The Colour Out of Space

The Colour Out of Space is H.P. Lovecraft's masterpiece of cosmic horror. When a meteorite lands on a secluded farm, something begins to spread through the surrounding countryside. The vegetation flourishes grotesquely. The water turns foul. The very atmosphere seems altered. Lovecraft builds a slow, growing dread as the natural world gives way to something wholly alien. Lovecraft wrote the story in March 1927, in the midst of finalizing his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature. Dissatisfied with the all-too-human aliens populating much of the fiction he had been surveying, he set out to imagine an entity so foreign it could scarcely be described—a presence beyond comprehension, beyond category. The story appeared that September in Amazing Stories and remained, by Lovecraft's own account, his favorite of his short works.

The limited edition of The Colour Out of Space is presented in three states: Artist Edition, Numbered Edition, and Lettered Edition. The Lettered Edition is limited to 26 copies with a 6” x 9.85” trim size. It is signed by S.T. Joshi and Sally Hands and includes an introduction by S.T. Joshi. The volume features seven wood engravings by Sally Hands, printed from the block. The text is set in ITC Golden Cockerel and printed letterpress on handmade Velké Losiny paper featuring a custom watermark. The binding is full marbled goatskin with a blocked leather label onlay, with the leather hand marbled by Freya Scott. Endsheets are black Hahnemühle Bugra, backed with marbled paper in a Tiger's Eye design. The book is housed in a cloth-covered clamshell enclosure with velour-lined trays.