The Materialist & Walter Coates

In H. P. Lovecraft: A Life *, S. T. Joshi states:

"...Walter J Coates (1880-1941) ..got in touch with Lovecraft through Cook ... not sure what reason ... they ... hsared a fondness for backwoods New England ... {and probably} discussed this subject in their correspondence ... Coates ... had founded The Driftwind, and in one early issue he published Lovecraft's essay The Materialist Today (Ocober 1926). Lovecraft declares it was at Coates' insistence. Coates also issued it as a pamphlet in a print run of 15 copies making it one of the rarest of Lovecraft's seperate publications ... for many years it was thought that no copies survived, but lately one or two copies have surfaced. ... The essay is short, compact, and somewhat cynical ennunciation of materialist principles. Coates ... published Lovecraft's verse in Driftwind."



1996, Necronomicon Press, p. 427