American poet and author of macabre short novels, who was virtually unknown most of his career. H.P. Lovecraft's posthumous fame, particularly in America and France, rests on his Cthulhu Mythos stories. Lovecraft has become a cult figure in the genre of horror stories; he is considered a true successor of Edgar Allan Poe. The imaginary town of his tales, Arkham, was based on his home town of Providence.

"They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that simtes. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath?" (from 'The Dunwich Horror', in The Dunwich Horror, and Others by H.P. Lovecraft, Lancer Books, 1963, p. 128)

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Winfield Scott Lovecraft and Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft. He was of predominantly of British stock on both sides of his family, consumed by eccentricity. His mother keep his son from contact with the outside world, treated him like a girl, and made him wear his hair long until the age of six. Lovecraft's father, named after the hero Winfield Scott, was a traveling salesman, who went mad, probably from syphilis, was institutionalized; he died when his son was five.

From his childhood on, Lovecraft suffered from terrifying nightly disturbances and nightmares which lasted until his death. This deeply personal material also clinged to his stories, such as The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1928), which also utilized real figures from history. "From a private hospital for the insane near Providence, Rhode Island, there recently disappeared an exceedingly singular person. He bore the name of Charles Dexter Ward, and was placed under restraint most reluctantly by the grieving father who had watched his aberration grow from a eccentricity to a dark mania involving both a possibility of murderous tendencies and a peculiar change in the apparent contents of his mind." (The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft, Ballantine Books, 1982, p. 5)

Lovecraft grew up as a fringe member of the conservative New England aristocracy. He was educated at local schools, although often he was kept away from classes by his overprotective mother. Lovecraft's poor health as a young boy led him to read voluminously from his grandfather's old library. During this time he found the works of Edgar Allan Poe, who had visited several times the library in Province; Poe became the model for his literary compositions, his "God of Fiction."

Both Poe and Lovecraft were especially attracted to short fiction. Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) inspired Lovecraft to write the short novel The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926-27). He also read works by Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and M.R. James. "The most poignant sensations of my existence are those of 1896, when I discovered the Hellenic world, and of 1902, when I discovered the myriad suns and worlds of infinite space," Lovecraft wrote in February 1922 in The Liberal, edited by Paul J. Campbell. "Sometimes I think the latter event even greater, for the grandeur of that growing conception of the universe still excites a thrill hardly to be duplicated." (Against Religion: The Atheist Writings of H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi, foreword by Christopher Hitchens, 2010, p. 8)

In his early career Lovecraft struggled to assimilate all these literary influences he encountered, finding his own voice after years of writing. At the New York Public Library he spent three days reading E.T.A. Hoffmann, but found him dull. Blackwood's 'The Willows' he regarded as the single greatest weird story ever written, followed by Machen's 'The White People.'  

According to Lovecraft, in the true weird tale, "has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted from from clanking chais according to rule. A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain - a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space." (Supernatural Horror in Literature by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, with a new Introduction by E. F. Bleiler, Dover Publications, 1973, p. 15)

After two and half years of high school, Lovecraft had a nervous collapse and his formal education ended, without a diploma. However, he was fascinated by science and by the age of 16 he wrote on astronomy for local newspapers. In 1917, he made an attempt to enlist in Rhode Island National Guard and later in the U.S. Army, but he was rejected through his mother's influence. By 27, Lovecraft still lived at home, writing gloomy tales for amateur journals.

The publisher of Weid Tales magazine, Clark Henneberger, become interested in the work of the "Rhode Island hermit", and published 'Dragon' in the Octobor 1923 issue. Henneberger bought then everything he wrote. For Harry Houdini, the famous magician who "contributed" to the magazine, Lovecraft ghostwrote 'Imprisoned with the Pharaohs' (1924). Eventually Lovecraft was offered the job of editor at Weird Tales, but he turned the offer down.

Lovecraft's mother died in 1921 at Butler Hospital - at the same insane asylum as his father. Lovecraft went on living with his two aunts. His marriage in 1924 with Sonia Greene, who was seven years his senior, lasted only until 1926. Sonia was a Jew and she has recalled that her husband hated Jewish immigrants and other minority groups, but he was "an adequately excellent lover." (The Dream World of H. P. Lovecraft: His Life, His Demons, His Universe by Donald Tyson, 2010, p. 117) However, Lovecraft did not like kissing,

Married life did not suit to Lovecraft, who was devoted to books and had an unusually low sex drive. To Sonia, who never managed to "cure" Lovecraft of his racism, he raged at the foreign elements in the streets of New York City. When Sonia was not willing to carry on a marriage by correspondance and pressed for a divorce, Lovecraft argued that a gentleman does not divorce his wife without cause. Eventually in his testimony Lovecraft said that his wife had deserted him. Sonia subsequently married Dr Nathaniel Davis of Los Angeles.

After two miserable year in New York, a city which provided him an example of the disintegration of society, "a babel of sound and filth", Lovecraft moved back to Providence, where he spent the rest of his life with his aunts. He hated modern civilization, particularly in its confident belief in progress and science," said Colin Wilson. (The Strength to Dream, 1962, p. 8) From 1926 to 1933 his home was at 10 Barnes Street on a house built around 1880. 

Social contacts Lovecraft maintained mainly by mail - his letters to Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) alone averaged about 40,000 words a year. While still in his thirties, he began referring to himself as an "old gentleman" and signing his letters as "Grandpa". L. Sprague de Camp has claimed in Lovecraft: A Biography (1975) that the author wrote over 1000,000 letters. Lovecraft's circle of correspondents included also the writer Robert Bloch, perhaps best known for the novel Psycho (1959). In the apartment of Samuel Loveman in New York he met briefly Hart Crane, who had just published The Bridge, noticing that "yet at the very crest of his fame he is on the verge of psychological, physical, & financial disintegration, & with no certainty of ever having the inspiration to write a major work of literature again." (Hart Crane: A Life by Clive Fisher, 2002, p. 428)

"Lovecraft has been called a hack, a description I would dispute vugorously, but whether he was or wasn't, and whether he was a writer of popular fiction or a writer of so-called "literary fiction" (depending on your critical bent), really doesn't matter very much in this context, because either way, the man himself took his work seriously." (Dance Macabre by Stephen King, Berkley Books, 1983, p. 96)

After gaining some success as a writer, Lovecraft started to travel. His later tales show that he was beginning to outgrow from the genre of horror in the direction of science fiction - such pieces as 'The Color Out of Space' and 'The Shadow Out of Time' were first published in science fiction magazines. Lovecraft died from a combination of intestinal cancer and Bright's disease on March 15, 1937. He was buried in the family plot in the Swan Point Cemetary. Lovecraft's friends August Derleth and Donald Wandrei set up in 1939 a publishing house for his work, Arkham House, and the author's books have remained in print ever since. The Outsider and Others (1939), which was the first publication from Arkham House, contains his most memorable stories.

Most of Lovecraft's short fiction appeared in the magazine Weird Tales, beginning in 1923. His works from the early phase include 'The Tomb,' 'The Statement of Randolph Carter,' 'The Outsider,' 'The Rats in the Walls,' 'The Shunned House,' 'From Beyond,' and 'Cool Air,' all written with more or less conventional scenarios. Often there is a first-person narrator, who is a scientist or scholar and who witnesses events that contradict his beliefs and completely change his view of the world. "I am convinced," Lovecraft said, "that a solidly realistic framework is needed to in order to build up a preparartion for the unreal element". (Windows of the Imagination: Essays on Fantastic Literature by Darrell Schweitzer, 1999, p. 97)

"Trouble with memory. I see things I never knew before. Other worlds and other galaxies... Dark... The lightning seems dark and the darkness seems light..." (from 'The Haunter of the Dark', Weird Tales, Vol. 28, December 1936 ) Going gradually insane, Lovecfaft's characters must face ultimatre horrors, prepared or not: "The end is near. I hear a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it. It shall not find me. God, that hand! The window! The window!" (from 'Dragon,' The Vagrant, November 1919) Lovecraft's alter ego, Randolph Carter, was introduced in the short story 'The Statement of Randolph Carter' (1919). Carter was modeled after a dream. 'The Silver Key' (1926), written before The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926-27), reveals that Carter disappeared from this world at the age of 54. He visited several times the Dreamworld, a vast continent in the southern regions.

After returning to his native Providence, Lovecraft became interested in his own New England heritage, evoking its topography, history, and society. This period produced such stories as 'The Colour out of Space,' 'The Dunwich Horror,' 'The Shadow over Innsmouth,' 'The Thing on the Doorstep,' 'The Dreams in the Witch House.' Many tales utilize a pseudo-mythical framework, termed the Cthulhu Mythos.

The first installment in the series, 'The Call of Cthulhu,' a narrative-within-a narrative, appeared in the February 1928 issue of Weird Tales. In this complex story Lovecfaft created his basic myth of the Old Ones and Elder Race, which wandered on earth long before the appearance of Homo Sapiens. They are not omnipotent gods by nature, but extraterrestials. Cthulhu was a being that had come from the depths space and was buried in the sunken city of R'lyeh. Lovecraft said in a letter to August Derleth that all his stories, "unconnected as they may be, are based on the fundamental lore or legend that this world was inhabited at one time by another race who, in practicing black magic, lost their foothold and were expelled, yet live on outside ever ready to take possession of this earth again." (The Unspeakable and Others by Dan Clore, 2001, p. 323)

'The Dunwich Horror' was partly inspired by Lovecraft's trip to western Massachusetts in the area of Athol. He tranformed it into the home of decadent Wheateleys. In the story cycle, humans are hapless victims, not important for the incomprehensible cosmic forces. The view was based on his philosophical idea of "cosmicism", the insignificance of all human affairs in the vastness of the universe. Religion Lovecraft had rejected early; he was an atheist, who used Christian and other myths and images as narrative vehicles, among others the scene of the crucifixion. Like Jorge Luis Borges later, he perceived imagination as an alternative to reality. 

For further reading: Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos by Lin Carter (1972); Lovecraft: A Biography by L. Sprague De Camp (1975; H.P. Lovecraft: An Annotated Bibliography by S.T. Joshi (1981); H.P. Lovecraft: A Critical Study by Donald R. Burleson (1983); Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The Books, Addenda and Auxiliary by Joseph Bell (1983); Lovecraft: A Study in the Fantastic by Maurice Lévy (1988); 'Synchronistic Worlds: Lovecraft and Borges' by Barton Levi St. Armand, in An Epicure in the Terrible: A Centennial Anthology of Essays in Honor of H.P. Lovecraft, edited by David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi (1991); Lovecraft: A Life by S.T. Joshi (1996); The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, eds. John Clute and John Grant (1997); Clive Baker's A-Z of Horror (1997); Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers, ed. David Pringle (1998); A Cthulhu Mythos Bibliography & Concordance by Chris Jarocha-Ernst (1999); The Philosophy of H.P. Lovecraft by Timo Airaksinen (1999); The Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P. Lovecraft by John Strysik (2000); An H P Lovecraft Encyclopedia by S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz (2001); I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft 1-2 by S.T. Joshi (2010); In the Mountains of Madness: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Lovecraft by W. Scott Poole (2015); The Lovecraftian Poe: Essays on Influence, Reception, Interpretation and Transformation, edited by Sean Moreland (2017); Theology and H.P. Lovecraft, edited by Austin M. Freeman(2022); Lovecraft in the 21st Century: Dead, but Still Dreaming, edited by Antonio Alcala Gonzalez and Carl H. Sederholm (2022); Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales by John L. Steadman (2024). - H.P. LOVECRAFT IN THE MOVIES 1963-2013: THE HAUNTED PALACE, dir. Roger Corman (1963); DIE, MONSTER, DIE! / MONSTER OF TERROR, dir. Daniel Haller (1965); THE SHUTTERED ROOM, dir. David Greene (1966); CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR, dir. Vernon Sewell (1968); THE DUNWICH HORROR, dir. Daniel Haller (1969); EQUINOX, dir. Mark McGee and Jack Woods (1969); THE BEYOND, dir. Lucio Fulci (1981); RE-ANIMATOR, dir. Stuart Gordon (1985); FROM BEYOND, dir. Stuart Gordon (1986); THE CURSE, dir. David Keith (1987); PULSE POUNDERS, dir. Charles Band (1988); THE UNNAMABLE, dir. Jean-Paul Oulette (1988); BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR, dir. Brian Yazna (1989); TRANSYLVANIA TWIST, dir. Jim Wynorski (1989); CAST A DREADLY SPELL, dir. Martin Campbell (1991); THE RESURRECTED, dir. Dan O'Bannion (1991); CTHULHU MANSION, dir. J.P. Simon (1992); THE UNNAMABLE RETURNS, dir. Jean-Paul Oulette (1992); BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP, dir. Hervé Hachuel (1993); NECRONOMICON, dir. Brian Yuzna, Christopher Gans, and Shu Kaneko (1993); IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, dir. John Carpenter (1994); LURKING FEAR, dir. Courtney Joyner (1994); CASTLE FREAK, dir. Stuart Gordon (1995); BLEEDERS, dir. Peter Svatek (1997); COOL AIR, dir. Bryan Moore (1999); CHILEAN GOTHIC, dir. Ricardo Harrington (2000); DAGON, dir. Stuart Gordon (2001); THE MUSIC OF ERICA ZANN, dir. Jeremy Hechler (2002); THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH, dir. Edward Martin III (2003); LA CASA SFUGGITA, dir. Ivan Zuccon(2003); STRANGE AEONS: THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP, dir. Eric Morgret (2005); BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP, dir. Barrett J. Leigh, Thom Maurer (2006); COOL AIR, dir. Albert Pyun (2006); CHILL, dir. Serge Rodnunsky (2007); CTHULHU, dir. Dan Gildark (2007); THE TOMB, dir. Ulli Lommel (2007); THE WHISPER IN DARKNESS, dir. Matt Hundley (2007); BEYOND THE DUNWICH HORROR, dir. Richard Griffin (2008); COLOUR FROM THE DARK, dir. Ivan Zuccon (2008); PICKMAN'S MUSE, dir. Robert Cappelletto (2010); THE WHISPER IN DARKNESS, dir. Sean Branney (2011); THE CURSE OF YIG, dir. Paul von Stoetzel (2011); AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, dir. Guillermo del Toro (2013); COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2019), dir. Richard Stanley

Selected works:

• The Crime of the Century, 1915
• Looking Backward, 1920
• The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag, 1923
• The Materialist Today, 1926
• White Fire, 1927
• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, 1927/1941 (short novel)
  - Charles Dexter Wardin tapaus (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, 2002)
• 'Colour Out of Space,' 1927 (short story, first published in the September 1927 edition of Amazing Stories)
  - 'Väri avaruudesta,' teoksessa Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010) / 'Väri avaruudesta,'  teoksessa Väri avaruudesta ja muita Cthulhu-mytologian tarinoita (suom. Lauri Lattu, 2020)
• The Last Test, 1928 (with Adolphe de Castro, publ. in Weird Tales)
  - 'Viimeinen koe,' teoksessa  H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. VI, Hautakummun salaisuus sekä muita kertomuksia ja kirjoituksia (suom. Matti Rosvall & Markku Sadelehto, 2014)
• The Shunned House, 1928
  - 'Kammottu talo,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. I, Kuiskaus pimeässä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä, Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2009)
• At the Mountains of Madness, 1931 (short novel)
  - 'Hulluuden vuorilla,' teoksessa Nimetön kaupunki (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1991) / Hulluuden vuorilla (toimittanut ja suomentanut Lauri Lanttu, 2021)
  
• Further Criticism of Poetry, 1932
• Thoughts and Pictures, 1932 (editor)
• The Battle that Ended the Century, 1934 (with R.H. Barlow)
• The Cats of Ulthar, 1935
  - Ultharin kissat,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. II, Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010)
• Charleston, 1936
• A Sonnet, 1936
• Some Current Motives and Practices, 1936
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth, 1936 (short novel)
  - 'Varjo Innsmouthin yllä,' teoksessa Kuiskaus pimeässä (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1989) / 'Varjo Innsmouthin yllä,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. I, Kuiskaus pimeässä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä, Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2009) / 'Varjo Innsmouthin yllä,' teoksessa Lovecraftin parhaat (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, Ulla Selkälä ja Matti Rosvall, 2020) / 'Varjo Innsmouthin yllä,' teoksessa Väri avaruudesta ja muita Cthulhu-mytologian tarinoita (suom. Lauri Lattu, 2020) 
• H.P.L., 1937
• A History of the Necronomicon, 1938
  - 'Necronomicon,' teoksessa  H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. III, Vaaniva pelko ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 2011)
  
• The Notes & Commonplace Book Employed by the Late H.P. Lovecraft, 1938 (edited by R.H. Barlow)
• The Outsider and Others, 1939 (edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei; abridged as The Dunwich Horror, 1945)
• Supernatural Horror in Literature, 1939 (in the Outsider and Others, 1939)
  - 'Yliluonnollinen kauhu kirjallisuudessa,' teoksessa  H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. VI, Hautakummun salaisuus sekä muita kertomuksia ja kirjoituksia (suom. Matti Rosvall & Markku Sadelehto, 2014)
  
• Medusa's Coil, 1939 with Zealia Bishop, publ. in Weird Tales)
  - 'Medusan lonkerot,' teoksessa  H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. VI, Hautakummun salaisuus sekä muita kertomuksia ja kirjoituksia (suom. Matti Rosvall & Markku Sadelehto, 2014)
  
• The Mound, 1940 (in Weird Tales; written in 1929-30)
  - 'Hautakummun,' salaisuus teoksessa  H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. VI, Hautakummun salaisuus sekä muita kertomuksia ja kirjoituksia (suom. Matti Rosvall & Markku Sadelehto, 2014)
• Beyond the Wall of Sleep, 1943 (edited by August Derleth)
  - 'Unen seinämän takana,' teoksessa Temppeli ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Kari Nenonen, 1988) / 'Unen seinämän takana,' teoksessa Temppeli, Nimetön kaupunki ja muita kertomuksia (toim. Markku Sadelehto, 1999)
• Fungi from Yuggoth, 1943
  - 'Yuggothin kylvö,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. IV, Hautausmaan kauhu ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, Matti Rosvall, Sari Kallioinen & Anita Puumalainen, 2012)
  
• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, 1943 (written 1926-27)
  - 'Tuntematon Kadath,' teoksessa Vaeltaja unien portilla (suom. Matti Rosvall, 1997) / 'Tuntematon Kadath,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. V, Siivekäs kuolema ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Matti Rosvall ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2013)
• Marginalia, 1944 (edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei)
• The Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth and Other Stories of the Supernatural, 1944
• Best Supernatural Stories of H.P. Lovecraft, 1945 (edited by August Derleth; expanded as The Dunwich Horror and Others, 1963; abridged as The Clor Out of Space and Others, 1964; as The Best of H.P. Lovecraft, 1982)
• Supernatural Horror In Literature, 1945 (rev. ed., 1945)
• The Lurking Fear and Other Stories, 1947 (Cry Horror!, 1958)
  - 'Vaaniva pelko,' teoksessa Alkemisti ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1994)
• Something About Cats and Other Pieces, 1949 (edited by August Derleth)
• The Lovecraft Collectors Library, 1952-55 (5 vols., edited by George T. Wetzel)
• The Survivor and Others, 1957 (with August Derleth)
• Cry Horror, 1958
• The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces, 1959 (with Divers Hands; edited by August Derleth)
• Dreams and Fancies, 1962 (edited by August Derleth)
• The Dunwich Horror And Others, 1963 (edited by August Derleth)
• Collected Poems, 1963 (edited by August Derleth)
• Autobiography: Some Notes on a Nonentity, 1963
• At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels, 1964 (edited by August Derleth; rev. ed. by S.T. Joshi, 1985)
• The Lurking Fear and Other Stories, 1964
• Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, 1965 (edited by August Derleth; as The Tomb and Other Tales, 1969)
• Selected Letters I-V, 1965-76 (5 vols., edited by August Derleth, Donald Wandrei, and James Turner)
• The Dark Brotherhood and Other Pieces, 1966 (with Divers Hands; edited by August Derleth)
• 3 Tales of Horror, 1967
• The Shadow Out of Time, 1968 (The Shuttered Room and Other Tales of Horror, 1970)
• The Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos, 1969
• Memory, 1969
• Ex Oblivione, 1969
  - 'Ex oblivione,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. IV, Hautausmaan kauhu ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2012)
  
• What the Moon Brings, 1970
• Nyarlathotep, 1970
  - 'Nyarlathotep,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. IV, Hautausmaan kauhu ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2012) 
• The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions, 1970 (edited by August Derleth; as The Horror in the Burying Ground and Other Tales, 1975)
• The Doom That Came to Sarnath, 1971
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth And Other Stories Of Horror, 1971
• Hail Klarkash-Ton!, 1971
• Supernatural Horror in Literature, 1973 (new introduction by E. F. Bleiler)
  
• Ec'h-Pi-El Speaks ... An Autobiographical Sketch, 1972
• The Watchers Out of Time, 1974 (with August Derleth)
• The Occult Lovecraft, 1975 (edited by Anthony Raven)
• Medusa: A Portrait, 1975
• Lovecraft At Last, 1975 (with Willis Conover)
• The Statement of Randolph Carter, 1976
  - 'Randolph Carterin lausunto,' teoksessa Vaeltaja unien portilla (suom. Matti Rosvall, 1997)
  
• Writings in the United Amateur 1915-1925, 1976
• First Writings: Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner 1906, 1976 (edited by Marc A. Michaud; rev. ed., 1986)
• To Quebec and the Stars, 1976 (edited by L. Sprague de Camp)
• Collapsing Cosmoses, 1977
• Herbert West: Reanimator, 1977
  - 'Herbert West – elvyttäjä,' teoksessa Temppeli ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Kari Nenonen, 1988) / 'Herbert West - elvyttäjä,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. II, Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010)
• The Conservative: Complete 1915-1923, 1977 (edited by Marc A. Michaud)
• Memoirs of an Inconsequential Scribbler, 1977
• Writings in the Tryout, 1977
• A Winter Wish, 1977 (edited by Tom Collins)
• Antarktos, 1977
• The Californian 1934-1938, 1977
• Uncollected Prose and Poetry, 1978-82 (3 vols., edited by S.T. Joshi and Marc A. Michaud)
• Science Versus Charlatanry: Essays on Astrology, 1979 (with J.F. Hartman; edited by S.T. Joshi and Scott Connors)
• H.P. Lovecraft's 'Waste Paper', 1979
• H. P. Lovecraft in "The Eyrie", 1979
• Uncollected Poetry and Prose, 1978-80 (2 vols.)
• The Night Ocean, 1982
• The H.P. Lovecraft Christmas Book, 1984
• Saturnalia and Other Poems, 1984 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• Juvenilia 1895-1905, 1984 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• H. P. Lovecraft: Uncollected Letters, 1986 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• Medusa and Other Poems, 1986 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• H. P. Lovecraft: Commonplace Book, 1987 (2 vols., edited by David E. Schultz)
• European Glimpses, 1988
• Four Prose Poems, 1990
• H.P. Lovecraft: the Conservative, 1990 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• The Vivisector, 1990 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, 1990 (with Divers Hands)
• The Fantastic Poetry, 1990 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Henry Kuttner, 1990 (edited by David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi)
• Re-Animator, 1991
• Autobiographical Writings, 1992 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• H.P. Lovecraft, Letters to Richard F. Searight, 1992 (edited by David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi)
• Crawling Chaos, 1992
• H.P. Lovecraft; Letters to Robert Bloch, 1993 (edited by David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi)
• Letters to Samuel Loveman & Vincent Starrett, 1994 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth, 1994 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schulzt; rev. ed., 1997)
• Tales, 1995 (edited by Peter Straub)
• Miscellaneous Writings by H. P. Lovecraft, 1995 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft, 1995
• The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness, 1996
• The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, 1997 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• Selected Letters, Vol. 3, 1929-1931, 1998
• The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, 1999 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft, 1999 (edited byn Peter Cannon and S.T. Joshi)
• Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, 2000 (edited by Joyce Carol Oates)
• Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters, 2000 (edited S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H.P. Lovecraft, 2001 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• The Sahadow Out of Time, 2001 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, 2001 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei, 2002 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• Letters to Reinhardt Kleiner, 2003 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories, 2003 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• The Dreams in the Witch House: And Other Weird Stories, 2004 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• Collected Essays, 2004-2006 (5 vols., edited by S.T. Joshi)
• Letters to Alfred Galpin, 2005 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• Letters from New York, 2005 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• O Fortunate Floridian: H.P. Lovecraft's Letters to R.H. Barlow, 2007 (edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz)
• Essential Solitude: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, 2008 (2 vols., edited by David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi)
• The Fiction, 2008 (edited by S.T. Joshi)
• A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, 2009 (2 vols., edited by S.T. Joshi, David E. Schultz, and Rusty Burke)
• H.P. Lovecraft: Selected Works, Critical Perspectives and Interviews on His Influence, 2018 (edited by Leverett Butts)
  
• The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft: Beyond Arkham, 2019 (edited with a foreword and notes by Leslie S. Klinger; with additional research by Janet Byrne; introduction by Victor LaValle)
  
• The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, 2021 (Chartwell Books)
  
• The Call of Cthulhu: And Other Stories, 2022 (edited by Kurt Lovelace)
  
• The Colour out of Space: Lore of Lovecraft, 2022 (Vol. 2; edited and compiled by Kurt Lovelace)
• The Dreams in the Witch House: Lore of Lovecraft, 2022 (Vol. 4; edited and compiled by Kurt Lovelace)
• At the Mountains of Madness: Lore of Lovecraft, 2022 (Vol. 5; edited and compiled by Kurt Lovelace)
• The House on the Borderlands: Vol 6: Lore of Lovecraft, 2022 (edited and compiled by Kurt Lovelace)
• The Call of Cthulhu: And Other Stories, 2022 (edited with an introduction and notes by Leslie S. Klinger)
  

Principal Cthulhu Mythos stories:

• The Nameless City, 1922
  - Nimetön kaupunki (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1991) / 'Nimetön kaupunki,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. II, Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010)
• The Festival, 1925
  - 'Juhlapäivä,' teoksessa Nimetön kaupunki (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1991) / 'Juhlapäivä,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. II, Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010)
• The Colour Out of Space, 1927
  - 'Väri avaruudesta,' teoksessa Nimetön kaupunki (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1991) / 'Väri avaruudesta,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. II, Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010)
• The Call of Cthulhu, 1928
  - 'Cthulhun kutsu,' teoksessa Kuiskaus pimeässä (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1989) / 'Cthulhun kutsu,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. I, Kuiskaus pimeässä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2009)
• The Dunwich Horror, 1929
  - 'Dunwichin hirviö,' teoksessa Kuiskaus pimeässä (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1989) / 'Dunwichin hirviö,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. I, Kuiskaus pimeässä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2009)
• The Whisperer in Darkness, 1931
  - 'Kuiskaus pimeässä,' Kuiskaus pimeässä (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1989) / 'Kuiskaus pimeässä', teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. I, Kuiskaus pimeässä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2009)
• The Dreams in the Witch House, 1933
  - 'Unet noitatalossa,' teoksessa Alkemisti ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä & Ilkka Äärelä, 1994 )
• The Haunter of the Dark, 1936
  - 'Vainooja pimeydestä,' teoksessa Temppeli, Nimetön kaupunki ja muita kertomuksia (toim. Markku Sadelehto, 1999) / 'Vainooja pimeydestä,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. II, Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010)
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth, 1936
  - 'Varjo Innsmouthin yllä,' teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. I, Kuiskaus pimeässä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, et al., 2009)
• The Shadow Out of Time, 1936
  - 'Varjo menneisyydestä', teoksessa Varjo menneisyydestä (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, 1993) / 'Varjo menneisyydestä', teoksessa H.P. Lovecraftin kootut teokset. II, Varjo menneisyydestä ja muita kertomuksia (suom. Ulla Selkälä ja Ilkka Äärelä, 2010)
• At the Mountains of Madness, 1936
  - 'Hulluuden vuorilla,' teoksessa Temppeli, Nimetön kaupunki ja muita kertomuksia (toim. Markku Sadelehto, 1999)
• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, 1941
  - Charles Dexter Wardin tapaus (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, 1992)

August Derleth wrote many stories based on fragmentary texts by Lovecraft, including novels:

• The Lurker at the Threshold, 1945
  - Kauhun kynnys (suom. Ilkka Äärelä, 1993)
• The Survivor and Others, 1957
• The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces, 1959
• The Dark Brotherhood and Other Pieces, 1966
• The Shuttered Room and Other Tales of Terror, 1971
• The Watchers Out of Time and Others, 1974