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The 3 Penguin classics are great because they've got annotations from S.T. Joshi and also have the corrected text by him. They're also cheap. Since they aren't huge volumes they are also easy to read and carry.

http://www.amazon.ca/Call-Cthulhu-Other-Weird-Stories/dp/0141182342/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1335790731&sr=8-7

http://www.amazon.ca/Penguin-Classics-Dreams-Witch-Stories/dp/0142437956/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335790731&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.ca/Thing-Doorstep-Other-Weird-Stories/dp/0142180033/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1335790731&sr=8-9

The Necronomicon (listed in the comments below) is nice as well, but it lacks footnotes and has errors. Also nice is the companion to this - Eldritch Tales which has some stuff the Necronomicon doesn't.

http://www.amazon.ca/Eldritch-Tales-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/0575099356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335790861&sr=1-1


The Barnes and Noble edition seems like a good buy.

I recommend having a look at this page over at hplovecraft.com. It has a good overview of the various sources you can choose from.

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/sources/

The Arkham house editions seem like the definitive ones, however they are a bit harder to come by than some of the others.

"The Complete Fiction" has all the fiction Lovecraft wrote in his lifetime, minus the commissioned works and collaborations with other writers. Also, the texts are edited by S.T. Joshi, who's the foremost Lovecraft scholar. "The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft" has some analysis for some of his works, but I don't know about the editing of the text. I own this one, which I'm pretty sure has the same contents as the Knickerbocker Classics edition.

If you want annotations AND complete texts, Penguin Classics' three paperback collections are a good choice, because the texts are those edited by Joshi, plus they have a ton of annotations for basically every bit of extra info regarding the particular story, influential element, etc... Yes, they are softcover books, but the good side is they have annotations. Here they are:

• The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
  
• The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories
  
• The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories
  
  "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories" also has a special edition with Cthulhu with a monocle, mustache and tuxedo on the front cover.
  
  I share the opinion of /u/leafyhouse, who says "Buy The Complete Fiction" first. You can read all of his official stories in a chronological order and see how he grew up as a writer. Later you can check out Penguin Classics or The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft and sink deep in what influenced Lovecraft to write all this gorgeous work.
  
  EDIT: Forgot to put links to the Penguin Classics collections.
  
  EDIT número dos: In this other thread, /u/IndispensableNobody points out the differences between the Knickerbocker Classics "Complete Fiction" and the Barnes & Noble one. Check it out.

This is going to be long, but I'll quote from Joshi's own hand, from I am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft I realize this could be shorter, but I think the whole tale is pretty interesting:

One final issue, partly related to his promulgation of the "Cthulhu Mythos," is Derleth's control over the Lovecraft copyrights. This is an extraordinarily complicated situation and has yet to be resolved, but a few notes can be set down here. Lovecraft's will of 1912 naturally made no provision for a literary estate, so any such estate by default ended up in the cntrol of his sole surviving relative, Annie Gamwell, upon his death. Annie, as we have seen, formalised Lovecraft's wish to have [Robert] Barlow deemed his literary executor, but this conferred no control over the copyrights to Lovecraft's work. When Annie herself died, her estate passed to Ethel Phillips Morrish and Edna Lewis.

Derleth from the beginning claimed de facto ownership of Lovecraft's work by virtue of publishing it in book form, but his control is almost certainly fictitious. He became angry at Corwin Stickney for publishing his small HPL pamphlet in 1937, even though this booklet of eight sonnets was published in an edition of 25 copies. He repeatedly badgered anthologists into paying him reprint fees for Lovecraft stories, and most did so simply to stay on good terms with him. Derleth indeed claimed that he had sunk $25,000 of his own money into Arkham House in its first decade, and I am willing to beleive it; but I also maintain that Arkham House would never have stayed afloat at all had it not been for the sales generated from Lovecraft's work.

What, then, were Derleth's claims for owndership of Lovecraft's copyrights? He initially tried to maintain that Annie Gamwell's will had conferred such rights, but that will states clearly that Derleth and Wandrei are to receive merely the remaining proceeds from 'The Outsider and Others' - not the literary rights to the material therein. Arkham House then claimed that something called "the Morrish-Lewis gift" (presumably a document signed by Ethel Phillips Morrish and Edna Lewis) grants Arkham House blanket permission to publish Lovecraft's work; but this document, which was finally produced in court, does not in any sense transfer copyright to Arkham House.

Finally, Derleth claimed to have purchased from 'Weird Tales' the rights to forty-six Lovecraft stories published in that magazine. There is indeed a document to this effect, dated October 9, 1947; but the question is: what rights could have been transferred in this manner? Weird Tales could only have transferred rights to those stories where they controlled all rights (not merely first serial rights) but Lovecraft declared frequently that, although initially selling all rights to Weird Tales because he did not know any better, by April 1926 he began reserving his rights. Now there is no documentary evidence of this (i.e. no contracts from Weird Tales in which only first serial rights are purchased), but there is considerable circumstantial evidence to support Lovecraft's claim....

If April 1926 is the cut-off, there are 13 stories for which Weird Tales owned the rights (not counting 'Under the Pyramids," which was presumably written on a work-for-hire contract). But of these thirteen, seven had already appeared in amateur (uncopyrighted) journals, hence were in the public domain the moment they were published. Therefore, Derleth in truth purchased the rights to only six stories. And yet, he continued to act as if he controlled all of Lovecraft's works...

The whole issue is, of course, now moot, for it is widely acknowledged that Lovecraft's entire work went into the public domain at the end of the seventieth year following his death, i.e. January 1, 2008.

Hope that helps/was interesting and good luck with your project!

That's the one edited by Robert Price? Definitely worth it, as are pretty much all of the compilations he's put together over the years (most, if not all, of Chaosium's fiction lineup, and a number of related books published by others). It covers a lot of territory, from the earlier stories by Ambrose Bierce and Arthur Machen that inspired both Chambers and Lovecraft, some of the most important works from the younger members of Lovecraft's circle (including James Blish's hugely important "More Light," which is quite difficult to find elsewhere these days, and August Derleth's "The Return of Hastur" which... isn't difficult to find at all, but is still significant). The only really downside is that it duplicates a lot of stuff easily available elsewhere, including the two best short stories from Chamber's The King in Yellow collection and Lovecraft's "The Whisperer in Darkness," but it's probably still worth it despite that, and it's a convenient volume even so. And, for my money, Karl Wagner's "The River of Night's Dreaming" is worth the price of admission by itself.

I would also recommend Rehearsals for Oblivion, which is a similar short story collection, but one that focuses exclusively on more modern works and is curated to emphasize Chamber's work and not Lovecraft's. As such, it contains a lot of very, very good stories that would likely be overlooked in more Cthulhu-centric compilations.

There's also In the Court of the Yellow King, which I haven't read so I can't vouch for it personally. But it does have the benefit of having a Kindle version available, unlike the above two collections, which makes it considerably cheaper if you don't mind reading on a digital device. And Joseph S. Pulver has edited no less than three Hastur/King in Yellow-centric short story compilations: A Season in Carcosa, Cassilda's Song, and The King in Yellow Tales Vol. 1. Haven't read any of these, either (though they're up next on my reading list, funnily enough), but, again, all available as Kindle eBooks, and the last one, in particular, is dirt cheap in that format.

Like other people said, Call of Cthulhu is the only one with Cthulhu. It's a great read, but kinda fun to save for when you've read more.

The first story I read was Shadow over Innsmouth, which is fantastic but long. The Hound isn't his best, but it's my favorite. /u/Zaldarr said Dagon, which I agree with. I'd wait a while before Mountains of Madness, as it does kind of take some of the mystery out.

His most famous, outside of CoC, is The Music of Eric Zann and Pickman's Model.

This edition of his short stories is neat because it has a lot of his stories and just looks cool. I use it as a coffee table book.

Yep, I enjoy looking for unique editions -especially for horror and weird fiction. Here are some cool editions in the basic price range shown above:

1. The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Nice cheap edition. Honestly, this is the best thing about Lovecraft and Weird Fiction anthologies -there are sooo many. And many cheap editions.
   
   
2. Great Tales of Horror Edition A bit more expensive, but sweet looking book.
   
   
3. Necronomicon Edition. Again way expensive... but, there is a paperback that also looks nice for around 18$
   
   
4. The Mammoth book of Cthulhu This is a collection of Lovecraft inspired stories, and is not authored by your Faithful Uncle Theobald (HPL). However. there is no need for cannon purity, in my opinion. And what a gorgeous, very cheap book
   
   
5. I'm adding this anthology: Awaiting Strange Gods to my book self. Though it is more non-Lovecraft Lovecraft.
   
   
6. For no reason, other than pure random wonderful weirdness, check out wilum pugmire on Youtube.
   
   
   Edit: trying to get format correct.
   
   

Lovecraft himself would probably reject the idea of an official cannon for his mythos. He was ambiguous about everything, re-using names in contradictory fashion all the time. He was happy to have his friends add stories to the colective "Yog-Sothothery" as he referred to the mythos, simply because he enjoyed reading them and watching his creations grow through the contributions of others. It wasn't until after his death that Derleth thought to try and definitively codify the mythos, and he did a generally poor job of it, tying each great old one to an element and creating such silly ideas as oppositional deities and magic that would thwart all mythos creatures.

Honestly, the closest thing to canon that exists for the mythos as it exists today is probably the Call of Cthulhu rpg by Chaosium. Much of the modern interpretation of the monsters and gods that Lovecraft dreamed up are a direct result of the published works of that game.

As far as Hastur and the King in Yellow, they are even harder to define than almost any other entity that is accepted as part of the mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benevolent god of Shepherds. It wasn't until Robert Chambers' 'The King in Yellow' that Hastur and the eponymous king would become associated, and as was previously mentioned, that is a collection of short stories wherein Hastur is at times both a place and an entity, and the King a sort of herald of Doom.

In modern Chaosium usage, Hastur is an almost unfathomable great old one and the king is his avatar, a form that is comprehensible to mortals. They are associated with a the play 'le Roi en Jaune' (the king in yellow) which drives those who read/see it mad. They are associated with the mythical city of Carcosa, on the shores of lake Hali and the constellation of the Hyades.

There are two pretty good fiction collections by Chaosium that focus on Hastur/the King in yellow:

The Hastur Cycle

Cassilda's Song

Edit: spelling and grammar

When I started getting into Lovecraft, I bought the Del Rey paperbacks. They were affordable and had great art on the covers. And I prefer a small paperback to a big hardback. Big ol' hardbacks are cool and all, but it's so much nicer to just sit with a little paperback; they're lighter, easier to hold, and take up less space when taking them somewhere else to read.

These are the ones I was getting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I really love the art on these. Here are some more images of it. I'm pretty sure there was a compilation featuring Dagon that used a detail with the big, red eye.

The complete works of H P Lovecraft is available as one hardback book on Amazon with a nice sturdy case, thin bible-style pages and a page ribbon. It's a great buy.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015

This review speaks for itself:

"I originally read most of these stories a quarter of a century ago, but it was good to find them all in one volume. Let's face it, Lovecraft needs to be read from a heavy tome, preferably by guttering candlelight, as you strain to hear the strange slithering sound just outside your chamber door, and not on a tablet on the 8.52 to Nottingham. All the classic Lovecraft tales are here, and the book is beautifully bound and printed. The print is a good readable size, and each tale has a brief introduction detailing when it was written and any interesting references. You soon realise how hugely influential old H.P was, sci-fi, fantasy and horror have all learned from him, writers like Stephen King and James Herbert obviously so, but others too. Terry Pratchett referenced Lovecraft too. One slight word of caution, the racial language and descriptions in some of the stories are very much of their time. When I first read them years ago I didn't notice so much, but now, even though I'm not the most PC person in the world, some of the language is fairly shocking. If you've not read Lovecraft before be aware of it, but don't let it put you off. Overall a really nice edition."

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/0785834206/ref=nodl_

I know this isn’t what you are looking for, but this book is absolutely perfect for a complete Lovecraft beginner! The stories are in order by publication date so it starts at the very beginning of his career. If you feel like really getting into his world, I highly recommend giving this book a read!

> The Weird of Hali: Innsmouth

I have that one. Pretty decent. Haven't picked up the other one yet.

> but I have zero idea of what markets exist for Lovecraftian erotic fiction. Any suggestions would be welcome...

I give several examples of Lovecraftian erotica in Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos - media so far have included both self-published and professionally published fiction, poetry; a wide variety of artwork; comic books, webcomics, manga, and graphic novels; anime and live-action films ranging from flashing a nipple to hardcore pornography; and tabletop, video, PC, and web games. There are some further resources in the sidebar of r/EroticLovecraftianArt.

As u/pickin_grinnin said, there are few consistent, professional outlets. There are a number of independent writers and writer-artists that self-publish erotica with Mythos or Lovecraftian themes and tie-ins; explicit anthologies are considerably more rare but not-unheard of. A very few artists produce Lovecraftian erotic material on a semi-regular basis, either through their own webstores or outlets like Patreon. Caitlin R. Kiernan for a while had the Sirenica digest as an outlet for her Lovecraftian fiction.

Your best bet if you don't want to self-publish is to scour the anthology calls for submission calls that match your interests and produce material for that. Most of these are smaller presses, like Martian Migraine Press or Dagon Press.

I bought this book, but did not get around to reading it yet. I hope that the stories are arranged well. It has a lot of information about Lovecraft and his life as well. And it looks quite nice ;)

Dagon is brilliant but if you do get into the stories and would rather read a physical book

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527068354&sr=8-2&keywords=lovecraft+complete

I have this and it's glorious, pretty cheap for a book of this quality too, got it for xmas a couple of years ago.

The best books in my opinion are the 3 Penguin Classics editions with his major works in their corrected state and explanatory notes by S.T. Joshi (the foremost scholar of Lovecraft).

Another option with corrected texts and all of his fiction (excluding revisions and collaborations) is the Barnes and Noble edition: The Complete Fiction (make sure it's the corrected 2nd edition which you can see by its purple ribbon marker and silver gilt on the edges) .

edit: There are also a lot of his stories that are in the Free Domain and you can read some of them here and this site has also a bibliography which you can consult when you ask yourself which edition(s) you should purchase.

I know you already picked one, but I got the hardcover version of the Necronomicon compilation, and I absolutely love it. It's beautifully bound and embossed. I got into Lovecraft not too long ago, and I'm still working my way through it.

This it's not the complete collection of HP Lovecradt. But it has all of his best works. And that paper quality is great

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (Commemorative Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0575081570/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aFYDAb4MPCH1J

I got the Gollancz collection (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0575081562). It's not a complete anthology, but does include a map of Arkham, a biography, and by far looks the best in my shelves, and the few stories that are missing are not the best. For a complete set of works, you can either get another book to complete the Gollancz set (Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre), or as I got for general use, the Red Skull Publishing HP Lovecraft Complete Collection. The end of story facts in that one are short but interesting, shedding some light on inspiration and setting.

Yes the 55 dollar shipping charge is huge. You might get a better shipping deal thru amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Am-Providence-Times-Lovecraft-VOLUMES/dp/0982429673/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288927447&sr=8-1

Now, to the question of if it is worth it. I would say yes. You will not get a better understanding of Lovecraft through any other book. These two tomes gets you closer to the man than anything else.

In that case you may want to check out some of the annotated editions. I know ST Joshi's Annotated Lovecraft (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) are popular here. This annotated collection by Klinger looks solid as well, and includes more illustrations than Joshi's. Neither of these are 100% complete collections but are pretty close and cover all of the best/most popular/most influential writings. I'm not sure there are any annotated editions that include all of his works.

Absolutely. If you're interested in the friendship between them, the collected letters between them have been published in a two-volume set by Hippocampus Press. They're 55 bucks together, but you can sometimes get them for less on eBay, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Means-Freedom-Letters-Lovecraft-Robert/dp/0984480293
http://www.hippocampuspress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_5&products_id=7&zenid=1cd889d3e25ff2304aff7d03300ab221

Some of Howard's best stories are set in the Lovecraft Mythos. Check out stories like "Worms of the Earth" and "The Black Stone." I'd suggest The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard if you're like to read more, though most are available-ish in the public domain:

http://www.amazon.com/Horror-Stories-Robert-E-Howard/dp/0345490207

Here's a great book to check out: H.P. Lovecraft's Favorite Weird Tales -- it's wonderful.

I would suggest The Music of Erich Zann. (you might guess that's one of my faves.)

Also: Beyond the Wall of Sleep is a good one that I don't see mentioned enough.

There are a bunch of his works here. Read at your leisure.


Here are some print collections of his work that you might like if you prefer reading paper instead of a screen.


(and as you noted, the ones in the sidebar are indeed a perfect place to start, they are some of the best.)

I bought The Necronomicon because it said it was "illustrated", but most of the pictures have nothing to do with the stories anyway (besides that, the drawings are few and far between and oft repeated). It's a very solid collection -- I'd say all of HPL's best stuff -- but there are quite a few annoying typos in it.

Still, it's fun when someone asks "what are you reading?" and I get to respond with "the Necronomicon."

You can't go wrong with buying one of the many volumes of his collected prose fiction that are out there. See the spreadsheet in the sidebar for a good breakdown of all the popular volumes and what stories they contain. I personally have "The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft" (the Chartwell Classics edition) and "The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales" (Barnes & Noble), both of which I really like. The former contains 68 stories, an introduction by Eric Carl Link, and a timeline of Lovecraft's life and work. The latter contains 23 stories (6 of which are co-authored stories not collected in the former) and has an introduction by S.T. Joshi.

Also, be aware that all of his fiction is freely available online (legally). Especially check out Lovecraft's Wikisource page and the H.P. Lovecraft Archive.

If you like audiobooks, HorrorBabble has (free) high quality recordings of most of Lovecraft's work as well.

As for what stories to start with, I like the suggestions in this subreddit's sidebar:

• The Colour Out of Space
  
• The Call of Cthulhu
  
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth
  
• The Dunwich Horror
  
• The Whisperer in Darkness
  
• At the Mountains of Madness

Start with the book Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. It contains many of the good short stories about the Mythos.
If you like them, you can go on reading Mountains of Madness and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, as well as the short stories The Rats in the Wall, The shadow over Innsmouth and The shadow out of Time. The books by August Derleth are also very enjoyable (like The Mask Cthulhu and The Trail of Cthulhu).

Hi, I do custom orders, yes. Would you like for the Necronomicon this one: https://www.amazon.com/Necronomicon-Best-Weird-Tales-Lovecraft/dp/0575081562/ref=sr_1_2?crid=110CH0S77DOPG&keywords=necronomicon&qid=1569028294&s=books&sprefix=necronomicon%2Caps%2C216&sr=1-2

If so, I'll dm you a price quote/turnaround time. Then if you approve, I'd send you an online listing via my website secretsafebooks dot com or my etsy page.

If not, please send me a link to the specific edition you would like, and I'll dm you a price quote/turnaround time.

Thank you!

Good tidings are upon thee fellow cultists, for I have discovered several thanks to tvtropes.org!


Cthulhu's Reign
https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhus-Reign-Darrell-Schweitzer/dp/0756406161


Cthulhu Armageddon
https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Armageddon-Post-Apocalypse-Western/dp/1519054386/ref=sr_1_91?ie=UTF8&qid=1482548657&sr=8-91&keywords=Cthulhu


And a somewhat less post-apocalypse but including many elements you may seek
The Cthulhu Wars: The United States' Battle Against the Mythos
https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Wars-United-Battles-Against/dp/1472807871/ref=sr_1_98?ie=UTF8&qid=1482548687&sr=8-98&keywords=Cthulhu


I can't attest to the quality of these works, however they would seem to be directly up your alley. Please if anyone should acquire any of the listed texts before I have, do be sure to inform us all of your opinions! At the very least myself as I am short of coin and long to know how those tales play out.

If you're up for an anthology of shorts, I just finished Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Here it is on Amazon

You could get a hold of it and see which of the authors you like and then go from there. Pretty good selection.

Pick up H.P. Lovecraft: Tales and read "Call of Cthulhu" first. While not his absolute best short story, it's the ideal starting point. My favorite is "The Shadow Out of Time", which is also included in that collection.

The thing about Lovecraft is that you'll probably love him or hate him. It all comes down to whether or not you like his writing style. "Call of Cthulhu" will give you a good introduction.

This is the book you want to start with and I recommend the other two in the series. I always recommend The Shadow over Innsmouth as the best story to start with. Some will say Mountains of Madness. That is a terrible mistake. Best if you build to that one... Dunwitch Horror is another great one to read early on... Cant go wrong with Color out of Space either.

I bought this collection. I have not finished it but so far there have been some great stories.

This is the one I was recently bought.. I think it has all the stories and a little map of arkham as well as a few illustrations. Plus pulling it out on the tube guarantees a free seat ;) https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0575081570/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1465775146&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=necronomicon

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos was pretty good, it has a few Lovecraft stories interlaced with other mythos stories from people in the circle. I especially enjoyed Robert Bloch's stories, "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" being one of the few pieces of weird fiction that genuinely scared me. Lovecraft "Haunter of the Dark" and Bloch's "Shadow from the Steeple" actually directly reference each other.

Sounds like you're thinking of "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" by Robert Bloch (Weird Tales, May 1951). A very creepy and atmospheric story, it helped to popularize the modern Shub-Niggurath, especially since Chaosium cribbed from it to create their "dark young" CoC creatures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook_Found_in_a_Deserted_House



I first read "Notebook" in the Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos collection from Del Rey, available here:
www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/

I started reading Lovecraft with
this.


I'd just start with this.
This has a lot of his short stories, and working through this would give you a great starting point (and would set you through the vast majority of his work tbh)

And there's a second volume, too.

I love these collections but it's almost like they're released in secret.

The really sad part about Lovecraft is that there is no complete volume of his works. Wikipedia has links to everyone of his stories. Yet for a printed form of his works your options are limited. The "Necronomicon" collection is incomplete and the binding is not worth the price. The best almost complete edition is An H.P. Lovecraft Anthology: More Than 50 Weird Tales but it is still incomplete and people complain over the size of the print. Your best bet as was mentioned was the Del Ray editions. Between "Dreams of Terror and Death" and "The Road to Madness" you can have the most important stories in a readable and cheap edition. I recommend starting with the novellas, especially the ones in the Cthulu Mythos, and then branching out to the short stories of the Dream Cycle.

It's not complete, it is missing the poems, and a few stories he did as collaborations. This and this, contain more than the one you've given.

I have all three, the complete fiction is a much, much nicer edition than the two I linked, and while it is missing the poems, it is still a great buy for the price. Also, you should buy the one directly from amazon, not the third party.

With the first volume of the three-volume Ballantine Books complete-Lovecraft anthology: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. It's got all of the important stories except for the Dream Saga in one volume. The second volume collects all the Dream Saga; the third volume collects Lovecraft's early fiction, when he was still developing his style.

Glad I could help. If you want something that has only the major stories check this edition out:

The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft

Or even more fancy:

The Call of Cthulhu & Other Weird Stories by Folio Society

Limited Edition

EDIT:

Or something very, very abridged:

The Necronomicon Pop Up book

I started with this story collection and I would definitely recommend it to someone just starting out. It has a lot of variety in stories and the rest of that "series" would get you through his works and a lot of the works he edited.

If you are talking about Lovecraftian style storywriting from authors other than Lovecraft, you have plenty to choose from. There are several books which lump together some of the best works from authors that contribute to or are influenced by the "mythos" including Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos and The Children of Cthulhu

Man, there are about a million collections of Lovecraft stories, from selected tales in a certain theme to the entirety of his work in a single volume. These collections are easily found on Amazon. Here is a book that I have. You can also find all of Lovecraft's work online here.

I have 1 hard back for reading and 1 paperback for drawing/doodling/playing around with of the Necronomicon

Also, you don't know Call of Cthulhu by heart? Do you even Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn?

I checked that out and saw it on Amazon. Also saw this, with an almost identical description, looks like the same stories etc. Half the price. What's the difference?

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/0785834206/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35ZJ3M4AF1SX6&keywords=the+complete+fiction+of+h.p.+lovecraft&qid=1570468382&sprefix=the+complete+fictio%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-1

​

This book is relatively cheap and very beautiful, and is arguably the most complete collection of Lovecraft stories.

Here is the amazon link to the book if you are interested :

https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Wars-United-Battles-Against/dp/1472807871

This one is my favorite. But, if cost is a concern, note that there are links to a free PDF/e-book collection in the sidebar of this sub.

Is this it? I'd never heard of that particular collection before. Anyone can republish his stories that are in the public domain, which is pretty much all of them.

Check out the sidebar for suggestions on where to begin ------>

Try reading an annoated version.

This one is quite good, especially the photos.
http://www.amazon.com/New-Annotated-H-Lovecraft-Books/dp/0871404532/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Well Amazon has all of them. Yeah sure it's pricy but still. It does have them.
https://www.amazon.com/Necronomicon-Best-Weird-Tales-Lovecraft/dp/0575081562

https://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Fiction-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/1631060015

I've got this one, it's really nice

Roommate has this one and it contains all those stories and is a nice book.

Sure I've read it. Don't think its the Necronomicon you are referring to. The book written by Abdul Al-Hazred is not real, this one is and I would recommend it.

I find it pretty unlikely to confuse Lovecraft with some pseudo-new-age bullshit but just to make sure here's the one I mean http://www.amazon.com/Necronomicon-Weird-Tales-Lovecraft-Commemorative/dp/0575081570

While not strictly canon, the below is a book on the U.S. military's fight against the mythos. Ultimately futile, but they give it a good try.

https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Wars-United-Battles-Against/dp/1472807871

cheaper on amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Fiction-Lovecraft-Knickerbocker-Classics/dp/1631060015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416193814&sr=8-1&keywords=%27The+Complete+Fiction+of+H.P.+Lovecraft+%28Knickerbocker+Classics%29%27+by+H+P+Lovecraft

It’s quite literally called “the Cthulhu wars” the United States battles against the mythos. It’s historical fact mixed in the mythos fiction. Here is an amazon link to the book as well.... https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Wars-United-Battles-Against/dp/1472807871/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1521705985&sr=8-9&keywords=Cthulhu+wars

I remember liking Lurker at The Threshold by August Derleth when I read it as a teen.

I haven't read this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/034542204X but it looks right up your alley.

actually, my bad... it's called Cthulhu's Reign... I found the book and the amazon link when I got home... memory isn't the same since... well.. you know...

I have this.

there you go
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Necronomicon-Weird-Lovecraft-Fiction-GOLLANCZ/dp/0575081562/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500847926&sr=1-3&keywords=necronomicon

I got it from here.

http://www.amazon.com/Necronomicon-Weird-Lovecraft-Commemorative-Edition/dp/0575081570

This is what I started with. Everything is in an order that makes it so you can just read through the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Necronomicon-Weird-Lovecraft-Commemorative-Edition/dp/0575081570

does it have more content than Necronomicon? that's the largest collection of his I have. It has 36 stories and some of his poems, about 850 pages.

I've got this one.

do you mean this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Eldritch-Tales-Miscellany-H-Lovecraft/dp/0575099356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374369344&sr=1-1&keywords=Eldritch+Tales

Or just go for Amazon; it might not be exactly cheap but it's not hugely expensive either.

Also available at https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Wars-United-Battles-Against/dp/1472807871/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550451650&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Cthulhu+wars

https://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Wars-United-Battles-Against/dp/1472807871/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550451650&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Cthulhu+wars

> also Lovecraft wouldn't even mention sex, much less kinky stuff

You might be surprised

Sorry, based on the title I thought you were talking about the New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft but it doesn't match the description.

Maybe it was an older edition of this?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0057JQ8C8?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1

I bought the two big Gollancz Lovecraft books, Necronomicon and Eldritch Tales, a year or two back. Does anyone know how this stacks up against those in terms of completeness? Eldritch Tales includes many of the collaborations, the poetry and The Supernatural in Horror Fiction (which I think should be a part of every really good Lovecraft collection).

If you haven't already, check out Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature" for some of his inspirations, along with this pretty swell collection: https://www.amazon.ca/H-P-Lovecrafts-Favorite-Weird-Tales/dp/1593600569

This'll be buried, but I strongly recommend these (this's a picture of my Lovecraft collection) for a good combination of his complete fiction (including revisions & ghostwriting) and literary criticism / enthusiasm - his Supernatural Horror in Literature remains AFAIK the most authoritative overview of the genre from modernity to the first half of the 20th century.

The titles pictured are:

• The Horror in the Musem (his complete ghostwriting, revisions, & commissions; most purportedly "complete" editions of his fiction omits these stories, which is a shame, because works like The Mound and The Horror in the Museum are some of his best)
  
• The Annotated Supernatural Horror In Literature
  
• The Complete Fiction
  
  
• The New Annotated Lovecraft