Because of its length, At the Mountains of Madness appeared in three consecutive issues of Astounding Stories (February–April 1936). Each installment featured illustrations (by Howard Brown), noteworthy as some of the earliest artwork connected to a Lovecraft tale. A few are especially significant, as they provide the first published depictions of the Old Ones (Elder Things) and shoggoths.
The first issue from the February 1936 issue shows the base camp of the Lake Expedition, with the city of the Old Ones in the distance.
This issue also includes two illustrations of the Old Ones themselves.
The March 1936 issue opens with a depiction of not just the Old Ones and their city but also a shoggoth, which looks very similar to the one that appears on the cover of the February issue.
We then get more of both the Old Ones and their city.
In my opinion, these are all really striking illustrations – and apparently Lovecraft agreed. In a letter to August Derleth, he stated that, "The illustrator drew the nameless Entities precisely as I imagined them." Very high praise indeed!
I'll have more to say about the illustrations from "The Shadow Out of Time," I'll save that for yet another post.
Very nice! Thanks for sharing these. The Old Ones sometimes look a little awkwardly drawn but still charming; I could imagine these illustrating some OD&D booklet.
ReplyDeleteThe shoggoth here looks pretty different from the one on the cover. I assume someone else drew and colored that?
Fantastic art
ReplyDeleteAmazing. The artist's mastery of architecture, and light and dark, portrays the cyclopean scale and abandoned emptiness that the story demands. Also, the careful realism grounds everything so the monsters and the city are more jarring in contrast, just like Lovecraft did with his narrative. Thanks for posting these!
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