The Tryout

One of Lovecraft's early friends was Charles Smith. Lovecraft visited "Tryout Smith" in 1919 in Haverhill, MA. Lovecraft had already adopted his "old man" personna and often enjoyed the company of older men - for instance Jonathan Hoag. Smith was 69 at this time.





Joshi declares that the Tryout was one of the most pathetic and misprinted journals in the history of amateur journalism. However it was regular as clockwork - 300 issues between 1914 to 1948. Smith, as editor, set the type by hand in a shed behind his house at 408 Groveland Street. (*)

Now you can judge. Here are some rare glimpses.








(*) Text from p. 258 of Joshi's H P Lovecraft: A Life.

The ebay offering of this states:

(1) THE TRYOUT Feb., 1918 A WINTER WISH, 1ST APPEARANCE, An unusually early appearance by H. P. Lovecraft under his own name and pseudonym Ames Dorrance Rowley for the poem "Laeta: A Lament". Paper just toned, with a few small chips in the cover; not brittle like old Pulp paper! A rare opportunity to acquire a very early piece and add that special uniqueness to your collection, published five years before his 1st appearance in Weird Tales!

(2) THE TRYOUT Oct., 1918, THE EIDOLON, 1ST APPEARANCE, An unusually early appearance by H. P. Lovecraft under his own name, "The Eidolon" a four-page poem. Paper is just dark paper, not stained or browned, it is just a darker paper that printer C. W. Smith used. A rare opportunity to acquire a very early piece and add that special uniqueness to your collection, published five years before his 1st appearance in Weird Tales! Note the date misprinted as 1819!