OT: Tartarus Press

So I’ve seen mentions of the Tartarus Press and I was wondering if anyone could recommend any specific titles? Always value the insight from those on here.

Tartarus has a consistent house style, so if you like their presentation of any volume you will probably like most others. A few of the covers have more elaborate printed or pressed patterns (underneath the dusk jacket). I am more familiar with their editions of classic weird fiction writers compared to publications of more recent works. I am particularly partial to their editions of Saki, Sarban, Machen, and Aickman.

Some of the Tartarus editions are perhaps only of interest to readers with a strong dedication to particular authors. For example, you will need to go on the secondary market for the classic Machen titles they have released; the Machen still available from the publisher are mostly slightly more obscure, such as Hill of Dreams.

It really depends what you're into. They're lovely books, but the vast majority contain no artwork and are all similarly designed, so there's not anything that stands out as THE Tartarus title to own (in my opinion). Just comes down to your own interests in weird and decadent writing.

My tastes lean towards 19th and early 20th century weird fiction and ghost stories, so I tend to avoid their books from contemporary authors. Some of my own favorites have been:

-Ringstones & The Sound of His Horn by Sarban
-Clarimonde by Theophile Gautier
-Green Thoughts by John Collier
-The Macabre Tales of E.A. Poe- this one is a bit too big to handle comfortably, but the quality of Clarke's illustrations make it worthwhile

Yes, if any book appeals and you're aware that illustrations are (generally) few or absent I doubt you would be disappointed. My favourites include the Lafcadio Hearn and John Collier collections, Mark Valentine's three volumes of notes on neglected authors, the wealth of Arthur Machen titles and Adrian Woodhouse's large format monograph on Beresford Egan. Most, though, are at least initially in editions limited to around 300 copies, so they do sell out, and are often costly on the secondary market.

Tartarus Press are some of my favourite books, both in terms if consistently interesting content, and high quality design and production. As well as older favourites (particularly the Robert Aickman volumes), I've taken a chance on some of the contemporary titles, and have rarely been disappointed. The Child Cephalina by Rebecca Lloyd come to mind - it was/is excellent.

Beautifully produced books with that severe but oddly ominous uniform design in dead-flesh cream and dried blood red. If I were to see a clutch of them on someone's shelf I would know I had found a kindred spirit.

Because they are mostly limited editions, there is always that fear that you may be missing out, but I limit myself to one a month to keep things manageable.

My favourites have to be the Robert Aickman books, some of which I read as a teenager, and which I have been collecting for a while. If you haven't read any, the stories they most remind me of are those disturbing ones from Hilary Mantel's The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher. They stay with you... The one I wish I'd known about before it sold out is The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley, which I do hope it comes back into print some day.

I have only one of these, the Poe mentioned above, but quite pleased with it.
See https://www.flickr.com/photos/warwick_carter/40849623252/in/photolist-25eJZPb

Thanks for all of the feedback. I ended up ordering three books: The Child Cephalina, the Hoffman volume and the Gauthier volume.

Trying to not browse secondary market, since I assume it is more expensive!

>6 red_guy: ...a clutch of them on someone's shelf...

They do tend to cluster.



I've just placed an order for two more Arthur Machen volumes and the Beresford Egan book is too large for this shelf, but that's almost the whole of my present complement.

>9 terebinth: An eldritch collection indeed. I do really think they look slightly unsettling, and can't quite say why, but they actually lurk.

The Poe is interesting. I had it in this format (well, a similar cream cover) when it was published quite cheaply by a reprint outfit called Minerva Press in the 70s . Then I 'upgraded' it to the Folio version (not sure it actually was an upgrade, actually apart from the slipcase). Have you ever been able to compare the Tartarus to the Folio?

Ah! >7 wcarter:, I've just seen your link. Colour plates, eh? Never seen those...

>10 red_guy: Have you ever been able to compare the Tartarus to the Folio?

Yes, the Folio Tales of Mystery and Imagination was part of my first ever order from the FS. We've an old thread on the Tartarus book which includes comparisons -

https://www.librarything.com/topic/287651

>11 terebinth: Thank you for that. I wish I had seen that before I got the Folio. Reasonable prices on Abe, but I'm not sure I can go for a third copy at the moment. I wish someone would do a good edition of the Arthur Rackham version. I grew up with that, and still have vivid memories of the grisly illustrations for Hop-Frog; a far cry from his usual work.

What are people’s thoughts on the available Aickman and Machen story collections? Worth buying or not their best?

Aickman is a very consistent writer, and I would recommend Sub Rosa or Cold Hand in Mine as good places to start.

All the Aickman is very good. On the Machen, The Hill of Dreams, the Autobiography and The Secret Glory (all currently in print) are some of his best, IMHO.

The Aickmans include two volumes of autobiography and a never-released (until now) novel, as well as the "strange stories" (his preferred description) that's he's most famous for.

Most of the press's Arthur Machen short story collections have gone out of print. If you can find them, Tales of Horror and the Supernatural (a reprint of a posthumous "best-of" from 1948) and Ritual and Other Stories covered nearly everything. When the press lost the rights to Tales of Horror and the Supernatural they reprinted The House of Souls (a best of from 1906 which includes the full text of The Three Impostors, which the press hadn't printed before) and reprinted the original short story collections from the 1930s, The Cosy Room and The Children of the Pool. Although first printed in the '30s, The Cosy Room collects up a lot of older material - there's a lot of overlap with Ritual and Other Stories. Notably, both books reprint Ornaments in Jade, a volume of "decadent" prose poems composed back in the 1890s, in full.

>16 housefulofpaper:

Do you happen to know if the Tartarus Aickmans overlap much with the CP Aickman?

>17 MobyRichard: apart from introductions and some textual apparatuses, I believe all the works of Aickman published by Centipede are covered by Tartarus. I can check later if you are curious about an exact determination. In any case, the overlap is high.

The big difference is that most of the Tartarus volumes replicated the titles and contents of the original volumes, while the Centipede books are retrospective complications. And as noted above, some works are unique to Tartarus (but probably only of interest to an Aickman aficionado or a Tartarus completionist).

>17 MobyRichard:

I don't have the CP edition, but the website describes it as reprinting 48 stories. I assume we're talking about the big two-volume "Masters of the Weird Tale" rather than the "Library of Weird Fiction" book (I don't own either edition).

I also don't have the two-volume Tartarus Aickman, but only the editions of his original books that they started reprinting in the 2010s.

The only volumes that would contain material not in the CP book, would be - definitely, The Attempted Rescue and The River runs Uphill (autobiography) and Go Back at Once (the novel).

I would hazard a guess that CP didn't reprint Elizabeth Jane Howard's stories from We Are For The Dark.

The Strangers and Other Writings was a volume of previously uncollected writings. I don't know if any of them are in the CP edition. Some of the material from this book was reprinted in the NYRB paperback, Compulsory Games.

A novella entitled "The Model" was included in the Tartarus edition of Night Voices.

I'd also mention that there's a another novel which, as yet Tartarus haven't been able, or don't wish to, republish, The Late Breakfasters.

>12 red_guy: Calla (the Dover imprint) publishes a facsimile edition of Poe with the Clarke illustrations. Their website says it replicates a 1933 edition from Tudor. It is on the larger side in dimensions (large octavo I suppose; 10.5 inches tall). I’m not sure I would call it a good edition in final evaluation, but the binding is stitched and feels solid.

Thanks >20 abysswalker: , I'll stick with my Folio version for now. I would like to see more of Clarke's other worth though, - he seems by far the best of the Beardsley imitators of the early 20thc, and there must be other stuff.

>18 abysswalker:
>19 housefulofpaper:

Thanks! I might pick up his "autobiography," sounds even weirder than his stories.

Another coven of Tartarus volumes.

(Unseen, Machen's essay Hieroglyphics, currently hiding at the office.)

And here's all my Machens. There are are Tartarus Press paperback editions amongst them (also see the two Reggie Oliver books at bottom right).

For those interested, I received the Tartarus Press books I ordered and am quite happy with them. Two quibbles: I’m almost finished reading The Child Cephalina and some of the dye on the tail of the spine has come off. Similar to a lot of older Folios (ex/The Mandarins). Also, I wish the smaller books opened easier (Cephalina is 260 pages and very tight). But overall very happy, looks like I’ve found another publisher to stretch my book budget for! Thanks to all of you for your input!

I have almost all of the tartarus press hardcovers and can confirm that for the past 10 years or so they changed to a binder that uses too much glue in the spine making the books hard to open. They no longer lay flat which rather defeats the object of them being nicely sewn.

Favourites are machen, aickman, Mark Valentine and sarban.

>26 paulmoran: That is very good to know because I want sewn spines specifically for the lay-flat qualities... if I have to crack the spine, that defeats the point!