Single-Owner Collection of H.P. Lovecraft First Editions to Auction

Bellmans is selling an Australian single-owner collection of first edition novels by H. P. Lovecraft in exceptionally fine condition in its Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts auction on December 3.

The group of 11 books includes an exceptionally rare edition of The Shunned House which is expected to fetch £2,000-£3,000. Though the sheets of this story were printed and marked for copyright in 1928, the story was neither bound nor circulated at that time. A few copies were bound, put under copyright, and circulated by R. H. Barlow in 1936, but the first wide publication of the story was in the magazine Weird Tales in the following year. The story was originally set up and printed by the late W. Paul Cook, publisher of The Recluse.

This makes it one of only 100 copies which were issued by Arkham House in the original black cloth. Cook originally printed approximately 300 copies in mid-1928, but left them unbound. Barlow then received about 225 copies in 1934 but again he reportedly only bound eight and distributed about 50, most of the remainder of them went to Arkham House and were distributed in 1959 or 1961. 

Also going under the hammer is a rare copy of the first edition of The Outsider and Others collected by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. This first major collection of his work published in 1939 has an estimate of £3,000-£5,000.