A new edition of the only book Lovecraft saw published during his lifetime, similar in size and format to the original, but with the attention to typographic and production details that the story deserves. Work on this project began in 2002, with a trial edition of 10 copies for which Shinesuke Minegishi created six wood engravings based on original sketches by H. Bosch (1453-1516)—one for each chapter and the title page. These engravings, plus one new one, were republished in 2003 with extracts from the novella, in an edition of 50 copies titled The "Innsmouth Look". Thanks to the help of master printer David Clifford, HM was able to undertake a letterpress edition of this 60,000-word story.

The book was issued in three states: the Ichthyic (25 copies) featuring some additional material and more extensive handwork in the binding, for established HM collectors and those interested in contemporary book arts; the Batrachian (125 copies), for those who simply want a well designed, hand-bound copy of this classic story; and Abyssal (25 copies) which basically is the same as Batrachian but reserved for private distribution to collaborators and friends. Further details on the states can be found below.

Despite Lovecraft's sustained popularity since his death in 1938 — and mainstream critics "discovering" his talent and significance among American writers of the last century about every ten years or so (note the collection of his stories recently published by Library of America) — Lovecraft remains largely unknown, or suspiciously labelled a genre writer. For those unfamiliar with Lovecraft, or The Shadow Over Innsmouth, we include below part of the preface from the HM edition:

"This story was written by Howard Phillips Lovecraft in 1931 and first published in Weird Tales. Its publication in book form five years later gives it a special place in Lovecraft's career (and a collector's cabinet) as the first and only work of fiction published during his lifetime. The book itself, however, was a disappointment in several respects.

In 1934 William Crawford started publishing pulp magazines, and soon grew ambitious to undertake books as well. Since he was already in contact with Lovecraft for his magazines, he asked if the author had any manuscripts suitable for the new imprint. In an account of the project published in The Shuttered Room (Arkham House, 1959), Crawford wrote that they "had quite a bit of correspondence about various titles, and in the end it was Lovecraft himself who chose The Shadow Over Innsmouth for his first appearance between covers."

The book was set in Linotype at a nearby newspaper, and printed by Crawford on a Colts Armory press. The edition of about 400 copies suffered from many errors; a few early copies bear corrections in Lovecraft's hand, and an errata sheet was subsequently inserted. Discouraged by sales of his magazines, Crawford decided to bind only about half the edition. His publishing ventures were abandoned shortly after, with about 150 of the bound copies sold, and he reported that to "the best of my knowledge, the unbound copies of Lovecraft's first book were subsequently destroyed."

The total edition is 175 copies, 150 pp, small octavo (5 x 7.5 inches). The book features a fold-out map of Innsmouth, drawn from Lovecraft's detailed descriptions of the town. The text is set in Centaur and Arrighi, with Gill Shadow for display. The pages were printed letterpress, in two colors, from polymer plates at David Clifford's Black Stone Press in Vancouver, B.C. There are three states:

The BATRACHIAN issue comprises 125 numbered (1 - 125) copies printed on Mohawk Superfine (an archival, acid-free paper), sewn & cased by hand in full black cloth with an image gold-stamped on the front board. This issue also features specially printed endpapers not used in the Ichthyic copies (shown at right). The imprint on these copies is Heavenly Monkey Editions. Copies sent to early subscribers had the frontis initialed by the artist. C$200

The ICHTHYIC issue comprises 25 roman numeral (I - XXV) copies printed on Nideggen, a laid sheet suitably tinted for the story's abyssal theme. These were hand-bound at the Heavenly Monkey studio: sewn on black vellum slips and laced into a traditional limp case made from a handmade abaca-based paper with the texture and look of vellum. The case is lined with a sheet of handmade cotton paper that has had a large linocut printed on the front, the title on the spine, and our press device on the back. These can be seen through the semi-transparent paper case, to greater or lesser degrees, depending on how it is held. This issue also includes proofs of the engravings printed from the original blocks on handmade gampi paper, interleaved through the text, with the colophon signed by Shinsuke Minegishi. Seven of these copies (two hors commerce) had the proofs hand colored by the artist; these were sewn on purple vellum slips. With a black paper slipcase on which the title and lincout have been printed in black. C$600 [OP before publication]

The ABYSSAL issue, for friends and contributors, makes up the balance of the edition. These copies were printed on Mohawk and are, or will be, variously bound, by various people.[NFS]