A new edition of the only book Lovecraft saw published during his lifetime, similar in size and format to the original, but with the attention to typographic and production details that the story deserves.
The total edition is 175 copies, 150 pp, small octavo (5 x 7.5 inches). The book features a fold-out map of Innsmouth, created for this edition and based on Lovecraft’s detailed descriptions of the town. There is a wood engraving frontis and five smaller engravings, one for each chapter opening; these are inspired by images found in the paintings of Heironymous Bosch. The text is set in Centaur and Arrighi, with Gill Shadow for display. The pages were printed letterpress, in two colors, at David Clifford's Black Stone Press.
There are three states:
Ichthyic (25 copies, I–XXV, with the imprint Heavenly Monkey) printed on Nideggen, a laid sheet suitably tinted for the story's abyssal theme. These were hand-bound at the Heavenly Monkey studio: sewn on black vellum slips and laced into a traditional limp case made from a handmade abaca-based paper with the texture and look of vellum. The case is lined with a sheet of handmade cotton paper that has had a large linocut printed on the front, the title on the spine, and our press device on the back. These can be seen through the semi-transparent paper case, to greater or lesser degrees, depending on how it is held. This issue also includes proofs of the engravings printed from the original blocks on handmade gampi paper, interleaved through the text, with the colophon signed by Shinsuke Minegishi. Seven of these copies (two hors commerce) had the proofs hand colored by the artist; these were sewn on purple vellum slips. With a black paper slipcase on which the title and lincout have been printed in black.
Batrachian (copies numbered 1–125, with the imrpint Heavenly Monkey Editions) printed on Mohawk Superfine, sewn & cased by hand in full black cloth with an image gold-stamped on the front board. This issue also features specially printed endpapers not used in the Ichthyic copies. Some early copies were had the frontis initialed by the artist.
Abyssal (lettered A–Z), identical to the Batrachian copies but reserved for private distribution to collaborators and friends.
