Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Lovecraft's Providence

Lovecraft was born in 1890. His Providence world was proud and important. It was the 25th largest city in the US with a population of 132,146. (in 1900 it would be the 20th largest with 175,597).

1886 was the 250th celebration of its founding, and into this era Lovecraft was born and soon relocated to College Hill. He would walk up to the attic and look through old books, breahe their musk, and view their old Victorian era pages until it seeped into his blood.

If this book - or one like it - werelaying there he would have seen images very much like these. It would start him on a life of antiquarianism, obsession with Providence, and mental images of engravings and woodcuts and legendary names that he would use in his stories the rest of his days.

This book's details: THE PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS FOR TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AN HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE FOUNDATION RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE ( RHODE ISLAND )/// WITH A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY AT THE PRESENT TIME AND OF ITS INDUSTRIES COMMERCE MANUFACTURES BUSINESS INTERESTS EDUATIONAL RELIGIOUS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS CIVIC SCIENTIFIC AND MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS ALSO SKETCHES OF THE CITIES OF NEWPORT AND PAWTUCKET AND THE OTHER TOWNS OF TEH STATE FOR WHICH PROVIDENCE IS THE COMMERCIAL CENTRE TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF PROVIDENCE INCLUDING THE ORATION BY CHIEF JUSTICE THOMAS DURFEE LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIETIES PARTICIPATING AND OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THERWITH BEING AN HISTORICAL SOUVENIR OF THIS OCCASION

ILLUSTRATED WITH MANY OF HISTORIC PLACES OLD BUILDINGS AND WITH VIEW SHOWING PRESENT APPEARANCE OF MANY OF THE PROMINENT STREETS BUSINESS BLOCKS AND RESIDENCES OF THE CITY ENGRAVINGS OF ANCIENTA ND NOTABLE DOCUMENTS PORTRAITS OF MAYORS DISTINGUISHED GOVERNORS EMINENT STATESMEN AND DIVINES MILITARY HEROES AND PROMINENT CITIZENS OF PROVIDENCE AND THE STATE /// BY WELCOM ARNOLD GREENE AND A LARGE CORPS OF WRITERS /// PROVIDENCE, RI JA & RA REID PUBLISHERS AND PRINTERS /// 1886 FIRST EDITION










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