Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I own both the first and second B&N Complete Lovecraft editions and this is, far and away, the best of them all. I won't go into the typos that appear in both the B&N editions and this one (that's already been covered by another reviewer) but I will talk about the books themselves. The 2008 B&N edition is rather plain and underwhelming, with basic black boards, plain purple end-papers and a rather unattractive dust-jacket. But, at the time, it was the only book that collected all (or almost all, at any rate) of Lovecraft's fiction in one volume. Plus, it was only $12.95. The 2011 B&N reprint is a much spiffier affair. Bound in faux leather -- which, despite feeling kind of cheap-ish is still very nice -- with silver gilt edging, a satin bookmark and very cool marbled end-papers, it's definitely a step-up from the 2008 edition. I'm not personally thrilled with the design of the cover, but that's just my opinion. It sells for $18.00. This Knickerbocker Classics edition blows them all away. The slipcase, which boasts a very well-done Cthulhu illustration, is thick and remarkably sturdy. The text on the front of the slipcase is embossed and the Cthulhu illustration is printed in silver, metallic ink. It makes for a very impressive presentation. A minor annoyance is a paper describing the book is glued to the back of the slipcase. I tried to carefully and slowly remove it and some of the paper of the slipcase began to come away with it so I guess it stays. It would be nice, however, if it were easily removed if desired. Unlike the two B&N editions which have glued bindings, this edition has a stitched binding which should hold up better over time. The cloth-bound covers are very impressive in blue and metallic silver, and there is a silver satin bookmark. The end-papers are light grey with a scale-like design, nice, but not nearly as nice as the end-papers on the 2011 B&N edition. The paper is of a very similar stock on all three editions and is certainly on the thin side; there is a fair amount of text-bleed through the pages. But all three books in question are nearly 1100 pages so thin paper is a bit of a necessity to keep the weight and size at manageable levels. Overall, this edition is the far superior one. The first B&N edition has cheap written all over it, plus there are the hundreds of typos to contend with. The second B&N edition is decent but the faux leather and somewhat ugly cover design doesn't do it any favors, and it ends up looking and feeling like a book that's trying to be a lot more than what it actually is. The Knickerbocker edition looks and feels elegant. It's really quite beautiful and if it cost twice what it actually does it would still certainly be worth it. A very, very nice book.