Someone in the Dark [Signed]

by August Derleth

$1,380 · Offered by Biblio

First edition · Signed

Sauk City: Arkham House, 1941. Near Fine. Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1941. First edition. Octavo. vi, [2], 335, [1] pp. Publisher's original black Holliston Novelex cloth, spine lettered in gilt, in the original unclipped dust jacket illustrated by Frank Utpatel. Inscribed by August Derleth on the half-title. The second book published by Arkham House and Derleth's first collection of supernatural fiction, issued at a formative moment in the history of one of America's most influential publishers of weird and fantastic literature. The colophon states an edition of 1,000 copies; Arkham House records give an actual printing of 1,115 copies. The collection brings together seventeen macabre and supernatural tales, including "The Return of Hastur," "The Sandwin Compact," and "Beyond the Threshold," works closely associated with Derleth's development and continuation of the Cthulhu Mythos following the death of H. P. Lovecraft. Someone in the Dark also occupies an important place in the history of Arkham House. Following the publication of Lovecraft's The Outsider and Others in 1939, its commercial reception helped demonstrate the viability of Arkham House as an ongoing specialist publisher rather than an imprint devoted solely to memorializing Lovecraft. An especially desirable signed example of this early Arkham House title, retaining the original Frank Utpatel dust jacket. Publisher's cloth clean and well preserved, with bright spine gilt. Dust jacket with minor edge rub

• Publisher: Arkham House
• Year: 1941
• Edition: First Edition
• Binding: unknown

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