August William Derleth sold his first story when he was only fifteen, and began corresponding with Lovecraft two years later, in August 1926. Utilising some of the mortgage money Derleth had borrowed from a local bank to build a house, Arkham House published The Outsider and Others in 1939. Despite selling the hefty volume for just $5.00 (or $3.50, the pre-publication price), there were only 150 advance subscriptions received, and it eventually took four years to sell out the first – and only – printing and recoup that original investment.
In the meantime, to enable the small press to continue, Derleth was forced to publish collections by himself and other contemporary horror and fantasy authors, to help alleviate the imprint’s cash-flow problems.
Victor Gollancz was born in London in 1893, the son of a wholesale jeweller. After serving with the British Army during the First World War, he formed his own eponymous publishing company in 1927. A life-long socialist and humanitarian, he was knighted in 1965 and died two years later at the age of seventy-four.
In May 1950, while staying at The Beverly Hotel at 125 East 50th Street, New York,Victor Gollancz wrote to August Derleth in Sauk City, Wisconsin, to enquire about the possibility of obtaining the British and Commonwealth rights to some of Lovecraft’s stories.
In a letter dated May 24 of that year, Derleth replied: ‘I am delighted to have your good letter of ..nd May regarding possible publication of the works of the late H.P. Lovecraft in England. We have had several offers for such publication, but have so far turned them all down. Yours, however, seems to us the most decent offer that we have had, and I am confident that we can agree on publication along the lines of the terms you have proposed. Moreover, I personally would prefer to see an imprint like that of Gollancz (many of whose books were on my shelves before I became a publisher) on a British edition of Lovecraft’s best work.’
Gollancz’s enquiry apparently came as a result of The World Publishing Company’s edition of Best Supernatural Stories of H.P. Lovecraft, issued in hardcover in 1945. The first ‘popular-priced edition’ of the author’s work, it had been edited by Derleth, who also provided an introduction, and went through three printings in just over a year.
Derleth was quick to assure Gollancz that there would be no problem: ‘It is true that I control rights in the Lovecraft stories. The World edition, which is now out of print, but which will go back into print late this year, is in no way bound. But I do believe that you could have a better selection of the stories, of which there are enough to make two collections ultimately, and this I would strongly urge you to consider. Assuming that you have the World collection in your possession, I am supplementing it under separate cover by an incomplete copy of The Outsider and Others, from which an essay and three short stories have been deleted. These three short stories will be found in a paperback collection which I am including with the incomplete omnibus edition.’
It is most likely that the paperback collection that Derleth sent to Gollancz was either The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Stories of the Supernatural (1944) or The Dunwich Horror (1945), both published by Bartholomew House, or The Lurking Fear and Other Pieces issued in 1947 by the Avon Book Company.
Derleth also helpfully included a list of those titles that he considered Lovecraft’s best work:
short novels:
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS
THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD
short stories:
THE DUNWICH HORROR
THE RATS IN THE WALLS
THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE
THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS
THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH
THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME
THE CALL OF CTHULHU
THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP
THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH-HOUSE
THE HAUNTER OF THE DARK
PICKMAN’S MODEL
THE SHUNNED HOUSE
THE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN
THE OUTSIDER
THE CATS OF ULTHAR
COOL AIR
THE HORROR AT RED HOOK
THE NAMELESS CITY
THE TOMB
IN THE VAULT
HE
THE STRANGE HIGH HOUSE IN THE MIST
THE STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH CARTER
THE SILVER KEY
THROUGH THE GATES OF THE SILVER KEY
THE TEMPLE
THE FESTIVAL
ARTHUR JERMYN
THE UNNAMABLE
THE MOON-BOG
THE PICTURE IN THE HOUSE
THE TERRIBLE OLD MAN
HYPNOS
DAGON
POLARIS
CELEPHAÏS
THE HOUND
Derleth did not leave many major stories off his list! He also explained to Gollancz that, with the books he was sending him, he would have copies of all the important work of Lovecraft with the exception of the posthumously published novella ‘The Case of Charles Dexter Ward’.
‘This exists in ms.,’ Derleth continued, ‘though it was published in our now out of print collection, Beyond the Wall of Sleep, and it can be sent to you if you wish to see it. With proper production, it might be made into a separate book.’
Derleth was also at pains to point out that ‘at least two and possibly three volumes as production costs dictate’ could be compiled from the list of story titles that he had supplied.
Victor Gollancz had also enquired in his letter about previous British publication of Lovecraft’s stories. In fact, the author had enjoyed some previous critical (if not particularly commercial) success in that area. While his work was still being featured in amateur publications and pulp magazines in his native America, in Britain, Christine Campbell Thomson, editor of the Not at Night series of popular hardcover horror anthologies, had included ‘The Horror at Red Hook’ in You’ll Need a Night Light (1927), ‘Pickman’s Model’ in By Daylight Only (1928) and ‘The Rats in the Walls’ in Switch on the Light (1928). Additionally, Gollancz was aware that ‘The Music of Erich Zann’ had been included in the ‘Great Short Stories’ series in the October 24, 1932 edition of London’s The Evening Standard newspaper, illustrated by Philip Mendoza (Montague Phillip Mendoza, 1898–1973).
Around 1936, Brooklyn fan (and later literary agent and legendary comic book editor) Julius Schwartz had attempted to sell a collection of Lovecraft’s work to a British book publisher, but his efforts had come to nothing.
‘No volume of Lovecraft’s stories has to my knowledge ever been published in Great Britain,’ Derleth reassured Gollancz. ‘The World people have the right only to sales in Canada, in addition to the United States. Certain of the Lovecraft stories were published in the Not at Night collections published by Selwyn & Blount a decade or so ago; more recently, only “The Dunwich Horror” and “The Rats in the Walls” have appeared in the Fraser-Wise anthology, Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, published, I believe, by Hammond, Hammond & Company Ltd in 1947. Anthology publication in Great Britain in no way impairs British book collection rights. The only other tale to have been so anthologized, as far as I know, apart from the “Erich Zann” story you mention, has been “The Outsider”,which appeared in James Nelson’s The Murder Sampler, published over there by an associate of Doubleday, the American publisher.’
Concluding his letter on a more business-like note, Derleth proposed to Gollancz that if, after due consideration, he still wanted to go ahead and publish a collection of Lovecraft’s work, then he should make an estimate of the word-count and indicate which stories he would like to include in the book.
Derleth also suggested a few additions and modifications to the original offer that Gollancz had proposed. These included a new Foreword to the British edition to be written by Derleth, the advance payment to be split fifty pounds on signature of the contract and fifty pounds on publication, and, perhaps most interesting of all, that ‘Arkham House should have the exclusive right to sell the Gollancz edition of this or any further Lovecraft collection in the United States and Canada.’
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He signed off by adding that he was sending Gollancz a copy of the Arkham House stocklist under separate cover.
Victor Gollancz replied on May 29, before he left New York, basically agreeing with Derleth’s story suggestions but, being concerned about the length of the book, asking Derleth to suggest a possible contents listing that omitted the two short novels.
In the meantime, Derleth had already dispatched a copy of the manuscript of ‘The Case of Charles Dexter Ward’ to Gollancz’s London office in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, before replying on June 3 to the same address.
His letter contained two proposed contents of varying lengths. ‘The wordage adds up to a little over 120,000,’ he explained of the first list of eighteen titles, which also included alternatives and details of any previous appearances in the UK, ‘but you intend to publish a shorter book in any case; so that this list of “best” stories must necessarily be modified to your needs. These stories are perhaps Lovecraft’s best from a literary point-of-view as well as from the perspective of effective fiction.
‘This would seem to afford you ample latitude in making a selection of stories. Such short titles as “Dagon”, “Polaris”, “Beyond the Wall of Sleep”, and “The Temple” could be included to pad out the contents page without actually taking up very much space. “The Unnamable” and “The Festival” fit into this category, too, though none is Lovecraft’s best work.’
Derleth then went on to present a cut-down version of the contents, with the explanation: ‘If I were to launch Lovecraft in England, I would not particularly consider previous anthologization. I would publish, considering space limitations of say 90,000 words, the following stories:
THE OUTSIDER
THE RATS IN THE WALLS
PICKMAN’S MODEL
THE CALL OF CTHULHU
THE DUNWICH HORROR
THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS
THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE
THE HAUNTER OF THE DARK
THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP
THE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN’
Once again, he also suggested a few substitutions, should they be needed, concluding: ‘But this selection is your problem, and I shall introduce the stories in accordance with your decision in this matter. It might be well, when you let me know your choice, to indicate a word limit for the foreword.’
Having finally returned from his business trip to New York, Victor Gollancz replied to Derleth again. ‘I have now read all the stories and agree completely with your selection,’ he wrote on June 23, adding that he had decided that the book should consist of the ten stories initially recommended by Derleth.
‘I shall be obliged if you would let me have your Foreword (which should definitely introduce Lovecraft to the British public) as soon as possible,’ confirmed Gollancz. ‘Please make the length approximately that of your Introduction to the World Publishing Company volume.’
After promising to send off the contract in the next few days, Gollancz concluded his letter with two postscripts. In the first, he told Derleth that he was calling the collection The Haunter of the Dark & Other Tales of Horror. In the second note, he asked Derleth to ‘Keep me in touch with any “discoveries” in the supernatural field which may come your way.’
Four days later Derleth mailed back his draft of the Introduction. ‘It is approximately the same length as that for the World Publishing Company volume,’ he confirmed. ‘To expedite matters, I wish you would feel perfectly free to make such alterations in the introduction as you would wish to make without consulting me.’
But while Derleth’s letter was making its way across the Atlantic, another problem had arisen, one that had the potential to terminate the whole project before it ever got off the ground.
Despite Derleth’s flattering claim in his first letter to Victor Gollancz that he had already ‘had several offers for such publication’, and his assertion that he controlled the rights to the Lovecraft stories, he had failed to mention that for the past year the London literary agency of Pearn, Pollinger & Higham, Ltd had been attempting to sell Best Supernatural Stories of H.P. Lovecraft into the British market. When they discovered that Gollancz had already done a deal directly with Arkham House, they were not very pleased.
Co-director Laurence Pollinger wrote to Victor Gollancz on June 29 from his offices around the corner in The Strand to find out what was going on. Gollancz replied the following day:
‘My dear Laurence,
Many thanks for your letter of 29th June.
As I told Gerald just now, there is a mistake here. When I was first put on to Lovecraft, and was told that Derleth controlled the rights, I wrote to the latter to find out the position. He told me that he did control the rights in all Lovecraft’s stories: that he had had requests for volume rights from England: that he had always refused them: but that he would like to work with me. Negotiations then followed and we discussed terms. We found no difficulty in arriving at an agreement, which was clinched. This gives me the sole right to publish certain of the Lovecraft stories in volume form here, with an option to publish all the rest of his work in later volumes. My first volume will consist of a selection made by Derleth which includes most of the stories in the volume published by the World people, to which you refer – and Derleth is himself at the moment writing a special introduction for me to this first collection.
Yours ever,’
That same day Gollancz wrote to Derleth, to no doubt express his displeasure at being put in such a difficult position.
Derleth hurriedly responded on July .: ‘I hasten to assure you that Mr Oscar J. Friend of Otis Kline Associates was instructed some weeks ago to ask Pearn, Pollinger and Higham to withdraw The [sic] Best Supernatural Stories of H.P. Lovecraft, which they have been vainly trying to sell for approximately five years. I have thus no direct connexien [sic] with Mr Pollinger at all, and it is the firm headed by Mr Friend which has been offering the Lovecraft works through Pearn, Pollinger and Higham.’
Not only had Derleth let slip in his haste that his claim of ‘several offers’ for Lovecraft’s work may have been stretching the truth a bit, but Laurence Pollinger confirmed it in a letter to Gollancz the following day, although his account did not exactly conform to Derleth’s version of events: ‘I find we received copy of this book from the American agent, Otis Kline on 4th August, 1949, and since that time it has been submitted to ten publishers without success. In view of what you write me I am withdrawing it from the publisher who is now considering it.’
Pollinger also revealed that he had heard that same morning from the Kline agency, which had been founded by adventure novelist Otis Adelbert Kline. Kline, like Lovecraft, had also been a contributor to Weird Tales in the 1930s, before concentrating on his career as a literary agent (most famously for Robert E. Howard).
‘I am just in receipt of a letter from Arkham House telling me that they have made their own arrangements for publication of Howard P. Lovecraft material in England and asking me to withdraw all Lovecraft titles from further offer,’ instructed Otis Kline Associates. ‘I am writing Arkham in some reproof of such action, but will you please withdraw all Lovecraft material.’
Laurence Pollinger was more sanguine about the outcome. ‘As you will appreciate Arkham House is the American publisher of this book,’ he wrote to Gollancz. ‘I take it that you have no objections to my writing to Kline telling him that you have contracted with Derleth for the publication of these stories here. Doubtless upon receipt of this he will then check with Arkham House as to whether they or Derleth should have signed the agreement with you.’
With this final hurdle delaying H.P. Lovecraft’s debut British collection now removed, a contract dated July 5, 1950, was signed between Victor Gollancz Ltd and Arkham House Publishers.
The Haunter of the Dark & Other Tales of Horror finally appeared in hardcover from Victor Gollancz in 1951 and quickly went out of print. It was reissued in 1966 and 1969, and a second impression was published in 1971 and repr
inted in 1977. The distinctive yellow dust-jacket posed the rhetorical question, ‘Who is Lovecraft?’, before proceeding to answer itself in some detail.
Although in a different order, all ten stories in the volume had also appeared in the World Publishing edition of Best Supernatural Stories of H.P. Lovecraft, which additionally included ‘In the Vault’, ‘The Picture in the House’, ‘Cool Air’ and ‘The Terrible Old Man’.
‘Remarkable . . . It is not too much to say that they are masterpieces in the genre of the super-naturally horrible,’ raved the Birmingham Post, while the Yorkshire Post declared: ‘Connoisseurs of the “uncanny” must not miss a most remarkable collection of stories by the American H.P. Lovecraft. His is a narrow but powerful imagination, which has created and peopled a world of its own.’