 20 tales included in this volume first appeared in book form in the posthumous collections The Outsider and Others (Arkham House, 1939) and Beyond the Wall of Sleep (Arkham House, 1943).
The following is a list of the tales included in this volume, indicating the collection from which each has been reprinted, the source on which its text is based, the first publications, and the probable date of composition, as established by S. T. Joshi in H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (West Warwick, Rhode Island: Necronomicon Press, 1996).
Dunwich The Dunwich Horror and Others, S. T. Joshi, ed. (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1984). Corrected eleventh printing.
Mountains At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels, S. T. Joshi, ed. (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1985). Corrected ninth printing.
Dagon Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, S. T. Joshi, ed. (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1986). Corrected ninth printing.
The Statement of Randolph Carter: Reprinted from Mountains, pp. 299–305, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in The Vagrant 13 (May 1920): 41–48. Written December 1919.
The Outsider: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 46–52, following the original periodical appearance in Weird Tales 7.4 (April 1926): 449–53. Written between March and August 1921.
The Music of Erich Zann: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 83–91, following Lovecraft’s typescript in a private collection. First published in National Amateur 44.4 (March 1922): 38–40. Written December 1921.
Herbert West—Reanimator: Reprinted from Dagon, pp. 133–63, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in six parts in Home Brew 1.1 (February 1922): 19–25; 1.2 (March 1922): 45–50; 1.3 (April 1922): 21–26; 1.4 (May 1922): 53–58; 1.5 (June 1922): 45–50; 1.6 (July 1922): 57–62. Written 1921–22.
The Lurking Fear: Reprinted from Dagon, pp. 179–99, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in four parts in Home Brew 2.6 (January 1923): 4–10; 3.1 (February 1923): 18–23; 3.2 (March 1923): 31–37, 44, 47; 3.3 (April 1923): 35–42. Written November 1922.
The Rats in the Walls: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 26–45, following the original periodical appearance in Weird Tales 3.3 (March 1924): 25–31. Written August–September 1923.
The Shunned House: Reprinted from Mountains, pp. 235–61, following the text in The Shunned House (Athol, Mass.: The Recluse Press, 1928), the first version of the story published in Lovecraft’s lifetime. Written October 1924.
The Horror at Red Hook: Reprinted from Dagon, pp. 244–65, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in Weird Tales 9.1 (January 1927): 59–73. Written August 1925.
He: Reprinted from Dagon, pp. 266–76, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in Weird Tales 8.3 (September 1926): 373–80. Written August 1925.
Cool Air: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 199–207, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in Tales of Magic and Mystery 1.4 (March 1928): 29–34. Written February 1926.
The Call of Cthulhu: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 125–54, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in Weird Tales 11.2 (February 1928): 159–78, 287. Written summer 1926.
Pickman’s Model: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 12–25, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in Weird Tales 10.4 (October 1927): 505–14. Written in early September 1926.
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: Reprinted from Mountains, pp. 107–234, following Lovecraft’s autograph manuscript. First published posthumously, in two parts, in Weird Tales 35.9 (May 1941): 8–40; 35.10 (July 1941): 84–121. Written January–March 1927.
The Colour Out of Space: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 53–82, following a typescript incorporating Lovecraft’s autograph revisions. First published in Amazing Stories 2.6 (September 1927): 557–67. Written March 1927.
The Dunwich Horror: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 155–98, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in Weird Tales 13.4 (April 1929): 481–508. Written summer 1928.
The Whisperer in Darkness: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 208–271, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published in Weird Tales 18.1 (August 1931): 32–73. Written February–September 1930.
At the Mountains of Madness: Reprinted from Mountains, pp. 3–106, the text of which is based on Lovecraft’s typescript, autograph manuscript, and a corrected copy of the original periodical appearance in Astounding Stories 16.6 (February 1936): 8–32; 17.1 (March 1936): 125–55; 17.2 (April 1936): 132–50. For further discussion of the textual history of the tale, see S. T. Joshi, “Textual Problems in Lovecraft,” Lovecraft Studies 2 (Spring 1982): 28–31. Written February–March 1931.
The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 303–367, following Lovecraft’s typescript. First published, in an edition of 200 copies, as The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Everett, Pennsylvania: Visionary Publishing, 1936). Written November–December 1931.
The Dreams in the Witch House: Reprinted from Mountains, pp. 262–98, following Lovecraft’s autograph manuscript. First published in Weird Tales 22.1 (July 1933): 86–111. Written January–February 1932.
The Thing on the Doorstep: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 276–302, following Lovecraft’s autograph manuscript. First published in Weird Tales 29.1 (January 1937): 52–70. Written August 1933.
The Shadow Out of Time: Reprinted from The Shadow Out of Time, S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, eds. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003), following Lovecraft’s autograph manuscript. First published in Astounding Stories 17.4 (June 1936): 110–54. Written November 1934–February 1935.
The Haunter of the Dark: Reprinted from Dunwich, pp. 92–115, following the original periodical appearance in Weird Tales 28.5 (December 1936): 538–53. Written November 1935.
“The Statement of Randolph Carter,” “Herbert West—Reanimator,” “The Lurking Fear,” “The Shunned House,” “The Horror at Red Hook,” “He,” “At the Mountains of Madness,” “The Dreams in the Witch House”: copyright © 1939, 1943, by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; “The Outsider”: copyright © 1926; “The Music of Erich Zann”: copyright © 1925; “The Rats in the Walls”: copyright © 1924 by Rural Publishing Corporation, for Weird Tales, copyright © 1939, 1945 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; “Cool Air,” copyright © 1928 by the Personal Arts Company, copyright © 1939 by Weird Tales, copyright © 1939, 1945 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; “The Call of Cthulhu”: copyright © 1928; “Pickman’s Model”: copyright © 1927; “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”: copyright © 1945 by Weird Tales, copyright © 1943 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; “The Colour Out of Space”: copyright © 1927 by Experimenter Publishing Company, Inc., for Amazing Stories, copyright © 1939, 1945 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; “The Dunwich Horror”: copyright © 1929; “The Whisperer in Darkness”: copyright © 1935; “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”: copyright © 1936 by Visionary Publishing Company, copyright © 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; “The Thing on the Doorstep,” copyright © 1936 by the Popular Fiction Publishing Company, for Weird Tales, copyright © 1939, 1945 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; The Shadow Out of Time”: copyright © 2003 by Brown University; “The Haunter of the Dark”: copyright © 1936.
This volume presents the texts of the printings chosen for inclusion here, but it does not attempt to reproduce features of their typographic design, such as display capitalization. The texts are reprinted without change, except for the correction of typographical errors. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are often expressive features, and they are not altered, even when inconsistent or irregular. A number of corrections to the Joshi Arkham House collections have been supplied by their editor for the present volume and are cited by page and line number of the print edition in: 22.11, of anything; 29.13, had; 66.40, head; 208.21, beats; 225.9, Zetsner’s; 232.10, Hacher’s; 236.4, Hacher’s; 237.7, scow; 256.41, Almonsin-Metraton; 275.8, God, Almonsin; 285.6, waylaying; 293.12, Lover; 299.24, Almonsin-Metraton; 321.6, Almonsin; 398.33, Vigénère; 433.36, the heard; 488.18, linguiellae; 488.34, Daniels; 494.4, Douglas their; 509.7, as, 509.23, dizzingly; 514.31, frightened; 521.34, tough; 539.30, snapshots; 586.3, of echoing; 654.17, fainter, noises; 655.34, May-Eve, and. Errors corrected third printing: 24.32, become; 85.32, that; 113.27, superstitions; 118.21, vial; 170.34, then; 267.15, metal; 322.1, spring; 346.4, If; 365.37, though; 392.22, Cory; 462.28, despositing; 462.28 desire; 693.19, Baudelarian; 693.38, seculsion; 694.32, Adbul; 707.27, Crowinshield; 708.19, Crowinshield; 729.14, afficting; 732.39, and and; 748.25, much as; 797.36, filed; 801.17, and of; 803.32, Sprito. Errors corrected fourth printing: 3.30, most; 317.29, on its; 401.6, elder of. Errors corrected sixth printing: 696.13, one; 735.13, bought.