The Mask of Cthulhu

The Mask of Cthulhu

Dust jacket illustration by Richard Taylor
Author	August Derleth
Cover artist	Richard Taylor
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy, horror
Publisher	Arkham House
Publication date	1958
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	201

The Mask of Cthulhu is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer August Derleth. It was released in 1958 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,051 copies.

The stories are part of the Cthulhu Mythos and most had appeared in the magazine Weird Tales between 1939 and 1953.

Contents

The Mask of Cthulhu contains the following tales:

• "Introduction"
• "The Return of Hastur"
• "The Whippoorwills in the Hills"
• "Something in Wood"
• "The Sandwin Compact"
• "The House in the Valley"
• "The Seal of R'lyeh"

Critical reception

E. F. Bleiler commented the book in The Guide to Supernatural Fiction (1983): "Hasty work not up to Derleth’s better level. Derleth was never really at home in the Cthulhu cycle. There are too many digressions to the Necronomicon, the mythology of the Great Ones, [and] the events described in Lovecraft’s stories."

Sources

• Jaffery, Sheldon (1989). The Arkham House Companion. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc. p. 48. ISBN 1-55742-005-X.
• Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. pp. 35–36.
• Joshi, S.T. (1999). Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. p. 65. ISBN 0-87054-176-5.
• Nielsen, Leon (2004). Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 78. ISBN 0-7864-1785-4.