The Horror in the Museum is a little bit of an odd one. It collects stories that were revisions, collaborations or entirely ghostwritten by Lovecraft for other authors. In the first edition, August Derleth blithely claims them for Lovecraft, saying they either largely or entirely were written by him and that’s that. S.T. Joshi, for the corrected edition, is much more cautious, arranging the stories according to the degree of Lovecraft’s involvement, with the first stories being entirely written by Lovecraft, and the later stories being more collaborations or heavy revisions. In his caution, for instance, Joshi removed “Four O’Clock” by Lovecraft’s wife, Sonia Greene, as it seems Lovecraft had no part in the writing of it, despite its inclusion in the Derleth version of the book (for what it is worth, Greene’s story, “The Horror at Martin’s Beach,” previously titled “The Invisible Monster,” is probably my favorite in the collection). Joshi also uncovered more stories, including two by Robert Barlow, Lovecraft’s chosen literary heir. Those stories were likely left out of the previous version because of animus between Derleth and Barlow over the rights to Lovecraft’s literary estate. Awkward!

The first edition (1970) boasts a cover by legendary horror cartoonist Gahan Wilson. The revision (1989) has a cover by Raymond Bayless. I am not super familiar with the stories in this book, so I’m a bit at a loss as to what it depicts. It seems to me more an illustration of “In the Vault” so I guess it is for “The Horror in the Burial Ground?” Your guess is as good as mine. The new cover by Tony Patrick (2001) depicts Rhan-Tegoth from “The Horror in the Museum” and is kind of epic in its doofiness.