in late 1935, william l. crawford's visionary publishing company began the process of issuing "the shadow over innsmouth" as a book. the project came to fruition in november 1936 (although the copyright page declares the date of publication as april 1936), but the book had so many typographical errors that lovecraft insisted on an errata sheet (which was also faulty). lovecraft was displeased with the production; writing to his correspondent lee mcbride white on nov 30, 1936, he wrote: "my "shadow over innsmouth" is now out - but as a first cloth-bound book it doesn't awake any enthusiasm in me. indeed, it is one of the lousiest jobs i've ever seen - 30 misprints, slovenly format, & loose, slipshod binding. the solitary redeeming feature is the set of utpatel illustrations - one of which, on the dust wrapper, saves the appearance of the thing..."