Another auction win:
Lovecraft, H. P. The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. Shroud: Publishers, 1955. First edition trade paperback original (Currey A, orange wrapper bound with brown tape) simultaneous with a small hardback run, #1341 of 1,500 copies, a Near Fine copy with former owner’s name on front free endpaper and some evenly-spaced diagonal wrinkles to spine (possibly as issued by Shroud), in a Very Good first state (publisher’s address of 819 Michigan Avenue, Buffalo 3, New York, as per Currey) dust jacket with shallow chipping at head and heel and staining along spine and at top front near edgefold. First edition of this Dunsanean Dreamlands novella, which ties into Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos but is also distinct from it. Shroud was an odd press, and this book displays Shroud’s “amateurish” (to quote Chalker/Ownings) quality. Currey, page 322. Chalker & Owings, The Science Fantasy Publishers, pages 403-404. Joshi, H.P. Lovecraft: A Comprehensive Bibliography I.31. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 1048 (“repetitious, alternately aiming for childishness and horror, maundering and wandering, it has little to offer except a rather pointless integration of the earlier Dunsanean stories”). Magill, Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, pages 431-435. Bought from a Potter & Potter auction for $187.50.
