William Easton Loutitt cache of Lovecraftiana

Chrispy was unaware of these items. They were fleetingly published, and only a researcher at the time would have seized and stored them. 19 bids to $99.90. Wow. Chrispy lost this auction. :/

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LOT of Four Scarce H.P. LOVECRAFT Ephemera - No Reserve!!!

November 30, 1946 issue of "Publishers' Weekly" (Volume 150, No. 22). H.P. Lovecraft is mentioned in the article "News from the Rare Book Sellers" by Jacob Blanck.

December 22, 1945 issue of "Publishers' Weekly" (Volume 148, No. 25). Once again, H.P. Lovecraft is mentioned in the article "News from the Rare Book Sellers" by Jacob Blanck.

Catalogue No. 78 of Philip C. Duschnes' "Books". Within this catalogue, one will find a listing (No. 511) for "The Necronomicon" by Abdul Alhazred. Included with this catalogue are clippings of two newspaper articles from the 1940's examining the significance of Duschnes' listing of "The Necronomicon". Referring to the appearance of "The Necronomicon" in the catalogue, one article states: "Now that is enormously interesting because, so far as I am aware, everyone who has written about Lovecraft has assumed 'The Necromomicon' to be an ancient book of demonology which existed only in Lovecraft's mind." The second article states that "Lovecraft's editor, August Derleth, at once airmailed: 'This is an absolute FRAUD. HPL invented the Necronomicon himself, and he also invented the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred." This article then quotes a letter from Philip C. Duschnes himself: "Of course the whole thing is a hoax and the give-away is the fact that I mentioned a copy in the Universtity of Arkham, Mass., both the university and the town being non-existent in the State of Massachusetts. You asked why I did it and I do not know other than that I was tired of cataloguing real books for many years and I thought I would make up one for the fun of it." This hoax by Duschnes made his Catalogue No. 78 a collector's item in itself!! The page (and the opposite page) featuring listing No. 511 in the catalogue have faint yellow transfer marks from the two newspaper clippings, which were stored between the pages for many years (text is unaffected).

Full newspaper page featuring an article from "The Providence Sunday Journal" on August 22, 1948. Article is titled "Howard Phillips Lovecraft as His Wife Remembers Him" by Sonia H. Davis (The former Mrs. H.P. Lovecraft. Published here for the first time, the "Woman Who Knew Him Best Tells of Their Strange Marriage and Difficult Years". Features a picture of both Lovecraft and Davis. Also included with this newspaper page in a small envelope, is an additional small clipping of a newspaper article referencing Lovecraft.

All of these items were previously a part of William Easton Loutitt's private library.

Loutitt was a noted collector and the official archivist for the John Hay Library at Brown University from the 1950's through the 70's. Loutitt's private library book plate can be found on the inside rear cover of the two issues of "Publishers' Weekly".

All ephemera have been stored in protective manila envelopes, which are also labeled for convience.