Kingbeast's Lair

I preordered a copy of Bookhounds Of London from Pelgrane Press and it arrived just a few days ago. The presentation of this package is not like anything I have ever seen in any product. It is so crazy cool that I am having trouble finding a place to start. I’ll detail the contents of the package as I open them. 🙂

First off it is delivered in a burlap army green messenger bag with word “DARCY” on one side and a strange Cthulhu-esque logo on the other side. When you open the bag you find a brown hardcover copy of Bookhounds Of London, a copy of Liber Fumo de Drater Vigilo: Agustus Darcy’s Guide to Occult London, a small plastic chip with a leaf insignia, and a manila envelope.

Opening the main book reveals a signature from the author, Ken Hite, and the word “ABYSSAL”. (Every copy has a different Lovecraftian word.) In the center of the book are 28 pages of fantastically beautiful color period maps. The work on these is just gorgeous. The book got an ENnie nod for best cartography and I can easily see why. To top it off the index contains an extremely detailed index for the book AND maps. (I will do a full review of the product and post it on this site after I have read it but knowing Ken’s work it will be a great review. 😉 )

The Liber Fumo book is a small (roughly 6″ x 8″) hardbound book. It is 148 pages in length. It covers occult London as researched by Augustus Darcy. The interior is entirely black and white but there are several inset photos to support the text.

The manilla envelope contains two postcards, an aged period book called Theosophy by Annie Besant (roughly 100 pages), and an aged period pamphlet called The History Of Christianity In The Essex Region by the Essex Education Committee (roughly 28 pages). When I describe the the book and pamphlet as “aged period” I mean that the pages are yellowed, some pages are stained, the binding on the book is threadbare, and the pamphlet shows wear. At the back of the Theosophy book is even a pasted in newspaper clipping that is stained. The postcards appear to be period and show faded text. The stamps are real and over stamped with period looking postmarks. I am not a “bookhound” but these look 100% authentic to me. If these are not authentic I applaud whoever created these objects.

These contents are extraordinary. I am running out of words to describe this package. Since I have run out of words I will leave you with the sound of my breathe getting taken away…[gasp]… 😀

[If you are reading this from the Kingbeast’s Lair blog site you can click on the pictures and examine full resolution shots of the details.]