Encyclopedia- recommendations?

[S_P]

This evening a played a game of 'Arkham Horror' (good fun though I did get eaten by Yog Sothoth) and I asked my friends if they could recommend a good encyclopedia of Lovecraft (the man and his work) rather than anything gamed based. They seemed unable to come up with anything so I thought I'd ask here as you seem a pretty knowledgeable lot.

Any suggestions guys and girls?

MTIA,

Pete.

[maccioniath]

I've always found the old Chaosium book 'Encyclopedia Cthulhiana' to be useful. It doesn't have much about Lovecraft himself, however, and might not be the easiest to run down a copy of, though.

[Knightofspades]

S. Petersen's guide to Cthulhu monsters have some great old school illustrations.

[gnomehome]

recommend a good encyclopedia of Lovecraft (the man and his work) rather than anything gamed based. T
MTIA,

Pete.

I'm not quite sure what you're after - is it essays about Lovecraft you're looking for, or collected Lovecraft Stories ? Or just a description of the creatures in his work ?

Wordswordth Editions have three volumes of his work (with a 4th coming up shortly) for a very affordable price. On their site you'll find a short bio of the author:

http://www.wordsworth-editions.com/authors/lovecraft-hp

[Ballardian]

Other than the one mentioned, I'm not aware of any print 'encyclopaedias', but a good online bestiary does exist at; yog-blogsoth.blogspot.co.uk in which Michael Bukowski list all the creatures in Lovecraft, tells you in which stories they appeared & paints some excellent images of them. (you can get this, albeit in several volumes direct from him). 

[S_P]

Thanks for the input - appreciated.

I've ordered this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/097487891X/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Will let you know what I think of it when it arrives.

Cheers,

Pete.

[Gundamentalist 5.56]

I've always found the old Chaosium book 'Encyclopedia Cthulhiana' to be useful.

Dan Harm's Encyclopedia Cthulhiana came out in a 3rd edition a few years ago. Its still available and very recomended as a collection of everything HPL, REH, CAS, Derleth, Lunley, etc wrote about.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Cthulhu-Mythos-Encyclopedia-Lovecrafts/dp/1934501050/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370301991&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=encylopedia+cthuliana