Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (Commemorative Edition) [Paperback]

H. P. Lovecraft (Author), Stephen Jones (Editor), Les Edwards (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2008 | Series: Gollancz SF

Originally written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s, H. P. Lovecraft's astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction, and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when they were first published. This tome brings together all of Lovecraft's harrowing stories, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were first released. It will introduce a whole new generation of readers to Lovecraft's fiction, as well as attract those fans who want all his work in a single, definitive volume.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) has been hailed as one of the most important and influential authors of supernatural fiction of the 20th century. A life-long resident of Providence, Rhode Island, Lovecraft's tales are often set in the fear-haunted towns of an imaginary area of Massachusetts, or in the cosmic vistas that exist beyond space and time. Since his untimely death, he has been acknowledged as an American master of fantasy fiction, second only to Edgar Allan Poe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz; Export Ed edition (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575081570
• ISBN-13: 978-0575081574
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 2.1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Short Stories

More About the Author

H. P. Lovecraft was born in 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island, where he lived most of his life. He wrote many essays and poems early in his career, but gradually focused on the writing of horror stories, after the advent in 1923 of the pulp magazine Weird Tales, to which he contributed most of his fiction. His relatively small corpus of fiction--three short novels and about sixty short stories--has nevertheless exercised a wide influence on subsequent work in the field, and he is regarded as the leading twentieth-century American author of supernatural fiction. H. P. Lovecraft died in Providence in 1937.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 101 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A large selection of Lovecraft stories in one volume February 10, 2010

By LynnJynh9315

Format:Paperback

Those who have spent time researching H.P. Lovecraft are undoubtedly aware that the story collections edited by S.T. Joshi are considered vastly superior to all others. This edition, unfortunately, does not fall under that category, but opts to include the stories as they were originally published. Just the same, do not quickly dismiss this collection, for it still has a number of merits.

To start things out, here is the list of the works it includes:
"Night-Gaunts" (A great sonnet from "Fungi from Yuggoth")
"Dagon"
"The Statement of Randolph Carter"
"The Doom that Came to Sarnath"
"The Cats of Ulthar"
"The Nameless City"
"Herbert West--Reanimator"
"The Music of Erich Zann"
"The Lurking Fear"
"The Hound"
"The Rats in the Walls"
"Under the Pyramids"
"The Unnamable"
"In the Vault"
"The Outsider"
"The Horror at Red Hook"
"The Colour out of Space"
"Pickman's Model"
"The Call of Cthulhu"
"Cool Air"
"The Shunned House"
"The Silver Key"
"The Dunwich Horror"
"The Whisperer in Darkness"
"The Strange High House in the Mist"
"The Dreams in the Witch-House"
"From Beyond"
"Through the Gates of the Silver Key" (with E. Hoffman Price)
"At the Mountains of Madness"
"The Shadow over Innsmouth"
"The Shadow out of Time"
"The Haunter of the Dark"
"The Thing on the Doorstep"
"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"
"The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath"
"To a Dreamer" (A final Lovecraft poem)
Afterword: A Gentleman of Providence by Stephen Jones

As can clearly be seen, this is quite a hefty and impressive collection, and it comes with a number of excellent illustrations that go a long way to immersing one in the HPL universe. As such, this collection is ideal as an introduction to the works of Lovecraft, but it isn't without a few shortcomings. Thus, a comparison of it's faults and merits would be:

--Pros--
-One of the largest collections of Lovecraft's works
-Contains a number of superb illustrations
-Enough of HPL's poetry to creat interest
-A very good Afterward on the author himself
-And some very good binding

--Cons--
-Does not include S.T. Joshi's "definitive" versions of the texts
-Contains ONLY enough Lovecraft poetry to wet the appetite
-Finally, "Shambler from the Stars" & "Shadow from the Steeple" by Robert Bloch (prequel & sequel to HPL's "Haunter of the Dark") are not included in this book

Ultimately, if you are truly interested in Lovecraft, you'll need to get more than just this collection. "The Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos" should net you the aforementioned stories by Robert Bloch, and "The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft" should satisfy the need for the author's verse, but there are still a large number of HPL's stories missing from this collection. For a more complete collection of Lovecraft's stories, one would do well to purchase the following four "corrected text" editions of S.T. Joshi: "At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels", "Dagon and Other Macabre Tales", "The Dunwich Horror and Others", and "The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions"

In the end, you will be satisfied with this purchase... but if you're really into Lovecraft, you'll probably not be FULLY satisfied with it. It makes a great intoduction to the superb fiction of HPL, but the fabled "Complete Tales and Poems of H.P. Lovecraft" has yet to be published. Here's to hoping it someday will be....

PS: I would start by reading:
"The Dunwich Horror" (my favorite), "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Rats in the Walls", "The Silver Key", "The Thing on the Doorstep" and finally "The Whisperer in Darkness" ... but that's just me.

63 of 70 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Get the Library of America collection instead... May 20, 2008

By Jeremy Reaban

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book in the belief that it was a complete collection of HPL's works (or close to it). Instead it's pretty much just the major stuff found in most big collections, missing a few of my notable favorites (Arthur Jermyn, The Temple, He, The Festival, etc ) as well as missing a lot of the obscure stuff (The Evil Clergymen for instance, plus his really early stuff).

And please note that the description is wrong, it's not over a 1000 pages, it's only 880, including a 50 page essay on Lovecraft. While interesting, I wish that space had been used for some of his missing stories. It could be the regular UK version has more, but Amazon.com seems to be selling the shorter, "Export" edition.

It's got a few stories that the Library of America collection doesn't (but not that many), most notably more of the Dreamlands stuff. But you also don't have any annotations or notes like the Library of America collection. There are some illustrations

This is pretty cheap, but at the same time, it's not the best Lovecraft experience, nor complete. I was really hoping to get all his stories in one big book (as it had been billed in some quarters). But this was a complete waste of my money. The paper and binding is also very cheap.

Only if you are completely new to Lovecraft is it worth a look.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good-enough compilation of Great Lovecraft material at a Fair Price January 6, 2010

By Mike VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I'm not going to bother reviewing the fiction in the volume. It's by H.P. Lovecraft, it's absolutely fantastic horror fiction that transcends the genre and what's included is all of his best stuff. I will assume, that like any literary type (or horror fan), you are not here to decide - "Should I buy Lovecraft's books?". I'm assuming you know that like Poe, you need a Lovecraft selected (or complete) works on your shelf - the question then is "Which edition is best suited to my needs?"

So, I'm going to focus on why this book is a good purchase - it has 36 stories, including the big ones. It's affordably priced. It looks really nice on a shelf and it's very pleasant to read in the hands and on the eyes. The drawback is it's big and the binding is so-so. The only one-volume competition is really the Library of America "Tales" collection with 22 tales. It has better binding and a better critical apparatus (e.g. footnotes). That one's a bit more expensive though and has some other problems.

I would recommend either this volume or the Library of America to someone looking for a single volume collection. If you're a collector or own the Library of America "Tales" book, this probably isn't worth a purchase because you have most of the stories.

Personally, I prefer this one because the pages are thicker and I find the text easier on my eyes. The Library of America edition is much smaller and has ultra-thin pages with relatively small text. If you have good eyesight, that might be a better choice since physically it's smaller, but I had difficulty reading it. This edition sits like a Bible on the shelf towering above other books. The gold ink on the spine looks very classy and ominous and it's easy to find amongst my bookshelves. The binding is not great, but it's good enough and on par with most oversized mass market paperbacks.

There are better Lovecraft collections out there. I believe the Arkham has Lovecraft in his entirety, there are the Joshi volumes edited from the original proofs rather than the published editions - of note to the purists, but this is the best one for most people, myself included. $18 for 36 Lovecraft stories and short fiction! It's an uncanny deal. It towers, cyclopean, above other such editions at that price.

If you want a shorter volume (admittedly this is quite large physically) - the Del-Rey's might fit your needs. It's cheaper, too. The collectors and completists love the Arkham ones. If you're buying for a library, the Library of America is a better pick, both because of its standard size, because it's bound better and because of the critical apparatus and lastly because of snob appeal - the tales were "selected" by Joyce Carol Oates (the tales selected aren't much different than this volume though).

I think this is the best single volume reading edition because it's easy to read, it has the best selection of stories and it's an attractive volume. Recommended.