Nate Pedersen (ed.) - The Dagon Collection

[andydecker]

Nate Pedersen (ed.) - The Dagon Collection: An Anthology Auction Catalogue of Items Recovered in the 1929 Federal Raid on Innsmouth, Mass.

 (PS Publishing, 2024, hc, 216 p.)

PS Publishing says:
The anthology is once again presented as a fake auction catalogue, however this time it is 1929, shortly after the events in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." The feds have just raided the Esoteric Order of Dagon Lodge. Now they've contracted with Pent & Serenade, Occult Auctioneers, to sell the items secured in the raid. In addition to books, this auction also features weaponry, art, jewelry, nautical items, textiles, and objects both strange and prosaic once owned by the Dagon cult. The design skills of Andrew Leman of H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society have brought the catalogue to life in all its 1920s period glory. Rebecca Baumann of the University of Indiana provided the cataloging of the objects. Liv Rainey-Smith and Eduardo Valdes-Hevia contributed illustrations. Leading voices in horror and Lovecraftian fiction again contributed stories, including F. Paul Wilson, Jesse Bullington, John Langan, Gemma Files, Livia Llewellyn, Michael Cisco, Nick Mamatas, Ramsey Campbell, Selena Chambers, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and, in a bittersweet note, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (to whom the book is dedicated), in what may be his final unpublished story.

Lovecraft‘s The Shadow over Innsmouth has spawned a lot of stories and inspired whole generations of writers to contribute their own take on the concept.

This companion volume to The Starry Wisdom Library has a unique concept. In the layout of an old auction catalogue this presents many objects with a connection to the Dagon worshippers. Elaborately made-up with descriptions of the items (including a bid-sheet and rules for bidding), the writers are presented as consulted collaborators from Miscatonic University and allied institutions. The list of contributors is impressive.

The hardcover (6 ¼ *8 ½) is produced with the usual care expected of PS. The photos are b/w. A clever and truly original concept tremendously well done, this is a lot of fun if you like Lovecraftiana. It puts the props which usually are just in the background of horror stories or movies into the spotlight, which is a novel idea.

Written by Joseph S. Pulver. Sr.

To preserve the concept, some of the writers in their short bios just give allusions to their real work while staying in their role, so to speak. So in 1929 Ramsey Campbell used to be a lecturer on comparative religion at the University of Brichester, Gemma Files a professor of Canadian Mythological Studies and James Lowder a a consulting special collection conservator and acquisitions agent: Boston Public Library, to name a few.

The book invites browsing and is I guess best read in small doses as the auction catalogue is presented without any framing narrative. Each writer just presents the background of his lot as a treatise. I wonder of the editor invented all lots and assigned each to a writer or if the writers created both objects and text.

I like it and this is highly recommended for anybody interested in Lovecraftiana, RPG or just looking for something original. PS Publishing has done a lot of remarkable editions in the field of book production in the past, but this is exceptionally well done.