Thursday, October 15, 2009

Rare Item: Original Lovecraft Watercolor


An anonymous owner contacted me, Chrispy, and is allowing us all to see this important and wonderful item. It is a water color by Lovecraft's hands. Please respect the owner as to all ownership rights.
Here is the information as posted on the original auction house site.
[Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips].].
ORIGINAL DRAWING IN WATERCOLOR AND PENCIL of Lovecraft's 598 Angell Street residence, 6 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches, signed "HPL" in lower left corner;
TOGETHER WITH two black and white Velox reproductions of the preceding; TOGETHER WITH a 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" black & white photo negative by Richard L. Tierney of same house; TOGETHER WITH small white envelope with "The 598 Angell Street residence (photo credit: Richard L. Tierney)" typed on front along with some penciled notations addressed to=2 0printer concerning enlargement and placement in book of picture; TOGETHER WITH manila envelope containing all of the preceding, sent to "Mr. August Derleth / Sauk City / Wisconsin" with printed return address of Electrical Testing Laboratories of New York and handwritten above it, "H. Koenig."
The envelope is postmarked August 23, 1933.
598 Angell Street was the house into which the Lovecraft family moved in 1904 (from #454, where HPL was born) after suffering a serious financial reversal. It was a duplex shared with another family, a big step down for the Lovecrafts and a blow to the sensitive 14-year-old Howard. "This was probably the most traumatic event Lovecraft experienced prior to the death of his mother in 1921…. the loss of his birthplace, to one so endowed with a sense of place, was shattering." - Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, p. 59. The colored sketch has a 12 mm tear at top edge and a 2 x 8 mm piece missing along top edge, affecting only the plain white background; manila envelope has top right corner torn off; all else very good.
Provenance: Koenig to Derleth / Derleth Papers. (#112454)

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