[Rarebooks] FS: H.P. Lovecraft, Special Prices

Wed Nov 2 18:29:55 EDT 2022

An extremely limited letterpress printed edition with much additional content:

H.P. Lovecraft. A HISTORY OF THE NECRONOMICON. Being a Short, but Complete Outline of the History of this Book, its Author, its Various Translations and Editions from the Time of Writing (A.D. 730) of the Necronomicon to the Present Day. With New Appendices Examining Evidence Related to the First Printed Edition.; Variant No. 3.
[No Place]: Privately Printed. [No Date]. Octavo, printed wrappers, stapled at spine. 12 pp (plus printed covers). Printed letterpress. Issued in an edition of "several dozen copies" (see note below). Of several noted variants, this copy measures 24.5 x 14.5 cm, and is printed on white laid paper, fore-edges trimmed. Copies also exist which are printed on a "yellower" laid paper. This copy is bound (sewn) in light brown wrappers with the title printed on the front wrapper and a small, strange monogram on the rear (possibly the printer's device, but it is unknown). A fine copy. Note: 16 copies of the finer 'white paper' issue were bound up with the 2020 Heavenly Monkey Edition of 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth'; only a very few copies have ever been made available for sale. Item #312183

¶ A Note on THE HISTORY OF THE NECRONOMICON pamphlet: it is not listed in Owings' or Joshi's bibliographies and is, apparently, previously unknown. It is printed with the full original title from the 1937 edition, plus the lines "With New Appendices Examining / Evidence Related to the First Printed Edition." The first appendix is titled "Notice of a Fragment," excerpting a section from "Bibliographical Notes & News" in the April, 1939 edition of The London Mercury (a literary journal published from 1919 to 1939). The excerpt concerns a recently discovered printed fragment reported by the British Library, which might have been from a previously unrecorded Spanish incunable. A facsimile of the fragment (11 incomplete lines of Latin in a gothic type) is included. The second appendix is titled "Commentary on a Notice," and draws some connections between the fragment and Lovecraft's brief (and not entirely accurate) references to the printed editions of the Necronomicon. The entire pamphlet is 12 pages, issued in two variants (stapled in self-wraps, and printed on a finer grade of paper, untrimmed, in light brown printed paper wrappers). There is no indication of when it was produced, but the production (letterpress, all black, no color), and a few references in the text, suggest late 1960s or early 1970s. Some copies of this pamphlet were trimmed and included in the 2020 collected edition of THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH published by Heavenly Monkey, of which only 16 copies were printed and bound. The colophon of that volume explains: "Some years after publishing Innsmouth (the HM edition was originally issued in 2005 - ed), several dozen copies of the Necronomicon pamphlet were presented to HM, from the estate of the original printer, with the invitation to put them to some use. The family asked only that the person behind the publication remain anonymous. The exact print run is not known, but as it was done by an amateur printer for distribution to fellow enthusiasts (which the family confirmed), it cannot have been a large number. Apparently some flaw in the printing or text was discovered shortly after its production, and few copies were distributed."
Price: $350.00 US
Sale Price Today $250 postpaid within North America.

Images here (but price unchanged)
https://www.thompsonrarebooks.com/pages/books/312183/h-p-lovecraft/a-history-of-the-necronomicon-being-a-short-but-complete-outline-of-the-history-of-this-book-its
Also on offer: 
LOVECRAFT, H.P. [Howard Phillips].
THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD. A Novel.
London: Victor Gollancz Litd. 1951. First Edition, First Impression. Hardcover. Octavo, original red cloth titled in black on spine panel. 160 pp.Light foxing to page edges, a near fine copy in a nice clean dust jacket, faint light foxing and browing to edges, two tiny closed tears at folds, price corner clipped. A very nice copy of a book that is very, very scarce in acceptable condition. Near Fine in Dust Jacket. Item #312522
¶ A long Cthulhu Mythos tale of an early 20th Century Providence man who resurrects the soul of his 18th Century ancester, Joseph Curwen. Alchemy mixed with the Necronomicon always tends to turn out slightly bad. One of Lovecraft's greatest tales, certainly a personal favourite.
Price: $450.00

I am offering this at a better price today, it can be had for $300 US postpaid within North America (I am in Canada so shipping is more expensive for me).

Images here (but price unchanged):

https://www.thompsonrarebooks.com/pages/books/312522/h-p-lovecraft-howard-phillips/the-case-of-charles-dexter-ward-a-novel

Email me if interested.  Thanks, /mjt

---
Michael John Thompson, Antiquarian Bookseller

Mailing Address:
5275 Jerow Road
Hornby Island, BC
Canada V0R 1Z0
Ph: 250-335-1182
Fax: 250-335-2241

http://www.ThompsonRareBooks.com
http://www.BeltaneBooks.com
http://www.Mjtbooks.com