Wetzel to Derleth, More on HPL

Wetzel, George T. TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS). 2 pages on single sheet of letter-size paper with a Maryland address, signed in pencil "George T. Wetzel", dated 29 June 1959, to "Dear Mr. Derleth" [August Derleth]. A cover letter for some photographs [not present] that Wetzel took in Providence of locations with Lovecraft interest. Most of the letter deals with identification of the supposed originals of settings in Lovecraft stories ("The Shunned House," "The Unnamable," "The Music of Erich Zann," "The Haunter of the Dark"). Wetzel also discusses an essay about the Cthulhu Mythos he is writing for a compilation edited by Derleth of previously uncollected pieces by and about HPL. Wetzel's essay, "Notes on the Cthulhu Mythos," appeared on pages [287]-290 of THE SHUTTERED ROOM (1959). (Another version appeared in H. P. LOVECRAFT: FOUR DECADES OF CRITICISM, edited by S. T. Joshi.) Wetzel complains about the heat and the effort to pare down his essay to the necessary length and the nearness of the deadline (in other words, things writers are always complaining about). Wetzel, notwithstanding the stylistic and grammatical lapses evident here, was one of the important early fan/scholars of HPL, who did much to gather material and information before such scholarship acquired academic respectability. Faint fold creases and minor rumpling, 8-mm edge tear, very good overall. (#116745)