Dear Readers, Ferdy has graciously consented to show you an item from his private collelction. To my knowledge, this post card has not been indexed or cataloged elsewhere - though my information is certainly not exhaustive. As usual, I do have trouble with HPL's writing, but the best I can decipher is below. Ferdy, amend this in comments if you'd like - and from all of us who are fans, again, a warm "Grazie".
Walter J. Coates, Esq,
N. Montpelier, Vermont
7 August 1931 {Friday - CP}
Congratulations on the two latest Driftwinds - one of which arrived during my absence, the other of which just came. You are surely the premier upholder of Vermont letters! The NY Times last Sunday {i.e. 2 August - CP} had a {fa've??} full-page review of the new Stephen Days Vermont anthologies on p. 2 of the book section.Yours stood at the head of the list! Best Wishes. --> Come down when you can & bring WPC {W. Paul Cook} along. Give him my regards. {Y'rs ??} HPL
2 comments:
FYI: I was able to track down this article from 2 August 1931 which was also in the NYT the same day HPL read the book reviews. Puts things in perspective, and a little sitz im leben for HPL's life.
***
Shortly before it opened, Attica was hailed in the following article, which appeared in the New York Times on August 2, 1931:
ATTICA PRISON TO BE CONVICT'S PARADISE
Condemned by the Wickersham Commission for its maintenance of Auburn and Clinton prisons, New York State will have an answer to charges of inhuman penal conditions when the New York State Prison opens at Attica within the next few months with its full quota of 2,000 convicts. Said to be the last word in modern prison construction, the new unit in the State's penal system will do away with such traditions as convict bunks, mess hall lockstep, bull pens, and even locks and keys. In their places will be beds with springs and mattresses, a cafeteria with food under glass, recreation rooms and an automatic signal system by which convicts will notify guards of their presence in their cells. Doors will be operated by compressed air, sunlight will stream into cells and every prisoner will have an individual radio.
Perhaps because of the Depression economy, perhaps for other reasons as well, no Attica inmate has ever seen the institution described above.
Fascinating stuff. Not only a new piece from HPL, but the an interesting happening from the day to boot. Keep up the good work.
Post a Comment