Lovecraft: circa 23 November 1926

From an auction comes this unique item. Seller's notes below.

Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips]. SUGGESTIONS FOR REVISION OF AN UNTITLED MYSTERY STORY, AUTHOR UNKNOWN. AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT (AMs). 2 pages. Handwritten on 2 sheets of 8 7/8 x 11 1/4-inch paper. Undated, but verso of each sheet comprises a 2-page letter to Lovecraft from a Munich publisher dated 23 November 1926 on their letterhead. The bread-and-butter of Lovecraft's employment for most of the 1920s and '30s was fixing up the work of other writers. This ranged from critiquing to editing to extensive revision to collaboration to outright ghosting. Yet not a lot of the work he did for strangers has survived. The present document, therefore, has value for filling in part of that gap, and more unusually, in a genre we think of as foreign to him: the traditional mystery story. It's known that HPL revised all sorts of nonfictional work (history, textbooks, speeches) but this is the first example we have of fiction other than the weird tale receiving his professional attention, with detailed advice here about plotting, characterization, style, etc. What's interesting is what a quick study he was. Given the encyclopedic tendencies we've always seen in nonfictional interests, it shouldn't be surprising perhaps that he could familiarize himself so quickly with a strange genre. It makes one think he could have done the same -- with sufficient motivation -- for any kind of writing. Protean yet obsessive is another one of the paradox pairs that belong to Lovecraft. But the kind of revisionary work shown here also has a more direct bearing on his weird tales, which, after all, form the core of his work. In a 1929 letter to a young admirer (see LWC inventory #108100), he refers to the glibness of all his work up until the last two or three years. "The thing that has helped me shake off this incubus is, without doubt, my critical & revisionary work -- which compels me to analyze …. Bitterly as I hate this work, it has done me good by compelling me to pay more attention to the fundamentals of the writing process…" Light mailing creases, else fine. (#109136)

Price: $4,500.00

Lovecraft Letter Uncovered in Indiana

Thanks to Steve of the Limbonaut/Criticaster, he alerted us about this letter at Indiana University.

The full text of the Lilly Library article is here ... click !

"Card" to Barlow

(Lovecraft, Howard Phillips) Barlow, Robert Hayward. HANDMADE BIRTHDAY CARD FOR H. P. LOVECRAFT. Pencil drawing of monster on 17" x 23" newsprint flyer (with ad for Piggly Wiggly groceries on verso) with brief verse, signed "Ar-Ech-Bei." Date unknown, but probably 1935 or 1936. Barlow, twenty-eight years Lovecraft's junior, became one of his best friends during the 1930s and was made his literary executor. The present item, an oversized, humorous, handmade birthday card, was (according to a note by Barlow in the lower right corner) sent in order to one-up a similar card sent to HPL by Robert Bloch. This drawing shows a monster of some sort with flames in the background and an eight-line poem that begins: "I came to wish you greetings, late, / In Tulu's name vast horrors, great / Gloom upon the coming year / May it be horrible and drear ... ." The draughtsmanship, like the verse, is tolerably good, making the whole thing eminently suitable for framing, carrying a special poignancy because it came so near to Lovecraft's death in 1937. Old crease folds and some very minor edge tears, pulpy paper browning a little but not brittle, generally very good to excellent. (#116830

Lovecraft Goes to a Museum

[23 November 1928 to Wandrei]

I hope to get to Boston next week to see the new wing of decorative arts at the museum. … From all accounts, it will make Metropolitan’s American wing a back number.

Compare:
[23 November 1928 to Derleth]

Sometime soon I am going to see the new wing of the art museum there. It is devoted to architectural interiors from 1493 to 1801, & is said to be so representative that it makes the Metropolitain Museum’s American wing retreat as a back number. This is right in my line, & with the museum so near at hand (an hour by train – two by bus) I mean to take advantage of it. It opened yesterday.

{Mr. Joshi notes in the Derleth letter collection that HPL did not go to the museum until January 1929. Those details Chrispy will post shortly.}

_____

[4 January 1929 from HPL and Samuel Loveman to Wandrei]

Ave, young Melmoth! {HPL’s affectionate nickname for the often hitchhiking Wandrei – CP} Behold the Convention! We’ve been treading the ground which you’ll recall from a year & a half a go - & glimpsed the Excellent Lunch (opposite the Y) * from a car window this afternoon.

{The Y is the YMCA, in those days an inexpensive hotel for some travelers. The Excellent Lunch is said by Mr. Joshi to possibly be represented by the Ideal Lunch in HPL’s story “The Shadow Over Inssmouth”. – CP}

[16 January 1929 to Wandrei]

I stayed in Boston a day longer that Loveman …

[12 January 1929 to Derleth]

Last week I had a pleasant & unexpected visit from my poetic friend Samuel Loveman, & was able to shew him the quaintness & antiquities of my beloved Providence for the first time.

I then accompanied him to Boston, & introduced him to the historic reliques of that ancient metropolis.

P.S. I enclose a few postcards of last week’s trip.

A Visit by Munn

Lovecraft’s letters indicate that he must have had a running diary of events since he often added identical, or even verbatim, comments about his day to day activities and notable events in his life. Considering the vast correspondence he conducted from his earliest days of letter writing, it must have become a defacto process to make sure he covered all pertinent details with his colleagues and fans.

It’s also interesting to see the hierarchy of his revelations. To casual fans, he released very limited details and used formal language in the address. To people he knew well, he became more intimate, and often began to call them by affectionate nicknames.

Here, we examine in detail the visit of H. Warner Munn to Providence.

Munn’s Visit:

[31 July 1928 to Wandrei]

I trust Munn has by this time looked you up. He was here yesterday, & we had a very pleasant session – went down to Eddy’s Bookstore & nosed around until he found an old story by Camille Flammarion in some 1893 Cosmopolitans. … Regards to Munn if you see him.

Now compare to:
[4 August 1928 to Derleth]

I had a call Monday from young H. Warner Munn of Athol, our fellow contributor to W.T. {Weird Tales – CP} He was passing through Providence in the course of a motor trip, & stopped most of the day. … Incidentally, when Munn and I were in Eddy’s bookshop Monday, (this Eddy is uncle of the C. M. Eddy, Jr who writes for W.T.). We met the venerable Joseph Lewis French, editor of the anthology “Ghosts, Grim and Gentle”. He is a quaint, peppery-voiced old codger of 70.

Note that by now, HPL was intimate with Wandrei, but was still explaining background to Derleth.

The information continues:
[31 July 1928 to Wandrei]

Late in the afternoon I undertook to guide Munn on his way to NY,& rode with him as far as East Greenwich, coming back by omnibus & trolley.

Now compare to:
[4 August 1928 to Derleth]

In the late afternoon I piloted him for about 20 miles of his course toward New York, leaving him at the quaint village of East Greenwich & coming back by trolley. … In N.Y. he will look up Wandrei (who is rooming only 2 blocks from my old place at 169 Clinton St., scene of “The Horror at Red Hook”.)

This shows the care HPL takes with each correspondent to make that correspondent feel intimate with Lovecraft to the degree that decorum and familiarity to that point in time allowed. Wandrei was familiar with the Providence environment, while Derleth was still being taught by HPL. Yet, the same information was basically conveyed.

Lovecraft had a host of correspondents, and unfortunately, Chrispy could not find other letters of this particular matter and date to correlate, but it seems reasonable to conclude that the same essential information was conveyed to each correspondent and was based on notes that HPL constantly kept.

The Eddy’s Bookstore is long gone, and yet Chrispy was able to locate where it might have been. In one of my next posts, I’ll attempt to show the research on this.

New letter for auction: Now!

http://www.rrauction.com/bidtracker_detail.cfm?IN=659

I received a note today about the letter, some notes below. One you readers may be able to obtain this in bid. If so, good luck. It'd be great for a collection.

29 March 1930

Writing to fellow Weird Tales contributor Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft mentions his famous work “The Whisperer In the Darkness,” and his passion for science fiction: “I am still obsessed by the notion that one of the most extremely powerful of all tales would be an utterly realistic thing dealing with the sensations of a man deposited without a great amount of warning in another world”

Lovecraft's Legacy: 1940

The seller of this item says

From SCIENTI-SNAPS SCI-FI/ HORROR FANZINE VOL 3 NO. 1 DATED FEBRUARY 1940. FANZINE HAS AN ARTICLE BY AUGUST DERLETH ON HIS H P LOVECRAFT "THE LOVECRAFT MEMORIAL" HIS WORK TO PUBLISH THE GREAT WORKS OF THE MASTER HORROR WRITER INCLUDING HIS JUST PUBLISHED THE OUTSIDER AND OTHERS.

{image now unavailable - unable to find it}

This is some of the text Chrispy reproduced from the image {before misplacing it}.

Scienti-Snaps, The Lovecraft Memorial, A Note On Work In Process by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei.

This is an authentic and intimate discussion of the {...} project of one of fantasy's very greatest figures, read thoughtfully .......

The appearance this month of "The Outsider and Others" by Lovecraft, represents the first tangible evidence of {...} the proposed Memorial Collection of the works of {...} Master of the macabre/ The collection, designed for {..} is to be composed of the present grouping of {...} a long study of "Supernatural Horror in Literature", {...} of collected poems, remaining stories, some collaborative {work and selected} prose non-fiction; and a third and final volume of letters.

It goes almost without saying that assimilation of {...} entailed not only great patience and dilligence, but considerable monetary expense quite apart from the time {...} The initial work of preparing manuscripts for all {... expense} of publishing "The Outsider and Others" represents {a cost ?} of $2500.00. The problem involved in the prepared {...}

Lovecraft Letters Archived at Univesity of Minnesota

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Elmer L. Andersen Library. Special Collections & Rare Books
*
The collection consists of 5 holograph postcards (Aug. 31, 1934 to Sept. 2, 1926), 10 holograph letters (Aug. 14, 1934 to Aug. 14, 1935), 1 typescript letter (Jan. 16, 1936), one chain letter (typescript and holograph, undated), one typescript letter signed by August Derleth (April 21, 1968). The letters and postcards are written to Fred Anger from Lovecraft, mostly from his home in Providence, Rhode Island. They relate to their common interests in writing weird fiction and issues relating to publishing their work. Transcriptions of the materials have been made and are available in the archives.
*
The microfilmed collection contains correspondence exchanged between Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Edgar Hoffmann Price on literary matters, between October 3, 1932 and November 11, 1937. Price is believed to have donated the original letters to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Three Lovecraft Letters Listed at Auction House

These letters appear and disappear into collectors hands all the time. It seems they gain in value everyday. Here is a listing at David Schulson Autographs House.

LOVECRAFT, H(OWARD) P(HILLIPS) (1890-1937). American writer, known for fantasy, science fiction and horror stories. // Autograph Letter Signed, two pages on one 8vo sheet, included is a signed holograph envelope postmarked Providence, Rhode Island, Aug. 32, 1931. // He writes to Charles Ashton Smith (1893-19061), the American writer recognized for his science fiction and fantasy or “weird” stories. Both were most prolific from 1930 to 1936. In the upper right corner, Lovecraft begins, “Vortex of Slth-Kgnr on the liquid planet Nrun in the central galaxy of the sixth dimension beyond the City of Singing Flame. Moment of the up-surge to meet the rising of the black satellite.” He formally begins the letter but addresses the letter to, “Klarkash-ton, Still trying fountain pens…Thanks again for the nameless heads – which I shall see in many a malign dream. Your opinion of Wandrei’s tale is more intelligent and analytical than the one I expressed & I agree that a single haunting horror, repeatedly coming up in different lives & finally confronted through retracting, would give the tale more…dramatic interest than it now has. No-I shan’t let your gargoyle tale cut mine off any more that I shall let Whitehead’s ‘Cassius’ suppress my future tale of the amputated Siamese twin…I have now read ‘Beyond the Singing flame’ with the most poignant admiration…which reminds me that I re-read the original ‘Singing Flame’…with undiminished pleasure….” He continues discussing stories and then writes about Dashiell Hammet. “I think I mentioned…that the forthcoming Dashiell Hammet anthology is going to use my ‘Eric Zann.’ Belknap now infamous…that his ‘Visitor from Egypt’ is likewise to appear….” He lists other stories he wishes would be included and continues about being “swamped with revision….” He signs, “Yrs. Ffr the infra-red rite of Nephren-Ka- – E’ch-Pi-El..” He signs in full with his address on the return address leaf of the envelope, “HP Lovecraft.” He add in a postscript at the top left of the first side, “Saw an interesting black snake in the woods today….” /// His reference to Dashiell Hammett, (1894-1961), American novelist and screenwriter best known for his detective stories which include, The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man stories, makes this letter especially desirable and significant. $4500.00

LOVECRAFT, H(OWARD) P(HILLIPS) (1890-1937). American writer, known for fantasy, science fiction and horror stories. // Autograph Letter Signed, 4to, two pages, Providence, Rhode Island, Feb. 2, 1933. // He writes to Charles {sic. Clark, -CP} Ashton Smith, beginning with the following in the upper right corner, “Memory-Vortex of Zith – Opening of the Bronze Gate in the unscalable basalt cliff of Gnaa.” He begins the letter, “Dear Klarkas-ton,” and continues that he is thankful for a copy of “The Worm Ouroboros…My library is certainly growing – despite its…weakness in the field of weird….” Referring to an anthology by Bohen Lynch, he writes, “Best Ghost Stories…the best thing about this lot is that the Lynch volume contains Blackwood’s ‘Willows’… and goes on to mention “a new tale by Derleth…’the Return of Hastur’…’Dark Eidolon’ [by his correspondent Smith]…confound Wright for rejecting the Vathek episode…hope you can put the pamphlet across – count on me as subscriber #1. I wish you could include ‘a Night in Malneant”& other items not likely to find professional berths….” He continues with a philosophic comment on the passing of time. “One of the things which compensates for the tragically swift sense of time-passing inherent in advancing years is the brevity which winter acquires….” He mentions his interest in collaborating with E. Hoffman Price and mentions “that Silver Key sequel which Price has tentatively outlined….” He ends with reference to T.S. Eliot. “Heard a good poetry reading by Robert Hillyer…One by Leonard Bacon and after that one by the celebrated T.S. Eliot.” He ends the letter, “Yrs. For the Black Heptagon of Yaroth – E’ch-Pi-El.” He signs in full on the return address leaf of the envelope, “HP Lovecraft.” // Charles {sic. Clark, CP} Ashton Smith (1893-19061) was an American writer also recognized for his science fiction and fantasy or “weird” stories. His most prolific period when he produced almost one story a month occurred between 1930 to 1936, and Lovecraft was also most prolific during this same period. A fine letter rich in literary content. $4500.00 /// "Have finished the novel in 110 pages. Am giving it (atleast provisionally) the title of, ‘the Dream-quest of Unknown Kadath"

LOVECRAFT, H(OWARD) P(HILLIPS) (1890-1937). American writer, known for fantasy, science fiction and horror stories. // Autograph Letter Signed, 2 pages on one folio sheet, with the signed holograph envelope with Autograph Note (unsigned), Providence, Rhode Island, January 21, 1927. // He writes to Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961), the American writer recognized for his science fiction and fantasy or “weird” stories. Both authors were most prolific from 1930 to 1936. He begins noting that Smith’s letter arrived and commenting, “you no doubt have my postal commenting on Wandrei’s work. I was really immensely taken with it, & believe that he has a more truly cosmic & fantastic vision than anyone else I know with the solitary exception of yourself. There is a quality of genuine bizarrerie in his perspective…I noticed the tense & convincing atmosphere of nightmare in ‘the Door of the Room’…That piece more than any other made me think of your landscapes. ‘The Messengers’ is indeed very much like your ‘Envoys’ & illustrates the essential parallellism[sic] of the fantastic imagination in different individuals- a circumstance strongly arguing the existence of a natural…mental world of the weird with a common background & fixed laws, out of which…spring a literature as authentic in its way as the realistic literature which springs form mundane experience…When my younger aunt gets home from Atlantic City – I’m going to see if she doesn't know someone who could get me in touch with the contemporary powers of the art club or school of design…Your new poems seem to me very powerful…My novelette or semi-novel is nearing its conclusion…I don’t think much of it…the short tale is the best form for fantasy….” He signs with initials, “HPL.” // On the back of the envelope, he adds his postscript. “Have finished the novel in 110 pages. Am giving it (at least provisionally) the title of, ‘the Dream-quest of Unknown Kadath.” He signs in full in the return address, “H. P. Lovecraft.” The novella he refers to on the envelope, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, was adapted for an animated film in 2003. Like most of his letters, this one contains rich insight into his perspective on fantasy and the weird. A remarkable, visual document of great significance. $4750.00

Three Lovecraft Letters in Archives of Harvard

At Houghton Library, Harvard College Library :

*
Lovecraft, Howard Phillips, 1890-1937. Autograph letter signed to John Howard Birss; Providence, 19 Jan 1934. 1s.(1p.)
Acquisition Information: *67M-102. Gift of Thomas O. Mabbott, Mar 1968.

*
Lovecraft, Howard Phillips, 1890-1937. A.env.s. to Richard Ely Morse; Providence,R.I., 28 Feb 1933. The letter once contained therein has been placed in theBritish Museum.
Acquisition Information: * 50M-201. Gift of Prof. T.O. Mabbott, 6 Feb 1951.

*
Lovecraft, Howard Phillips, 1890-1937. 3 Autograph letter signed to Richard Ely Morse:
Providence, 30 Aug 1933. 1s.(2p.) env.
same, 16 Jan 1936. 2s.(2p.) env.
same, 9 Feb 1936. 1s.(2p.)
Acquisition Information: *67M-128. Gift of Thomas O. Mabbott, Feb 1968.

Three Lovecraft Letters in Archives of Harvard

Lovecraft Featured in 2008 Providence Ghost Walks

From Michelle at Strange Maine:

Brianna Barzola - Staff Writer

As dusk enveloped Prospect Terrace Park, a group of curious customers gathered around Courtney Edge, one of the founders of the Providence Ghost Tour, and listened to a story about Providence founding father Roger Williams. His bones, Edge said, now lie directly in front of them, resting in a tomb that watches over the city. The group listened more closely as their tour guides led them away from the park - and warned them of the menacing ghosts they might encounter as they strolled past the historic buildings and colonial houses of the East Side.

Two of those guides - Marta DaSilva '09 and Bernie Larivee, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning specialist for Facilities Management - say they are eager to divulge some of Providence's darkest secrets. They say they joined the tour, which is in its second year of operation, for the opportunity to tell the stories of strange deaths, murders, suicides and purported paranormal activity on the East Side.

DaSilva, a tour guide-in-training, began working for the Providence Ghost Tour earlier this month and will soon be leading her own tour. "This is a great job to have as a college student," she said. "I have background in drama and I'm a history buff, so that's mostly what drew me into applying."

DaSilva said she finds not only the history of Providence fascinating but also some of Brown's unmentioned history. "It has given me a different perspective of Brown too, because I didn't know the history of the buildings, like University Hall, which we talk about on the tour," DaSilva said. "(On the tour) you forget about all of the academic history and focus on the people that were involved in the history of the campus. The tour brings you down to Earth - it gives you a separate perspective from the University microcosm."

Larivee took on the job as a tour guide because "I do some acting on the side, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to get some excellent training and do a fun job," he said. "It's fascinating to see that most students don't get a lot of this history in their Brown packets. It has more to do with people who once lived in the city and the problems they had."

The tour began in September 2006 - but not before founders Edge and Mike Gertrudes devoted endless hours to studying ghostly lore. The tour follows a 1.5 mile loop that begins and ends at Prospect Terrace Park on Congdon Street, and lasts about an hour and a half.

Guides lead visitors to several buildings along the streets of the East Side, including the Providence Athenaeum on Benefit Street, author H.P. Lovecraft's residence on Angell Street and several Rhode Island School of Design and Brown buildings - even a few residence halls.

The tour guides don't do the spooking - the stories take care of that themselves.

"Mike and I spent about nine months researching all the stories and digging around for more before we started it up," Edge said. "It's an ongoing research project, but we were looking for an alternative to the nine-to-five job and this seemed perfect."

Edge is no rookie to ghost tours: she worked at Ghost Tours of Newport, R.I., before founding the Providence version. "That was a lot of fun, and we thought we could do the same here," she said. "Mike and I have a general interest in ghosts and go ghost hunting as a hobby."

Though Edge said many customers doubt the truth of the stories, she and the tour guides stressed that the tour is based on "research and historical documentation." They have taken the time to make sure that all of the people in their stories really existed, and that all of the discussed incidents were recorded.

Edge said the Rhode Island Historical Society provided the bulk of material for their research.

"It has lots of journals and private letters that belonged to many of the people we talk about on the tour," she said. "We've gone through tons of microfilm of death records that took us hours and hours to read and sort out."

Larivee said he liked the idea of reenacting events that actually happened to Providence residents.

"Yes, some of it is spooky, but a lot of it is sad," Larivee said.

Edge and Gertrudes have hired eight tour guides, all of whom had to compete for their positions.

DaSilva recalled seeing 12 or 15 people at her interview. "We had to perform and tell a story in front of everyone applying, and they picked the ones who did it best," she said. The other tour guides are Providence residents who work elsewhere by day and scare both residents and visitors by night.

All tours in the fall begin at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $12 online and $15 in person on the night of the tour. Currently the tour only runs on Friday nights and weekends, but the founders are looking to expand the enterprise in the future. Edge said the tours draw about 40 people a night, with variation according to the month.

"October is obviously a very busy month" due to Halloween, Edge said. "We would like to add multiple tours to accommodate large numbers of people and the stories that we have. We have a lot more stories that don't make it on the tour because the tour would be too long if we added them."

Participants are encouraged to take pictures of all the buildings on the tour in case a ghost makes an appearance on camera. Then again, if one does show up, visitors might be too engrossed in the stories to notice it.

Lovecraft's Autograph (1919)

The seller states: 1919 a holographic (hand written) manuscript for the poem, Despair, with a nice clear Lovecraft signature and date at the end, purchased from the granddaughter of the publisher ( Horace L Lawson ) of the Wolverine magazine, a periodical which published at least 5 H P Lovecraft pieces, the Wolverine published Arthur Jermyn in March 1921 , The Nameless City in November 1921 , The Street in December 1920 , The Vivisector in June 1921 and On the Return of Maurice Winter Moe, Esq. in June 1921 . there is no record of Despair having been published by The Wolverine, this 2 page poem is completely holographic, written on brown paper (the reverse is actually an order form for a Book Club) and has the date 192__, Lovecraft has signed this as H P Lovecraft and dated the piece February 1919, as well he has written a note in the corner stating that this poem appeared in Pine Cones June 1919, this is certainly from 1919, or at least 1920 when The Wolverine was publishing HPL pieces, the poem is completely legible although some of the letters are a bit faded, the 2 pages have been paper taped on the verso as this was framed by Lawson, there is no bleeding or show through from the tape, the handwriting is undeniably Lovecrafts, the condition overall is VERY GOOD....., any image directly beside this listing is the actual book and not a generic photo. Signed by Author. First Edition. Manuscript.

What is The Beast in the Cave All About?

Lovecraft came under the influence of two powerful intellectual forces. The first was the emerging weird tale found in his dark fiction sources. He read tarzan, and ghost tales, and western mysteries, and so much else. This is not much different than kids today reading comic books, watching John Carpenter movies, or reading science fiction and horror.

He also was deeply influenced by Scinetific Adventurism. It was the rage of the Edwardian era. He lept from chemsitry, to antarctic exploration, to evolution, to astronomy, to arctic geology, and more. He wrote letters to Scinetific American, and later newspaper articles, and letters to fiction magazines that disputed scientific facts.

It is explicit that he knew Upton the astronomer, and Appleton the chemist. I propose he also knew the most famous biologist in America - Packard.

Lovecraft worked hard on this little tale, and it is significantly different than anything that came before.

I believe the first version showed a cave cat (he had just lost his cat in the 1904 move), and Packard died at the same time that his grandfather Whipple did. At least within several months of each other.

The cave cat had devolved just as Packard proposed in many published sources. Notably" "1. Change in environment from light, even partial, to twilight or total darkness, and involving diminution of food, and compensation for the loss of certain organs by the hypertrophy of others.

"2. Disuse of certain organs.

"3. Adaptation, enabling the more plastic forms to survive and perpetuate their stock.

"4. Isolation, preventing intercrossing with out-of-door forms, thus insuring the permanency of the new varieties, species, or genera.

Lovecraft is "actng out" through his weird fiction science as he knows it. It would be an ongoing theme until he died.

Lovecraft in Context (Sitz im Leben): John Howard Appleton

It is no coincidence that Lovecraft was swet up into chemistry as a child. The organization of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society began just a few years before HPL met John Howard Appleton, a cofounder of the group. Here is the historical description of how this happened, and came to Providence.

The Organization of the Northeastern Section

Note: We have since received via email some information that differs from that presented below. If you are interested in reading it, go to the ACS History Rebuttal page.

The first page in the Secretary’s book bears the date: February 4, 1898, but this was not the beginning. The American Chemical Society was founded more than twenty year before that, on April 12, 1876. Nor was that a starting date, either, Most observers agree that the real beginning of everything was a suggestion made by Dr. H. Carrington Bolton of the Columbia College School of Mines in April 1874. He wasn’t thinking about forming a society at all: serendipity was in charge of things then, even as it is now. What Dr. Bolton wanted to do was to somehow commemorate the discovery of oxygen by Joseph Priestly, one hundred years earlier. It was on August 1, 1774 that the good Doctor Priestley had heated his "mercurius calcinatus per se" with a twelve inch burning lens and for the first time had released some "dephlogisticated air". Because this discovery, followed by Lavoisier’s quantitative treatment of it, had led to the oxygen theory of combustion and the subsequent development of all modern chemistry, Dr. Bolton thought that the centennial deserved some sort of observance. After all, because of his rashly liberal views, Dr. Priestley had been driven by an unruly mob from his home and his laboratory in Birmingham, England. He fled with his family to the United States, and so became an American chemist, by adoption, if not by birth.

Enter a woman chemist. Professor Rachel L. Bodley of the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania proposed that the centennial celebration should be held at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Priestley had lived and where he was buried. This suggestion was immediately adopted, and plans went forward for a three-day meeting beginning on July 31, 1874. This was the sequence of events that brought seventy-seven of the most influential American chemists, some with wives and children, together in a peaceful little village in the valley of the Susquehanna. There was no hotel there: the participants were quartered overnight by the villagers, some of whom were direct descendants of Joseph Priestley, himself. Historical papers and technical papers were presented in the tiny public schoolhouse. Cablegrams were exchanged with Birmingham, England, and the commemorative exercises were held beside Priestley’s grave. It was a remarkable affair. The friendliness and fellowship and excitement were so great, that there was a strong sentiment to carry on with such meetings. On the second day, the Centennial Day, to be exact, a group met to consider the feasibility of forming a national American Chemical Society with this purpose in mind. There were pessimists present, but nearly everyone went home with great hopes, expecting that a society would soon be formed.

Unaccountably, there was a two year delay, but the plan would not die. Professor Charles F. Chandler, also of the Columbia School of Mines, who had presided at the Centennial Program, finally set thing moving again. He uncovered more than one hundred chemists in New York and nearby cities, whose work and training rendered them eligible for membership in a chemical society. With seven confederates, he finally sent out a notice for an organizational meeting to be held April 6, 1876. That meeting was called to order with thirty-five chemists present, and the Society began operations.

Naturally, a society created in this way was a New York based organization. It had non-resident members, but the monthly meetings were held in New York, and there were not many benefits for the out of towners. A Journal was published, but few cared to submit papers, and the Society was most successful as a local organization. Small wonder that other quite similar local organizations sprang up in other parts of the Country. There was a constant agitation to get a truly national organization going: for a while it seemed likely that some of these upstart outsiders might be strong enough to take over. But the New York group had the name and they had the charter and it was apparent that the best solution was to put some new direction in this ineffective organization. The turnabout came in 1889, when the officers sent out a letter asking for suggestions as to the best way that the Society could become more useful to their non-resident members.

Upon receiving this letter, Profesor Charles E. Munroe, of Newport, Rhode Island, a charter member, sat down and wrote a detailed and lengthy response. He viewed, quite critically, the situation as it existed for outsiders, and made a number of valuable suggestions. These included the ideas that local Sections should be formed, and that General Meetings should be held outside of New York. Others had independently proposed the same ides, or at least concurred in them, so on June 6, 1890, the Constitution was changed to legalize such practices. One would have thought then that immediate action would have been taken, but that was not the case. According to Professor Munroe’s article in the Fifty-Year History, the Directors waited until July 22 of that same year to decide that (1) there would be e General Meeting outside of New York, that (2) it would be two weeks hence, August 6 and 7, 1890, that (3) it would be in Newport, R.I., and that (4) Charles E. Munroe would be in charge of arrangements! Then they let him know. Instead of collapsing under such summary treatment, he scrambled around, firmed a local committee of fourteen and began to make plans. His colleagues included a couple of Harvard Professors with summer residences in the area, some army and navy officers stationed nearby, the local high school principal, the secretary of the Newport Natural History Society, and a few younger chemists working in the area.

This group put together a remarkable program without any idea who, or how many, would attend. As a matter of fact, until the final day, when the Fall River Line boat from New York came plowing into its Newport berth, the only registrants known to be coming were the three guests whom Professor Munroe had invited to stay at his home. However, there proved to be a large and congenial group aboard, headed by Professor Chandler himself, and the meeting got off to a great start. Rhode Islanders from Providence and Kingston appeared, and there were distant visitors from Medford, Cambridge, New Haven, Ithaca, and points even further afield. Seventeen papers, covering almost every possible branch of chemistry were presented. The U.S. Naval Torpedo Station permitted an inspection of its laboratories and workshops, and its personnel presented an extensive series of demonstrations of high explosives. Not to be outdone, the personnel of the U.S. Naval Training Station put on a parade honoring their distinguished guests. On the second day of the meeting the registrants had their choice of relaxation: they could take a leisurely tour of Newport Harbor in the inspection launch, or they could select a thirty mile run around Conanicut Island in the high speed torpedo boat, "Stiletto".

With this successful venture completed, the chemists of Rhode Island wasted no time in getting behind Professor Munroe, and his colleague, Professor John Howard Appleton of Providence to form the Rhode Island Section. Their charter was granted on January 21, 1891, a full nine months before the New York group could get around to applying for its own local section charter on September 30, 1891.

Lovecraft's Legacy: 1975 (Whispers)

Whispers Vol. 2, No. 2-3 (June 1975) Double-Issue Stuart David Schiff (Editor)
Stuart David Schiff, Fayetteville, NC, 1975. Perfect Bound Wraps. Book Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Cover art by Frank Utpatel.
Solid contents include: One Day in the Life of H.P. Lovecraft by Frank Belknap Long; An Autobiographical Letter by Robert E. Howard; A Letter to H. Warner Munn by Farnsworth Wright; Story-writing, a letter from H.P. Lovecraft; Anthropology, Folkways of Fandom by E. Hoffman Price. Also, fiction by Fritz Leiber, Carl Jacobi, Hugh B. Cave, Henry Hassee, Manly Wade Wellman, Karl Edward Wagner, Joseph Payne Brennan. Poetry by James Wade, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, L. Sprague de Camp, H. Warner Munn. Art by Virgil Finlay, Denis Tiani, Lee Brown Coye, others. 132 pages!

Interlude: 800 posts

When I started this little project about 20 months ago, I just wanted to collect my thoughts on Lovecraft. Have someplace I could go back and get materials to write a few essays. Maybe use as research for my writing hobby.

Along the way, the scope expanded. People started to notice. I got comments at first, then a few fan letters, and then other blogs started to refer to my notes. I started to have fun, then suddenly, it seemed to get serious. People actually coming to research things and find things they couldn't find easily elsewhere.

Then, one day I discovered that ebay was a Lovecraft time capsule. I would search ebay a few times a week and find museum pieces that should be at the John Hay Library, but instead quickly moving from one collector's hand to another, maybe not to be seen again for years. I wanted to keep track of these little items for my research projects one day, and so I captured the items into the blog. Now, I find other people are using these for their research. Hurrah!

Well, it's been fun meeting many of you. (Forgive me if I leave your name out of the list, becuase you're all valuable to me.) The new forum is a great place to talk - and I thank the new folks like Arne, Laird, Jack, Roger, and so many others. T. Peter has taught me much about Fortean connections to Lovecraft. Theo Paijans was so kind to share rare newsclippings. I can't count the number of authors who have let me reprint their stories and artists letting me reproduce their images at HPLblog - thank each of you for showing your art through the blog. Michelle, Maine may be Strange, but you're a dearheart. Hana's penmanship and knowledge is superb. Larry Roberts has already taught me more about books and book publishing than I could have dreamed. Peter Worthy, you're the Mythos incarnate! John Rowlands has been there from the beginning (Cheers!), as has Ian Derbyshire, and dear and special "Casper", and without "Megg" it never would have started. I owe you sooo, much.

As to the gang at +Horror Library+ who often joke about my little project, and wonder what all the fuss is about with Lovecraft, Chrispy says thanks for being colleagues - despite my crabbiness and contrariness.

Sometimes I'm challenged as to the relevance of Lovecraft. I'm faced off in a showdown - a gunfight - to defend Ech Pi El. I'm not his defender, and I can't always say he has relevance in today's world. He sure is influential, though. You make your own decision, folks.

So what about me? Back in 2002 I stumbled across HPL. I read his works and they were fascinating (I still like REH a lot, though). I noticed he used a lot of scientific language that was familiar to me as a chemist, and delved into his biography. That's the part that really fascinates me. His stories are eerie, nihilistic, and filled with puns and allusions that are neat to uncover, but his life is a terrific adventure.

Look, I'm far from being a "scholar", and my typing (as in typos) must irritate the crap out of yo, my readers. Just remember, I do this often at midnight or later, with weary and bleary eyes. It is a sideline, if you will. I also spend time with my other blogs, my +Horror Library+ duties, sending off manuscripts to be sold as my writing hobby very slowly turns into more than an avocation. Give me another 10 years, and maybe if old age doesn't keep creeping into my brain and bones, I'll get better at this. Heh.

OK, on to 1000 posts !!!

R E Howard's Father to H P Lovecraft (29 June 1936)

After Two-Gun Bob's death (by suicide) this letter subsequently arrived to HPL. (Full Text in comments)

... I will say in conclusion, Mr. Lovecraft, that Robert was a great admirer of you. I have often heard him say that you were the best weird writer in the world, and he keenly enjoyed corresponding with you. Often expressed hope that you might visit in our home some day, so that he, his mother and I might see and know you personally. Robert greatly admired all weird writers, often heard him speak of each separately and express the highest admiration of all. He said they were a bunch of great men and he admired all of them very much.
The Howard Payne College of Brownwood has asked for letters from correspondents. If it is agreeable with you, I will furnish them with some of your correspondence to him as he has some in his files and they are interested in letters.
His books were given to the Howard Payne College and will be known as the Robert E. Howard Memorial Collection. It is so arranged that it is possible to add to it as friends see fit. If you have a book that you would like to add to it with an autograph, it will be greatly appreciated.
Yours very truly, Dr. I. M. Howard

http://users.rcn.com/shogan/howard/letters/rehpost2.htm

Lovecraft Letter of 1926 (Reproduction)

H.P. Lovecraft, American Author handwritten and signed letter (REPRINT) with photo (REPRINTS) Letter c. 1926 reads:

"That historical outline of the weird tale was written for private publication in a non-professional magazine to be issued by that same W. Paul Cook to whom I've just referred you. Whether he still plans to issue it, I'm not quite sure, but I found the writing a pleasant exercise & good discipline. Just now I'm dreading the job of typing the thing.

No - I've had nothing published lately except in Weird Tales , though I've been thinking of trying some stories on others if I ever get the time. I had two serials in another magazine -- a wretched rag called Home Brew -- some four years ago, but don't think much of them as I consider them in retrospect.

With best wishes, & appreciation of the interest you express in my lucubrations,I remain

Most cordially & sincerely yrs

HPLovecraft"

Letter and photo are handsomely matted and framed in a walnut finish moulding. Overall size 16" x 13".

Lovecraft Visits a Witch House

I struck out along the roads and across the fields toward the lone farmhouse built by Townsend Bishop in 1636, and in 1692 inhabited by the worthy and inoffensive old widow Rebekah Nurse, who was seventy years of age and wished no one harm. Accused by the superstitious West Indian slave woman Tituba (who belonged to the Reverend Samuel Parris and who caused the entire wave of delusion) of bewitching children, and denounced blindly by some of the hysterical children in question, Goodwife Nurse was arrested amd brought to trial. Thirty-nine persons signed a paper attesting to her blameless conduct, and a jury rendered a verdict of "not guilty"; but popular clamour led the judges to reverse the verdict (as was then possible), and on 19 July 1692 the poor grandam was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem for a mythological crime. Her remains were brought back from Salem and interred in the family burying-ground -- a ghoulish place shadowed by huge pines and at some distance from the house. In 1885 a monument was erected to her memory, bearing an inscription by the poet Whittier.

As I approached the spot to which I had been directed, after passing through the hamlet of Tapleyville, the afternoon sun was very low. Soon the houses thinned out; so that on my right were only the hilly fields of stubble, and occasional crooked trees clawing at the sky. Beyond a low crest a thick group of spectral boughs bespoke some kind of grove or orchard -- and in the midst of this group I suddenly descried the rising outline of a massive and ancient chimney. Presently, as I advanced, I saw the top of a grey, drear, sloping roof -- sinister in its distant setting of bleak hillside and leafless grove, and unmistakably belonging to the haunted edifice I sought. Another turn -- a gradual ascent -- and I beheld in full view the sprawling, tree-shadowed house which had for nearly three hundred years brooded over those hills and held such secrets as men may only guess. Like all old farmhouses of the region, the Nurse cottage faces the warm south and slopes low toward the north. It fronts on an ancient garden, where in their seasons gay blossoms flaunt themselves against the grim, nail-studded door and the vertical sundial above it. That sundial was long, concealed by the overlaid clapboards of Gothic generations, but came to light when the house was restored to original form by the memorial society which owns it. Everything about the place is ancient -- even to the tiny-paned lattice windows which open outwards on hinges. The atmosphere of witchcraft days broods heavily upon that low hilltop.

My rap at the ancient door brought the caretaker's wife, an elderly unimaginative person with no appreciation of the dark glamour of the ancient scene. This family live in a lean-to west of the main structure -- an addition probably one hundred years less ancient than the parent edifice. I was the first visitor of the 1923 season, and took pride in signing my name at the top of the register. Entering, I found myself in a low, dark passage whose massive beams almost touched my head; and passing on, I traversed the two immense rooms on the ground floor -- sombre, barren, panelled apartments with colossal fireplaces in the vast central chimney, and with occasional pieces of the plain, heavy furniture and primitive farm and domestic utensils of the ancient yemanry. In these wide, low-pitched rooms a spectral menace broods -- for to my imagination the seventeenth century is a full of macabre mystery, repression and ghoulish adumbrations as the eighteenth century is full of taste, gaiety, grace and beauty. This was a typical Puritan abode; where amidst the bare, ugly necessities of life, and without learning, beauty, culture, freedom or ornament, terrible stern-faced folk in conical hats or poke-bonnets dwelt 250 and more years ago -- close to the soil and all its hideous whisperings; warped in mentality by isolation and unnatural thoughts, and shivering in fear of the Devil on autumn nights when the wind howled through the twisted orchard trees or rustled the hideous corpse-nourished pines in the graveyard at the foot of the hill. There is eldritch fascination -- horrible buried evil -- in these archaic farmhouses. After seeing them, and smelling the odour of centuries in their walls, one hesitates to read certain passages in Cotton Mather's strange old Magnalia after dark. After exploring the ground floor I crept up the black crooked stairs and examined the bleak chambers above. The furniture was as ugly as that below, and included a small trundle-bed in which infant Puritans were lulled to sleep with meaningless prayers and morbid hints of daemons riding the nightwind outside the small-paned lattice windows. I saw old Rebekah's favourite chair, where she used to sit and spin before the Salem magistrates dragged her to the gallows. And the sunset wind whistled in the colossal chimney, and the ghouls rattled ghastly skeletons from unseen attic rafters overhead. Though it was not supposed to be open to the public, I persuaded the caretaker to let me ascend to that hideous garret of centuried secrets. Thick dust covered everything, and unnatural shapes loomed on everyhand as the evening twilight oozed through the little bleared panes of the ancient windows. I saw something hanging from the wormy ridge-pole -- something that swayed as if in unison with the vesper breeze outside, though that breeze had no access to this funereal and forgotten place -- shadows...shadows...shadows... And I descended from that accursed garret of paleogene arcana, and left that portentous abode of aniquity; left it and went down the hill to the graveyard under the shocking pines, where twilight showed sinister slabs and rusty bits of fallen iron fence, and where something squatted in shadow on a monument -- something that made me climb the hill again, hurry shudderingly past the venerable house and descend the opposite slope to Tapleyville as night came.

{1923 Letter to Alfred Galpin and Frank Belknap Long}