Robert W Chambers Pins and Buttons

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The King in Yellow

The Yellow Sign is a symbol first mentioned in Robert W. Chambers' book of horror short stories The King in Yellow (1895). The stories mention the play The King in Yellow, a forbidden work which induces despair and madness in those who read it.. H. P. Lovecraft and many of his imitators were great admirers of Chambers' book and incorporated many of his characters and symbols into their own works. In the latter-day Cthulhu Mythos, the Yellow Sign is the sign of The Great Old One, Hastur, and is used by members of his cult to identify one another.

At last I was King, King by my right in Hastur, King because I knew the mystery of the Hyades, and my mind had sounded the depths of the Lake of Hali. I was King! Chambers, Robert W... The King in Yellow;

The King In Yellow

Have you found the Yellow Sign? Have you found the Yellow Sign? Have you found the Yellow Sign?

"Songs that the Hyades shall sing/Where flap the tatters of the King/Must die unheard in/Dim Carcosa." To know his is to go mad, and Mr. Chambers' macabre creation had admirers as grand as Lovecraft, who wrote what might be termed fan references into his stories. Here is the King in all his turn-of-the-century glory. Modified from a public domain original in the NYPL.

Whatever, king. Hastur's gonna hast.

Royal cypher of Hildred Castaigne, King and Emperor of America. Designed by me, and inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ “The King in Yellow.” I recommend a dark black or gray background for this art.

Ultra-modern, hip and hi-tech version of The Yellow Sign. Be the coolest kid in Carcosa when you've found the New & Improved Yellow Sign! I recommend a dark background for this art.

My interpretation of Robert W. Chambers' "Yellow Sign," as if rendered in black onyx and gold: "...inside lay a clasp of black onyx, on which was inlaid a curious symbol or letter in gold. It was neither Arabic nor Chinese, nor, as I found afterwards, did it belong to any human script."

Text treatment of a quote from Robert W. Chambers, from The King in Yellow (1895), including a subtle 'Yellow Sign' at the bottom, made of question marks.

"Under the tossing ocean the voice of the waters was in my ears – a low, sweet voice, intimate, mysterious. Through singing foam and broad, green, glassy depths, by whispering sandy channels atrial with sea-weed, and on, on, out into the vague, cool sea, I sped, rising to the top, sinking, gliding. Then at last I flung myself out of water, hands raised, and the clamor of the gulls filled my ears." Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow

“No, he is not vicious, nor is he in the least demented. His mind is a wonder chamber, from which he can extract treasures that you and I would give years of our life to acquire.” Chambers, Robert W.. The King in Yellow

“For I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now.” Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow

“The city, the State, the whole land, were ready to rise and tremble before the Pallid Mask." Chambers, Robert W... The King in Yellow

"Come and see my rose-coloured bath full of death!" Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow

“The time had come, the people should know the son of Hastur, and the whole world bow to the black stars which hang in the sky over Carcosa.” Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow

Outwardly tranquil, I had deceived myself.” “The mask of self-deception was no longer a mask for me, it was a part of me.” “For I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now.” “There a painless death awaits him who can no longer bear the sorrows of this life. Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow

"I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow." Chambers, Robert W.. The King in Yellow

"For those poisoned words had dropped slowly into my heart, as death-sweat drops upon a bed-sheet and is absorbed. Trembling, I put the diadem from my head and wiped my forehead, but I thought of Hastur and of my own rightful ambition (...)" Chambers, Robert W.. The King in Yellow

“(...) a list of thousands of names which Mr. Wilde had drawn up; every man whose name was there had received the Yellow Sign, which no living human being dared disregard." Chambers, Robert W... The King in Yellow

“It is a book of great truths,” I said. “Yes,” he replied, “of ‘truths’ which send men frantic and blast their lives. I don’t care if the thing is, as they say, the very supreme essence of art. It’s a crime to have written it, and I for one shall never open its pages.” Chambers, Robert W... The King in Yellow

"Songs that the Hyades shall sing, Where flap the tatters of the King, Must die unheard in Dim Carcosa." Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow

"Like swimming squirrels, you navigate with the help of Heaven and a stiff breeze, but you never land where you hope to – do you?" Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow

"Songs that the Hyades shall sing/Where flap the tatters of the King/Must die unheard in/Dim Carcosa." To know his is to go mad, and Mr. Chambers' macabre creation had admirers as grand as Lovecraft, who wrote what might be termed fan references into his stories. Here is the King in all his turn-of-the-century glory. Modified from a public domain original in the NYPL.

The first offering of cosmic madness from the Carcosa-Cola shop! A shirt (or sticker, or magnet, etc.) emblazoned with the official soft drink of The Yellow King and company. Kick back on the shore of Lake Hali and take a refreshing sip.

This is the most famous one, inspired by Kevin A. Ross interpretation. “…inside lay a clasp of black onyx, on which was inlaid a curious symbol or letter in gold. It was neither Arabic nor Chinese, nor, as I found afterwards, did it belong to any human script.” Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow, [The Yellow Sign]

"This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask"