New on Archive.org, a scan of the 1937 Not At Night Omnibus. This had Lovecraft between hard covers, if only in the British Isles. In the form of his “Pickman’s Model”, and the revision tale “The Horror in the Museum”.
Weird Tales offered their most suitable grue-some stories, these being selected by the magazine’s London agent Charles Lovell. The Selwyn & Blount anthologist Christine Campbell Thomson then made the final selection and ordering for the chunky mass-market hardback. One might have thought it would appear for Halloween in the autumn lists, but it appears to have been published in April or May 1937.
Checking with measuringworth.com, 2s6d in 1937 is equivalent to GBP 9.57 today in terms of consumer prices and GBP 25 in terms of wages.
Thanks, yes it looks like it would have been quite within reach. About the equivalent of the pay for a morning’s work, for a skilled working man. At that time, a ticket to a cinema show might have cost a shilling (5p), so this would cost less than going to the cinema three times.