Edited by Stephen Jones and Dave Carson
Illustrated by Dave Carson
(a) Barnes & Noble Books, USA • hc •
ISBN 1-56619-496-2
(2nd printing)
(3rd printing)
(4th printing)
[Note: From the second printing onwards, all Barnes & Noble editions were reprinted with the second page of the copyright acknowledgements missing.
—Stephen Jones.]
(b) BCA, UK • hc (1994) •
CN 5929
[Note: Book club edition.]
(c) Robinson Publishing, UK • tp (1994) • £6.99
ISBN 1-85487-231-1
Cover by Bruce Pennington
(d) as L'ORRORE SECONDO LOVECRAFT
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Italy • tp (1995) • Lire 16,000
ISBN 88-04-40514-7
Cover by Eliane Piccardi
[Note: We never received any copies of this edition. In fact, we never even knew it had even been published for many years. I finally purchased a copy off the Internet.
—Stephen Jones.]
(e) Barnes & Noble Books, USA • tpb (1996) • $5.98
ISBN 0-7607-0292-6
(f) as THE WORLD'S GREATEST HORROR STORIES
Magpie Books, UK • tpb (2004) • £12.99
ISBN 1-84119-855-2
(g) as THE WORLD'S GREATEST HORROR STORIES
Barnes & Noble Books, USA • tpb (2004) • $7.95
ISBN 0-7607-5466-7
(h) as THE WORLD'S GREATEST HORROR STORIES
Magpie Books, UK • hc (2005) • £14.99
ISBN 1-84529-189-1
(i) as THE WORLD'S GREATEST HORROR STORIES
Barnes & Noble Books, USA • hc (2005) • $7.98
ISBN 0-7607-6988-5
Cover by Simon Marsden
[Note: The Magpie trade paperback was done without our knowledge or permission. After we complained, they promised not to do it again—and then promptly reissued it the following year in hardcover!
—Stephen Jones.]
(j) Fall River Press [Barnes & Noble], USA • hc (2008) • $7.98
ISBN: 978-1-4351-0745-8
Cover by Igor Satanovsky
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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." So writes H.P. Lovecraft, in his groundbreaking essay 'Supernatural Horror in Literature', which introduces this volume. In nine sections, Lovecraft, the acknowledged master of the genre, traces its evolution from ancient roots to the early Gothic, and through to the work of his American, British, and European contemporaries. Throughout, he cites the works he feels are of the first order, and from these the editors have selected twenty-one stories, each prefaced by Lovecraft's own opinions. Discover the eerie worlds of Clark Ashton Smith, which in Lovecraft's words are "a universe of remote and paralyzing fright—jungles of iridescent blossoms on the moons of Saturn, evil and grotesque temples in Atlantis, Lemuria, and forgotten elder worlds . . ." and the works of Arthur Machen, "in which the elements of hidden horror and brooding fright attain an almost incomparable substance and realistic acuteness . . ." Other selections include stories by M.R. James, Ambrose Bierce, and Edgar Allan Poe. Lovecraft also identifies the best horror tales from writers famed for different work, such as Charles Dickens, R.L. Stevenson, Guy de Maupassant, and E.F. Benson. This collection of Lovecraft's favorites is a feast of fear that no fan of the supernatural will be able to resist. Since, in the words of the master: "Children will always be afraid of the dark and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse."
| SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE |
H.P. Lovecraft |
| THE SIGNALMAN |
Charles Dickens |
| THE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN |
Edward Bulwer-Lytton |
| THE BODY SNATCHER |
Robert Louis Stevenson |
| THE SPIDER |
Hanns Heinz Ewers |
| THE FOOT OF THE MUMMY |
Théophile Gautier |
| THE HORLA |
Guy de Maupassant |
| THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER |
Edgar Allan Poe |
| THE DAMNED THING |
Ambrose Bierce |
| THE UPPER BERTH |
F. Marion Crawford |
| THE YELLOW SIGN |
Robert W. Chambers |
| THE SHADOWS ON THE WALL |
Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman |
| THE DEAD VALLEY |
Ralph Adams Cram |
| FISHHEAD |
Irvin S. Cobb |
| LUKUNDOO |
Edward Lucas White |
| THE DOUBLE SHADOW |
Clark Ashton Smith |
| THE MARK OF THE BEAST |
Rudyard Kipling |
| NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS |
E.F. Benson |
| MRS. LUNT |
Hugh Walpole |
| THE HOG |
William Hope Hodgson |
| THE GREAT GOD PAN |
Arthur Machen |
| COUNT MAGNUS |
M.R. James |
| AFTERWORD: LOVECRAFT AND THE 'LITERATURE OF COSMIC FEAR' |
The Editors |
Reviews
"A splendid assortment . . . terrific value."
—Michael A. Morrison
NECROFILE, Issue #16, Spring 1995
"Not a loser in the bunch."
—Don D'Amassa
SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE #175, August 1994
"Rather a good idea . . . Well worth having for the more obscure items."
—INTERZONE, July 1994
"Though I'm no fan of Lovecraft's own tentacular creature-horror, his selection is spot-on: erudite, elegant and eerie."
—Christopher Fowler
TIME OUT, May 19-25, 1994
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