04/01/04 THU:
---Spent too much of the morning with a stack of used books listing the ones on half.com that do not look they belong in my regular catalog.

---Word from Hippocampus:
Dear Chris.

The first two volumes of Lovecraft essays are now available in both hardcover and paperback. Since your last order, we have also released a paperback of the H. P. LOVECRAFT ENCYCLOPEDIA. Full blurbs are below.

Best regards,
Derrick Hussey
http://www.hippocampuspress.com

COLLECTED ESSAYS, VOLUME 1: AMATEUR JOURNALISM
by H. P. Lovecraft
Edited by S. T. Joshi
March 2004: 440 pp.
Cloth: ISBN 0-9721644-1-3: $40.00
Paper: ISBN 0-9721644-2-1: $20.00

Discovering the amateur press in 1914, Lovecraft immediately flooded the many small papers of his friends and colleagues with contributions discussing the nature, purpose, and future of amateur journalism. He also edited his own magazine, The Conservative (1915-23), filling it with additional essays. In these articles Lovecraft discusses the conflict between the United and the National Amateur Press Associations; the “halcyon days” of the amateur movement (1885-95); and the “needs and betterment” of the amateur cause. We read of Lovecraft's bitter feuds with his fellow amateurs; his exhaustive critiques of their writing; and, most poignant of all, his touching affirmation of “What Amateurdom and I Have Done for Each Other,” in which he concludes simply: “What Amateur Journalism has given me is—life itself.”


COLLECTED ESSAYS, VOLUME 2: LITERARY CRITICISM
by H. P. Lovecraft
Edited by S. T. Joshi
March 2004: 248 pp.
Cloth: ISBN 0-9721644-4-8: $40.00
Paper: ISBN 0-9721644-9-9: $20.00

Lovecraft's writings in the realm of literary criticism are unfailingly acute and cover a surprisingly wide range. Besides his authoritative early essay on “The Literature of Rome” (1918), other works condemn free verse and simple spelling, and devote attention to neglected poets. Discovering weird fiction as his chosen field, he produced such scintillating essays as “Lord Dunsany and His Work” (1922) and “Supernatural Horror in Literature” (1927), along with essays on Frank Belknap Long and Clark Ashton Smith. Late in life Lovecraft codified his grasp of weird literature by writing such trenchant pieces as “Notes on Writing Weird Fiction” (1933) and “Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction” (1934). One of his last writings, “Suggestions for a Reading Guide” (1936), is a comprehensive discussion of world literature.

AN H. P. LOVECRAFT ENCYCLOPEDIA
By S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz
May 2004: 0-9748789-1-X: $20.00
At last, an affordable, quality paperback edition of this indispensable volume is available! For this edition, the authors have corrected some errors and made numerous revisions to incorporate references to editions of works by Lovecraft and works of Lovecraft scholarship published since the first edition of this book.
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