Well-placed illustrations aid the flow of the story greatly, as well as some resizing of sentences for emphasis that helps bring home the point of many of Lovecraft’s ramblings without feeling cartoonish. A foreword by Maxime Chattam compares the tale to the icy horrors of The Thing (1982) which, again for a first time reader, was rather exciting.īefore reading I was asked by a friend, “Does he picture the monstrosities at the camp?” Of course I had no idea to which monstrosities he was referring, though it was a question I kept coming back to while wading through the heavy descriptions of the first few pages. It might be considered impractical by those wanting to read anywhere other than a desk, but the thing holds an intrinsic weight that makes your perusal all the richer. A hardback at 26x36cm, displaying the beautiful and atmospheric artwork of Baranger, has an obvious air of quality a first glance bringing hopes that it only echoes the scale and majesty held within. The first thing to notice is the size of the At The Mountains of Madness Illustrated book, released by Free League Publishing.

Imagination could conceive almost anything in connexion with this place. As I mentioned in a previous article on visualizing cosmic-horror in film, adding any form of physical imagery to Lovecraft’s work often poses the risk of detracting from its intended effect. The line could easily be self-referencial of much of Lovecraft’s work, in that a lot of the ‘ cosmic-horror’ that he coined and regularly explored relies heavily on the imagination of the reader. This is only Volume 1 and for someone like me who has never indulged in this particular tale, it’s quite the cliffhanger.

Francois Baranger’s illustrated version of HP Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness, blown up to double its impact, rings out in the ears as if echoing from the highest snowy peak.

At the mountains of madness baranger