Remove H.P. Lovecraft’s Name from August Derleth’s Books

To:  Carroll & Graf Publishers

Two books published by Carroll & Graf Publishers—The Lurker at the Threshold and The Watchers Out of Time—contain stories written by August Derleth but based on plot-germs by H.P. Lovecraft. These so-called “posthumous collaborations” have long confused and misled new readers of Lovecraft’s works. Despite Derleth’s long-known authorship, these books are marketed as having been written by Lovecraft himself, and display Lovecraft’s name prominently on their front covers, spines, and title pages. However, only the back covers of these books describe them as being by “H.P. Lovecraft with August Derleth” (see the back cover of The Lurker at the Threshold).

In addition, other books such as The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions and The Loved Dead and Other Revisions—whose contents truly were written by Lovecraft—list The Lurker at the Threshold and The Watchers Out of Time as being among the other Carroll & Graf books written by Lovecraft. One need only look at the comments from Amazon.com customers to see the confusion to which these books have led (see the comments for The Lurker at the Threshold and The Watchers Out of Time). Some of these comments warn other readers away from these stories, since they’re neither by H.P. Lovecraft nor of significant merit. Other comments make it clear that the purchasers of these books had no idea that they were purchasing books which were not written by Lovecraft, and as a result they were disappointed.

The signers of this petition are of the opinion that marketing these inferior stories under Lovecraft’s name harm his literary reputation. In addition, the dissatisfaction that readers of these books have experienced may harm Carroll & Graf’s otherwise impeccable reputation as a publisher of fine works of fiction. We, the undersigned, ask that Carroll & Graf Publishers cease the continuation of this long-standing misconception by clearly indicating the true author of these books: August Derleth.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Remove H.P. Lovecraft’s Name from August Derleth’s Books Petition to Carroll & Graf Publishers was created by The H.P. Lovecraft Archive and written by Donovan K. Loucks.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. The petition scripts are created by Mike Wheeler at Artifice, Inc.  For Technical Support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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