Goodenough, Cook, Lovecraft Postcard of 21 August 1927

These items are in Ivan's collection from an auction some time back. It's not clear if these have been seen by other Lovecraftians, or not. The coupling of the postcard and Arkham image gives a nearly a three dimensional aura to us over 80 years later.

The seller said:
2 original postcards signed H.P. Lovecraft and initialed C.H.P.
These were found in a box of Postcards from Vermont.

Ivan told me, "I managed to purchase this postcard (postmarked 21 August 1927) autographed by W.P. Cook, Arthur H. Goodenough and H.P. Lovecraft. A real gem ... I found a photo of those 3 men taken on 21 August 1927 (The Arkham Sampler, Volume II, number 4, Special Photograph Issue-II: Howard Phillips Lovecraft and his friends & relatives, The Strange Company 1985). ... imagine, a photo taken practically on the same day this card was written, signed by those 3 men."

It's wonderful Ivan is sharing these images with us !

_____



Above, is of interest to "Fossil" and amateur journalism lovers. I asked Dave Goudsward his impressions:

Ivan is quite correct about Kipling. He only lived in Vermont from 1892-1896 and Naulakha was in Dummerston.

"The Fossil" was a publication of National Amateur Press Association, a subset of the older group of amateurs as a historical resource for the amateur press movement. Tilden was a long time member and past president of the Fossils and had been a force to be reckoned with during the formative years of the NAPA.

Lovecraft did visit Arthur Goodenough and Vrest Orton in Vermont in 1927. I would assume Goodenough is the Laureate - other postcards from HPL tend to have the signature of the person he was visiting. Cook of course, would have been the one who drove.

Tilden worked for Labor Department, so he may have been having NAPA submissions sent to him at work.





The seller states the text reads:

The full text (at least what I make of it) reads:
'Memorable amateur meeting! This is the Vermont Laureate's first sight of an amateur in person since Cook blazed the trail. Also my first sight of Vermont-exquisite country! Am stopping with Cook in Athol. Regards-HPLovecraft. Arthur H Goodenough. W.P. Cook.'

Causerie (1936) and L'Alouette

Causerie [unnumbered] (February 1936)
Edited by E.A. Edkins
14 pages
Contents:
* H.P. Lovecraft's poem "Continuity"
* short review of Lovecraft's The Cats of Ulthar, pulished by R.H. Barlow's Dragon Fly Press (compares HPL to Oscar Wilde)
* 3-page review of Frank Belknap Long's The Goblin Tower, also published by Dragon Fly Press (some of the text for this publication was hand-set by Lovecraft)
* short article on Hyman Bradofsky
* additional reviews and articles
_____

L'Alouette: A Magazine of Verse #1.1 (January 1924)
Edited by Edith Miniter, Howard P. Lovecraft, W. Paul Cook, et al.
40 pages
Contents:
* 2-page review of Clark Ashton Smith's Ebony and Crystal written by H.P. Lovecraft
* full-page ad for The Crafton Service Bureau (Lovecraft & Morton)
* 2-page poem by Samuel Loveman
* poem by Arthur Henry Goodenough
* poems by Nelson Glazier Morton, Jennie E.T. Dowe, Michael White, Ada Borden Stevens, Bertha Grant-Avery, Mary Morton Zeigler, Edna Hyne, Edith Miniter
* additional reviews, articles and ads

Paul Cook: The Vagrant

From the seller (epegana): THE VAGRANT - September, 1919
edited by W. Paul CookPublished by W. Paul CookW. (Willis) Paul Cook was one of the innermost, important, and influential membersof H. P. Lovecraft's friends & circle. Paul Cook was an early champion of Amateur Journalism and never compromised his high ideals of presentation, printing, and binding - many times not even recovering costs for his troubles; he also printed Lovecraft's first book "The Shunned House". This issue presents part one of Arthur Goodenough's - "Twenty Years ' Recollections of Amateur Journalism", and a poem by Winifred Virginia Jordan (HPL's girlfriend??).A very good copy with moderately tanned pages.

Image of Tryout Smith Surfaces

More sell off of collections means more rare items briefly show up on the ebayeum. This set of images are of the Tryout, and the seller has some interesting anecdotes (below).

THE TRYOUT

{From epegana} March, 1917Edited & published by C. W. (Tryout) Smith. Beginning at the age of sixty-two in 1914, C. W. Smith published more than three hundred issues of "The Tryout" until aged ninety-six, in 1948. Each & every issue was set by hand one letter at a time - a remarkable tribute to the man's endurance and dedication. C. W. always had weak eyesight and his many typos can be attributed to the simple fact that he just couldn't discern when a letter was mis-trayed or inverted, certainly not a lack of desire to do quality printing. This is an excellent issue featuring two appearances by H. P. Lovecraft: "Pacifist War Song-1917" by Lewis Theobald Jr. (HPL) and "To Mr. Lockhart On His Poetry" by H. P. Lovecraft. Additionally there is a poem dedicated to HPL from Chester P. Munroe, entitled "To H. L. My Friend", and poetry by Arthur Goodenough, Winnifred Virginia Jordan and others. A fine, near very-fine unfolded copy with the string-tie still attached. The addition of a copy of the scarce (rare in this condition!) "Tryout" with HPL appearances, adds luster to an Arkham House collection! (Please note that the photograph of C. W. Smith at his job tray is NOT included in this sale.)

Lovecraft's Friend: Arthur Goodenough

“Songs of Four Decades” by Arthur H. Goodenough, published by W. Paul Cook/The Recluse Press (Athol, Massachusetts) in 1927, 5.75” x 8.5” hardcover (red cloth on boards with paper title plates on the cover and spine), no dust jacket, 160 pages.

W. Paul Cook, a writer who used the pen name Willis T. Crossman, was an amateur journalist and a companion of H.P. Lovecraft (he wrote a memorial volume on Lovecraft in 1940). He moved to Athol in 1912 and went to work for a local newspaper, whose presses he used to print assorted journals and books by himself and acquaintances. Cook founded the Recluse Press in 1926 (his most notable publication was a single issue of a magazine that published Lovecraft’s “"Supernatural Horror in Literature”).

Click this link to read an article on W. Paul Cook that appeared in the Barre Montpelier Times Argus.

Goodenough was a Brattleboro, Vermont, poet. The poems previously appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Boston Ideas, the Boston Daily Post, the Brattleboro Reformer, the New England Homestead, and other publications.

Condition is very good: clean contents, scattered minor foxing, tight binding, firm hinges, owner's name (Malcolm M. Goodenough, dated 1961) on the front free endpaper.

Songs of Four Decades: Arthur Goodenough

Well Chrispy lost another ebay auction. Heh. From the illustration, it looks like it's bound precisely as W Paul Cook bound Walter Coates book of poetry (that I do have).

I'll have a bit more on Goodenough later. Stay tuned in a few days.

The Tryout October 1920

TRYOUT, THE. October 1920 (volume 6, number 10). Edited by C. W. Smith. Haverhill, Mass.: C. W. Smith, October 1920 (volume 6, number 10). Small octavo, single issue, self wrappers, sewn. Includes "October," the first printing of a poem by H. P. Lovecraft writing as "Henry Paget-Lowe." Joshi I-B-iii-120. A fine copy. (#108451) Price: $125.00 Cover poem is by Arthur Goodenough.

The Tryout November 1918

TRYOUT, THE. November 1918 (volume 4, number 11). Edited by C. W. Smith. Haverhill, Mass.: C. W. Smith, November 1918 (volume 4, number 11). Small octavo, single issue, self wrappers, sewn. Includes "Germania -- 1918" by H. P. Lovecraft. The first printing of this poem. Joshi I-B-iii-82. 17 mm closed tear at top edge of front cover, a near fine copy. (#108442) Price: $100.00 The front poem is by Arthur Goodenough.

The Tryout December 1926

TRYOUT, THE. December 1926 (volume 11, number 1). Edited by C. W. Smith. Haverhill, Mass.: C. W. Smith, December 1926 (volume 11, number 1). Small octavo, single issue, self wrappers, sewn. Includes "The Return" by H. P. Lovecraft. The first printing of this poem. Joshi I-B-iii-158. Several light creases to covers, a couple of ink spots on rear cover, a very good copy. (#108460) Price: $125.00

Arthur Goodenough is featured and you can see William Jennings Bryan eulogized.

The Tryout April 1918

TRYOUT, THE. August 1918 (volume 4, number 8). Edited by C. W. Smith. Haverhill, Mass.: C. W. Smith, August 1918 (volume 4, number 8). Small octavo, single issue, self wrappers, sewn. Includes "August" by H. P. Lovecraft. The first printing of this poem. Lovecraft is mentioned in several articles and is the subject of "Lovecraft Ð an Appreciation," a poem by Arthur Goodenough. Joshi I-B-iii-10. A fine copy. (#101342) Price: $150.00