Usher House Library

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The Library of the House of Usher was a series of books by Insel Verlag , in which a wide range of eerie and fantastic literature was presented. Edited by Kalju Kirde , a total of 26 volumes were published between 1969 and 1975 by international authors , with three exceptions ( Stefan Grabiński , Thomas Owen and Jean Ray ) by English-speaking authors. The name of the series goes back to the story The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe .

particularities

One focus of the series were ghost and horror stories of English-language fantasy, for example by Howard Phillips Lovecraft , who was represented in four, and Algernon Blackwood , who was represented in three volumes. Other authors in this language area were the Lovecraft influenced and praised by him Clark Ashton Smith and William Hope Hodgson with two volumes and Lord Dunsany , Arthur Make and Edgar Allan Poe with one volume each. A novelty was the translation of stories by Poland Stefan Grabiński and Belgians Jean Ray and Thomas Owen .

Many of the translations from English are by Friedrich Polakovics, other translators are Rein A. Zondergeld , Rudolf Hermstein , Jörg Krichbaum , Wulf Teichmann, Traude Dienel, as well as Arno Schmidt and Hans Wollschläger .

The library of the House of Usher can be seen as a counterpart to the eight-volume Galerie der Fantast , which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century and in which works by ETA Hoffmann , Edgar Allan Poe, Honoré de Balzac , Alfred Kubin and Hans Heinz Ewers were published. The books, which are mostly printed on light green paper, have surrealistic dust jackets by Ute and Hans Ulrich Osterwalder.

As a complementary counterpart from the field of science fiction , Insel Verlag published 15 volumes of Fantastic Reality - Science Fiction of the World, edited by Franz Rottensteiner between 1971 and 1975 .

Both bibliophile series are out of print today and are being sought by collectors.

Development and importance

The library of the House of Usher contributed to the popularization of the genre in the German-speaking area, some important storytellers of fantastic literature were presented here to a wider audience for the first time in Germany. Tales by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who is considered an “insider tip” , had already been published in 1965 by Heyne Verlag , and in 1968 a collection of his now very well-known stories under the title Cthulhu , translated by HC Artmann , was the real reception of Lovecraft's work in Germany but first with the library of the House of Usher .

All titles in the series were later reprinted as paperbacks in the Fantastic Library of Suhrkamp Verlag .

Volumes

author title translator epilogue Publishing year
Ambrose Bierce The haunted house Gisela Günther u. a. 1969
Algernon Blackwood The empty house Friedrich Polakovics 1969
Algernon Blackwood Visit from over there Friedrich Polakovics 1970
Algernon Blackwood The handle from the dark Friedrich Polakovics 1973
Walter de la Mare From the depths Traude Dienel u. Elizabeth Gilbert 1972
August Derleth On Cthulhu's trail Willy Thaler 1972
Lord Dunsany The window to the other world Friedrich Polakovics 1971
Stefan Grabiński The siding Klaus Staemmler 1971
Stefan Grabiński haze Klaus Staemmler Marek Wydmuch 1974
William Hope Hodgson Voice in the night Wulf Teichmann 1970
William Hope Hodgson The house on the border Traude Dienel 1973
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu A picture by the painter Schalken Friedrich Polakovics Rein A. Zondergeld 1973
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu The possessed baronet Friedrich Polakovics Jörg Krichbaum 1974
Montague Rhodes James Abbot Thomas' treasure Friedrich Polakovics 1970
Howard Phillips Lovecraft The Charles Dexter Ward case Rudolf Hermstein 1971
Howard Phillips Lovecraft Mountains of madness Rudolf Hermstein 1970
Howard Phillips Lovecraft City without a name Charlotte Countess von Klinckowstroem 1973
Howard Phillips Lovecraft The thing on the threshold Rudolf Hermstein 1969
Arthur Do The shining pyramid Herbert Preissler 1969
Thomas Owen Where to go in the evening Rein A. Zondergeld Rein A. Zondergeld 1975
Edgar Allan Poe The Fall of the House of Asher Arno Schmidt u. Hans Wollschläger 1972
Jean Ray The alley of darkness Willy Thaler 1972
Jean Ray Malpertuis Rein A. Zondergeld Jörg Krichbaum 1974
Clark Ashton Smith Seed from the grave Friedrich Polakovics 1970
Clark Ashton Smith The planet of the dead Friedrich Polakovics 1971
Herbert Russell Wakefield The triumph of death Jörg Krichbaum Rein A. Zondergeld 1975

literature