# The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft written in early 1927, set in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. It was first published (in abridged form) in the May and July issues of Weird Tales in 1941; the first complete publication was in Arkham House's Beyond the Wall of Sleep collection (1943). Warning: template has been deprecated.
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Tombs of Madness
As he walked slowly about the hideous subterranean cavern, it occurred to Willett that both the noise and the odor seemed strongest directly above the oddly pierced slabs, as if they might be crude trapdoors leading down still deeper to some region of horror.
At his touch, the moaning beneath ascended to a louder key, and only with vast trepidation did he lift the heavy stone. A stench unnameable now rose up from below, and the doctor's head reeled dizzily as he laid back the slab and turned his torch upon the exposed square yard of gaping blackness.
For a second he could distinguish nothing but the slimy, moss-green brick walls, then he saw that something dark was leaping clumsily and frantically up and down at the bottom of the shaft. A few seconds later he was as stark mad as any inmate at the hospital—and screaming!
By H. P. Lovecraft
Published by Ballantine Books:
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS AND OTHER TALES OF TERROR
THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD
THE DOOM THAT CAME TO SARNATH
THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH
THE LURKING FEAR AND OTHER STORIES
THE TOMB AND OTHER TALES
THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD
H. P. Lovecraft
A Del Rey Book
BALLANTINE BOOKS • NEW YORK
* Chapter One: A Result and a Prologue
* Chapter Two: An Antecedent and a Horror
* Chapter Three: A Search and an Evocation
* Chapter Four: A Mutation and a Madness
* Chapter Five: A Nightmare and a Cataclysm
​A Del Rey Book
Published by Ballantine Books
1941 by Weird Tales
1943 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei
ISBN 0-345-35490-7
This edition published by arrangement with Arkham House
Printed in Canada
First Ballantine Books Edition: August 1971
Seventh Printing: October 1987
Cover art by Michael Whelan
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[Back Cover]
A young man cursed by the ultimate invocation of evil
Incantations of black magic unearthed unspeakable horrors in a quiet town near Providence, Rhode Island. Evil spirits—whose memory lived on in half-understood legends and vile superstitions—lurked in underground caverns…waiting to be unleashed.
Driven by the spirit of his dead ancestor, a master of the black arts, Ward delved into his forbidden past and resurrected the darkest evil from beyond the grave…a supernatural force so gruesomely relentless that it twists genius to madness and kills without offering the mercy of death!
Lovecraft Lives in Del Rey Books
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror
The Tomb and Other Tales
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Lurking Fear and Other Stories
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Doom that Came to Sarnath
Cover printed in USA
One or more copyright licenses apply to this work.
The text of the original was published in abridged form in 1941 in Weird Tales and was not renewed.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) before 1964, and copyright was not renewed.
* For Class A renewal records (books only) published between 1923 and 1963, check the Stanford University Copyright Renewal Database.
* For other renewal records of publications between 1922–1950, see the University of Pennsylvania copyright records.
* For all records since 1978, search the U.S. Copyright Office records.
Works published in 1941 could have had their copyright renewed in 1968 or 1969, i.e. between January 1st of the 27th year after publication or registration and December 31st of the 28th year. As this work's copyright was not renewed, it entered the public domain on January 1st, 1970.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 86 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
It is imperative that contributors ascertain that there is no evidence of a copyright renewal before using this license. Failure to do so will result in the deletion of the work as a copyright violation.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
The work was republished in 1943 in Beyond the Wall of Sleep. Beyond the Wall of Sleep was renewed, but this only applied to the arrangement of the stories (compilation rights) and not the text content (Renewal: R504228).
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) before 1964, and copyright was not renewed.
* For Class A renewal records (books only) published between 1923 and 1963, check the Stanford University Copyright Renewal Database.
* For other renewal records of publications between 1922–1950, see the University of Pennsylvania copyright records.
* For all records since 1978, search the U.S. Copyright Office records.
Works published in 1943 could have had their copyright renewed in 1970 or 1971, i.e. between January 1st of the 27th year after publication or registration and December 31st of the 28th year. As this work's copyright was not renewed, it entered the public domain on January 1st, 1972.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 86 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
It is imperative that contributors ascertain that there is no evidence of a copyright renewal before using this license. Failure to do so will result in the deletion of the work as a copyright violation.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
There is no copyright notice or delayed registration for any new matter in this edition.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) between 1929 and 1977 (inclusive) without a copyright notice.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
The cover art of this 1987 reprint does not have a valid copyright notice: it is missing the words "Copyright/Copr./©" and the date (see also Jaws Illustration (USCO Review Board, 2014)). There is no apparent subsequent registration.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) between 1978 and March 1, 1989 (inclusive) without a copyright notice, and without subsequent copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office within 5 years.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse