Eldritch Tales (81 page)

Most of Lovecraft’s tales of horror and the macabre did not see print professionally until the early 1920s, and the bulk of his fiction appeared in pulp magazines like
Weird Tales
, along with a handful of hardcover anthologies. Despite this, his relatively small body of work has influenced countless imitators, and formed the basis of a worldwide industry of books, games and movies based on his concepts and imagination.

Two years after Lovecraft’s untimely death in 1937, an omnibus volume of his best work was published by fledgling imprint Arkham House. Named after Lovecraft’s fictional New England town, Arkham House was set up by young authors August Derleth and Donald Wandrei solely to preserve between hardcovers the collected writings of their literary mentor.

August William Derleth sold his first story when he was only fifteen, and began corresponding with Lovecraft
two years later
, in August 1926. Utilising some of the mortgage money Derleth had borrowed from a local bank to build a house, Arkham House published
The Outsider and Others
in 1939. Despite selling the hefty volume for just $5.00 (or $3.50, the pre-publication price), there were only 150 advance subscriptions received, and it eventually took four years to sell out the first – and only – printing and recoup that original investment.

In the meantime, to enable the small press to continue, Derleth was forced to publish collections by himself and other contemporary horror and fantasy authors, to help alleviate the imprint’s cash-flow problems.

Victor Gollancz was born in London in 1893, the son of a wholesale jeweller. After serving with the British Army during the First World War, he formed his own eponymous publishing company in 1927. A life-long socialist and humanitarian, he was knighted in 1965 and died two years later at the age of seventy-four.

In May 1950, while staying at The Beverly Hotel at 125 East 50th Street, New York,Victor Gollancz wrote to August Derleth in Sauk City, Wisconsin, to enquire about the possibility of obtaining the British and Commonwealth rights to some of Lovecraft’s stories.

In a letter dated May 24 of that year, Derleth replied: ‘I am delighted to have your good letter of ..nd May regarding possible publication of the works of the late H.P. Lovecraft in England. We have had several offers for such publication, but have so far turned them all down. Yours, however, seems to us the most decent offer that we have had, and I am confident that we can agree on publication along the lines of the terms you have proposed. Moreover, I personally would prefer to see an imprint like that of Gollancz (many of whose books were on my shelves before I became a publisher) on a British edition of Lovecraft’s best work.’

Gollancz’s enquiry apparently came as a result of The World Publishing Company’s edition of
Best Supernatural Stories of H.P. Lovecraft
, issued in hardcover in 1945. The first ‘popular-priced edition’ of the author’s work, it had been edited by Derleth, who also provided an introduction, and went through three printings in just over a year.

Derleth was quick to assure Gollancz that there would be no problem: ‘It is true that I control rights in the Lovecraft stories. The World edition, which is now out of print, but which will go back into print late this year, is in no way bound. But I do believe that you could have a better selection of the stories, of which there are enough to make two collections ultimately, and this I would strongly urge you to consider. Assuming that you have the World collection in your possession, I am supplementing it under separate cover by an incomplete copy of
The Outsider and Others
, from which an essay and three short stories have been deleted. These three short stories will be found in a paperback collection which I am including with the incomplete omnibus edition.’

It is most likely that the paperback collection that Derleth sent to Gollancz was either
The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Stories of the Supernatural
(1944) or
The Dunwich Horror
(1945), both published by Bartholomew House, or
The Lurking Fear and Other Pieces
issued in 1947 by the Avon Book Company.

Derleth also helpfully included a list of those titles that he considered Lovecraft’s best work:

‘This exists in ms.,’ Derleth continued, ‘though it was published in our now out of print collection, Beyond the Wall of Sleep, and it can be sent to you if you wish to see it. With proper production, it might be made into a separate book.’

Derleth was also at pains to point out that ‘at least two and possibly three volumes as production costs dictate’ could be compiled from the list of story titles that he had supplied.

Victor Gollancz had also enquired in his letter about previous British publication of Lovecraft’s stories. In fact, the author had enjoyed some previous critical (if not particularly commercial) success in that area. While his work was still being featured in amateur publications and pulp magazines in his native America, in Britain, Christine Campbell Thomson, editor of the
Not at Night
series of popular hardcover horror anthologies, had included ‘The Horror at Red Hook’ in
You’ll Need a Night Light
(1927), ‘Pickman’s Model’ in
By Daylight Only
(1928) and ‘The Rats in the Walls’ in
Switch on the Light
(1928). Additionally, Gollancz was aware that ‘The Music of Erich Zann’ had been included in the ‘Great Short Stories’ series in the October 24, 1932 edition of London’s
The Evening Standard
newspaper, illustrated by Philip Mendoza (Montague Phillip Mendoza, 1898–1973).