For years, the HPLHS has offered numerous editions of Lovecraft's fiction by *other* publishers. An edition of their own has been long overdue. Nor surprisingly, quite a lot of careful thought and effort was put into creating this set with the usual creativity and extra touches that we've come to expect from our beloved Society. This is not merely an edition of the complete fiction. It's called the H.P. Lovecraft Experience for a reason. And weighing in at 8 pounds, it's massive!

The two volumes of Lovecraft are a perfect size for holding comfortably and reading. They are beautifully made with flexibound covers, edge staining, and placemark ribbons. By the way, possibly unbeknownst to the boys at the HPLHS, they are a perfect companion match to the Barnes & Noble edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Classic Stories which is the same size and with a similar flexibound cover! (see photo). Plus, it is nice to see that these books have sewn bindings. If there is any doubt, open up the book and look down inside the middle of one of the "signatures" (the booklets that are sewn in), and you will see the stitching (see photo). Not only that, but the Reader's Guide also has a sewn binding. Quality everywhere.

The Reader's Guide is a valuable and very welcome part of this set, featuring Branney and Leman's insightful analyses of ten of Lovecraft's stories. As usual, they've come with another way to add to the experience of enjoying Lovecraft. I am very happy that they chose to include something like this.

Adding to the overall experience are the lovingly crafted ephemera. My favorites are the Orne Library Card and the leatherette bookmark (I'm a sucker for cool bookmarks).

And of course everything is housed in a frightening vault that even features lifting ribbons for extracting the hideous tomes from their encasement. That's if you can get past the terrifying visage on the outside! This set is totally a winner and well worth acquiring.

If you don't have a full set of HPL works, this is a great set to have. If you already have the complete works, you'll have to decide if another copy is worth $100.
The Reader's Guide itself is worthy of purchase, if that comes up for sale on it's own, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
The quality and presentation are very well done. It looks great, it's solid, and the straps are a welcome addition.
The Miskatonic extras are cool, but I wish they would have all been different pieces from what is already available in other kits.
The 2 books are well done. The font is perfect for HLP's writing. I would have preferred the books to be hard-cover, but that's just me.
Overall, I really like it, and I'm going to use this set to replace my HLP Anthology books.

I was absolutely satisfied with the collection provided by the HPLHS. The box alone felt like it was worth the price of admission, it has a fantastic sheen and feel to it I'm happy to simply have out for others to take a look at.

The books themselves are also wonderful. The feel and look of them are fantastic alone, but having them all over two books really simplifies a lot of the collection aspect alone, done in a logical way between both volumes one and two.

The additional draw is the reading companion. I would say it's a bonus that really while I wanted just the novels alone, I was enjoying reading before the stories they're analyzing.

Over all very worth it. My only complaint was shipping, but that is to be expected with such a large but ultimately very worth it collection.

My son is a huge Lovecraft fan, and he will love this. Such a beautiful set.

There is no shortage of Lovecraft collections, so what makes this one worth its hefty price tag?

For me the main draw was the Reader's Guide, which didn't disappoint in quality. A selection of ten titles were given commentaries reviewing their plots, characters, themes and motifs. If you're the kind of person who loves to look up wiki articles after finishing a book or movie, it's a great piece filled with flavor and passion. Though it is a bit sparse to recommend the physical set solely for its inclusion.

The other addition is the small package of collectible knick-knacks, which are good quality for what they are, but offer limited usability if you're not interested in roleplay. (However, I do absolutely love that I can tell my friends I have a degree from Miskatonic University).

The books themselves are great. There was no doubt a lot of care that went into the text itself. Scholar S.T. Joshi referenced original manuscripts to ensure the stories collected here are as close to Lovecraft's original intention as possible, though I'm not qualified to note what specific corrections might have been made for this collection.

The covers are tasteful and elegant, the pages feel great, and the text is readable. The two volumes are individually more comfortable and convenient for casual reading or carrying for travel. Together they're actually thicker than most other collections. They are divided at a good point, the first volume containing "Call of Cthulhu" and ending with "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath", and the latter continuing from there, starting with "Dexter Ward". The effect is that the first volume contains mostly the shorter stories from early in Lovecraft's career and is perfect to keep with you if you just want quickly digestible shots of horror during a lunch break or waiting in a lobby, while the second volume contains mostly the denser stories, and is great if you prefer something denser for long trips. I do a bus/subway commute and frequently find myself unwinding in cafes near work, so these volumes feel quite suited for me, a weirdo who loves portability but stubbornly refuses to wholly abandon physical media even when using an ebook would be vastly easier, haha.

Overall, for passionate fans who don't mind indulging a bit of their disposable income, the physical set is a worthwhile luxury. For beginners just looking to get into Lovecraft, or for people who aren't as concerned with the ephemera, the digital version is offered at a much more reasonable price and still comes with the well-made and entertaining reader's guide.

In either format, this is a fantastic set and lives up to its name as a way to experience the mysterious and thrilling world of HP Lovecraft.