I have several depictions of Cthulhu (doesn't everyone) but this statuette produced by Chronicle Books and purchased at McNally Robinson seems the most accurate."Inspector Legrasse was scarcely prepared for the sensation which his offering created. One sight of the thing had been enough to throw the assembled men of science into a state of tense excitement, and they lost no time in crowding around him to gaze at the diminutive figure whose utter strangeness and air of genuinely abysmal antiquity hinted so potently at unopened and archaic vistas. No recognised school of sculpture had animated this terrible object, yet centuries and even thousands of years seemed recorded in its dim and greenish surface of unplaceable stone.
The figure, which was finally passed slowly from man to man for close and
careful study, was between seven and eight inches in height, and of
exquisitely artistic workmanship. It represented a monster of vaguely
anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of
feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore
feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with
a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated
corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered
with undecipherable characters. The tips of the wings touched the back
edge of the block, the seat occupied the centre, whilst the long, curved
claws of the doubled-up, crouching hind legs gripped the front edge and
extended a quarter of the way down toward the bottom of the pedestal. The
cephalopod head was bent forward, so that the ends of the facial feelers
brushed the backs of huge fore paws which clasped the croucher's elevated
knees. The aspect of the whole was abnormally life-like, and the more
subtly fearful because its source was so totally unknown. Its vast, awesome,
and incalculable age was unmistakable; yet not one link did it shew with
any known type of art belonging to civilisation's youth - or indeed to any
other time. Totally separate and apart, its very material was a mystery; for
the soapy, greenish-black stone with its golden or iridescent flecks and
striations resembled nothing familiar to geology or mineralogy. The
characters along the base were equally baffling; and no member present,
despite a representation of half the world's expert learning in this field, "
by H. P. Lovecraft
We have just returned from two weeks in Saskatoon. Helen's family lived near Westgate Books. so I visited it several times. And there on the shelf were more of the Ballantine editions with the John Holmes covers I collected as a teenager.
Westgate has an interesting history which is related here.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/westgate-books-owner-donates-entire-collection-to-employee-1.3046878
If this is Wilbur, it does not seem to be a terribly
accurate depiction, but a striking cover none the less,
by Victor Valla for Lancer Books.
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