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Author: H. P. Lovecraft
Release date: January, 1995
Media: Hardcover
ISBN: 0870541684
[By S. T. Joshi and James Turner:] Editorial Note; [By Joshi:] Introduction; Dreams and Fancies [an introduction to the following group of H. P. Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Little Glass Bottle [a short story written during childhood]; The Secret Cave [a short story written during childhood]; The Mystery of the Grave-Yard [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; The Mysterious Ship [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson [a literary parody]; Old Bugs [a literary parody]; Memory [a prose poem]; Nyarlathotep [a prose poem; not to be confused with his later verse poem retelling with the same title]; Ex Oblivione [a prose poem]; What the Moon Brings [a prose poem]; Sweet Ermengarde [a literary parody]; The Very Old Folk [an excerpted recounting of a dream from a letter he wrote to someone]; History of the Necronomicon [a literary parody]; Ibid [a literary parody]; Discarded Draft of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" [the surviving portion of an early draft of one of his great novelette]; The Battle That Ended the Century [a literary parody written in collaboration with R. H. Barlow]; Collapsing Cosmoses [a round robin literary parody written with Barlow]; The Challenge from Beyond [Lovecraft's contribution to a pulp magazine's round robin short story]; [By Joshi:] The Weird Fantasist [an introduction to the following group of Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Commonplace Book [the text of the notebook Lovecraft maintained for recording ideas for future stories]; Lord Dunsany and His Work [an essay]; Notes on Writing Weird Fiction [an essay]; Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction [an essay]; In Memoriam: Robert Ervin Howard [a remembrance of Robert E. Howard]; [By Joshi:] Mechanistic Materialist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Idealism and Materialism -- A Reflection [an essay]; Life for Humanity's Sake [a reply to other writers]; In Defence of Dagon [the collected replies to correspondence disparaging his short story "Dagon"]; Nietzscheism and Realism [a collection of excerpts edited by Sonia Greene from Lovecraft's letters to her]; The Materialist Today [an essay]; Some Cause of Self-Immolation [an essay]; Heritage or Modernism: Common Sense in Art Forms [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Literary Criticism [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Metrical Regularity [a commentary]; The Vers Libre Epidemic [a commentary]; The Case for Classicism [a reply to another writer]; Literary Composition [a guide]; Ars Gratia Artis [a commentary]; The Poetry of Lilian Middleton [a commentary]; Rudis Indigestaque Moles [a commentary]; In the Editor's Study [a commentary]; The Professional Incubus [a commentary]; The Omnipresent Philistine [a commentary]; What Belongs in Verse [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Political Theorist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Crime of the Century [an essay]; More Chain Lightening [an essay]; Old England and the "Hyphen" [an essay]; Revolutionary Mythology [a commentary]; Americanism [an essay]; The League [a commentary]; Bolshevism [an essay]; Some Repetitions on the Times [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Antiquarian Travels [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Vermont -- A First Impression [an essay]; Observations on Several Parts of America [an essay and literary parody]; Travels in the Provinces of America [an essay and literary parody]; An Account of Charleston [an essay and literary parody]; Some Dutch Footprints in New England [an essay]; Homes and Shrines of Poe [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Amateur Journalist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] In a Major Key [a commentary]; The Dignity of Journalism [a commentary]; Symphony and Stress [a reply to another writer]; United Amateur Press Association: Exponent of Amateur Journalism [a guide]; Les Mouches Fantastique [a commentary]; For What Does the United Stand? [a commentary]; Amateur Journalism: Its Possible Needs and Betterment [the text of a speech]; What Amateurdom and I Have Done for Each Other [a commentary]; Lucubrations Lovecraftian [an ensemble of commentaries and replies to other writers]; A Matter of Uniteds [a commentary]; Mrs. Miniter -- Estimates and Recollections [a remembrance]; Some Current Motives and Practices [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Epistolarian [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] (without listing each one, six letters-to-the-editor and three private letters); [By Joshi:] Personal [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Brief Autobiography of an Inconsequential Scribbler [a commentary]; Within the Gates [the text of a speech]; A Confession of Unfaith [a commentary]; Commercial Blurbs [a collection of advertising copy]; Cats and Dogs [an essay]; Some Notes on a Nonentity [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Bibliography [a listing of the sources for the Lovecraft texts used in this volume]
(I've somewhat arbitrarily drawn a distinction above between "essay" and "commentary". By the former, I mean more or less self-standing nonfiction pieces; by the latter, nonfiction pieces that refer to the periodical in which they were to be placed or to a specialized audience being addressed.)
As one can see, this is one long and complicated hodgepodge of selections. There's good news and bad news here.
The good news is that this book brings into a collected bound volume many interesting pieces, including certain works of short fiction that were omitted from Arkham House's four volumes of Lovecraft's fiction, that were either long out of print or only available in chapbooks from tiny specialty publishers (mainly Necronomicon Press).
The bad news is what this book isn't. It purports to fill in the fictional pieces omitted in the same publisher's forementioned four-volume set, yet in turn omits two Lovecraft collaborations, "The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast" and "The Slaying of the Monster", that were (finally) first published the year before in chapbook form. Moreover, Arkham House, which was originally established to publish and promote the writings of Lovecraft, should be publishing multiple organized collections of Lovecraft's complete works, not a crazy quilt omnibus that in effect belittles his literary importance.
The editor of this collection, S. T. Joshi, is not to blame here: He'd love to edit a systematically arranged, complete set of the works of Lovecraft. Blame the August Derleth Estate, which controls Arkham House and seems to prefer publishing mediocre s/f anthologies to properly honoring Lovecraft. - an Amazon customer review