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 !

Lovecraft 1936 (Autographed) Document

Description:

"To the Members of..." - Signed "Report of the Executive Judges " Signed by H. P. Lovecraft, Vincent B. Haggerty, and Jennie R. Plaiser

Published in "The National Amateur", June, 1936

It's not often you get the opportunity to add an original "H. P. Lovecraft" signature to your collection as he most often signed himself "HPL" or "E'ch-Pi-El", and signed amateur documents are especially rare! This six-page document dated April 25, 1936 was published in the June, 1936 issue of "The National Amateur" and signed not only by HPL but by the noted amateurs Jennie R. Plaiser, Vincent B. Haggerty.

Despite the professional rise in sales and the fame of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, he could never fully sever his ties to amateur journalism and less than a year later Lovecraft would be dead from cancer.

Included along with the six-page signed typed documentation is a copy of "The National Amateur" in which it was published.

A fascinating grouping of Lovecraftiana!

Lovecraft Autograph

{This one is just an envelpe, but anything with HPL's signature is interesting. It helps compare handwriting, and strengthens his timeline of who he wrote to, and when.}

The seller's notes:
His signature as part of the return address on a postal cover postmarked at Providence, Rhode Island, Jul 27, 1928. Certificate of Authenticity from Pages of History provides a lifetime guarantee of authenticity. We are full time autograph and document dealers registered with the UACC (#036), and members of the Manuscript Society.

Barlow's Handset Copy of Cats of Ulthar

Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips]. THE CATS OF ULTHAR. [Cassia, Florida: The Dragon-Fly Press], Christmas 1935.

Small octavo, pp. [1-2] 1-10 [11-14: blank] [note: last two leaves are blanks], title page printed in red and black, original unprinted green wrappers, sewn. First edition. 42 copies printed, two on Red Lion Text, the others on ordinary paper, this being one of the latter.

A highly important presentation copy with a signed inscription by Lovecraft to Samuel Loveman on the front free endpaper: "To Sam.l E. Loveman, Esq., / A 'Rare First Edition' with ye / Perpetrator's Compliments -- / H. P. Lovecraft / -- MDCCCCXXXVI"

"This is the legendary pamphlet issued by Barlow as a Christmas present for Lovecraft... The text was handset by Barlow; the pamphlet was probably not sold but given to Lovecraft's associates." - Joshi I-A-8-a.1. Currey, p. 321. The very fragile paper cover has two small chips from the fore-edge of the front cover, one at center, the other at lower corner, and a smaller chip from upper left corner of rear cover, 45 mm closed split to lower spine fold, the recto of title leaf and verso of last leaf are just a bit tanned (interaction with cover stock which is basically cheap construction paper). A superior copy of this book with distinguished provenance Rare. (#108200)
Price: $27,500.00

Lovecraft autograph - to Sonia in 1922

{Look how early Lovecraft and Sonia are linked. The signature shows this is clearly a Christmas present. I suppose the only thing more romantic would have been a Poe book. I'm not sure I've ever seen Lovecraft write out Sonia's name before.}

***

The seller states: (Lovecraft's copy) Dunsany, Lord (Edward Plunkett). DON RODRIGUEZ: CHRONICLES OF SHADOW VALLEY. New York & London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1922. Octavo, pp. [1-4] [i-vi] vii [viii] ix-x 1 [2] 3-318 [319-322: ads] [note: first leaf is a blank], inserted frontispiece with illustration by Sidney H. Sime, original dark blue cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold. First U.S. edition. Dunsany's first novel. An episodic romantic fantasy, Dunsany's version of Don Quixote. Presentation copy inscribed by H. P. Lovecraft on the front free endpaper: To / Sonia H. Greene / from H. P. Lovecraft / Christmas, 1922." Sonia Haft Greene Lovecraft Davis (1883-1972) was introduced to amateur journalism by James F. Morton in 1917. Rheinhart Kleiner introduced her to H. P. Lovecraft at the NAPA convention in Boston in July 1921. Shortly thereafter a correspondence with Howard ensued, and over the next two and a half years Sonia visited Providence as frequently as her business schedule allowed. Sonia and Howard were married on 3 March 1924 in New York City and resided in Brooklyn. In the spring of 1926 Howard moved back to Providence and two corresponded and met intermittently for several years. By the end of 1928 Sonia must have begun to press for divorce, since she was no longer satisfied with a marriage by correspondence. Howard repeatedly refused to grant the divorce, claiming that a "gentleman did not divorce his wife without cause," but he finally relented. The final decree must have been issued in March or April 1929, but Howard did not sign it. See Joshi and Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, pp. 59-61. Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy 895. Bleiler (1978), p. 65. Reginald 04608. Anderson I.20.b.1. Joshi, Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue, Revised & Enlarged (2002) 272. Some wear to cloth at spine ends and corner tips, inner rear hinge cracked, else a very good copy in very good pictorial dust jacket with wear at edges and dust soiling. (#109173)
Price: $3,500.00

Lovecraft Autograph circa 1906

The seller staes: (Lovecraft's copy) Dixon, Thomas, Jr. THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS: A ROMANCE OF THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN -- 1865-1900. New York: A. Wessels Company, 1906. Octavo, original red cloth, front and spine panels stamped in white. Later edition. H. P. Lovecraft's copy with his youthful signature on the front free endpaper. An anti-Black novel Lovecraft most likely read about the same time he read Dixon's THE CLANSMAN (1905). See Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, p. 71. Joshi, Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue, Revised & Enlarged (2002) 253. Cloth worn at edges, lettering on spine perished, closed tears in two leaves of text (pages 91-94), hairline crack along inner rear hinge, a good copy. (#109172)
Price: $550.00

Merry Christmas from H P Lovecraft

Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips]. CHRISTMAS CARD, signed "HP" [in monogram style] and dated 1934 in Roman numerals by Lovecraft. Stiff card, 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches, printed on recto only, four color printing, probably chromolithography. With envelope addressed to Robert H. Barlow, postmarked 17 December 1934. The card illustrates a ninteenth-century New England winter scene. The card was printed in duotone (black and gold) and then hand-tinted. Fine. (#109146) Price: $550.00

Autograph "You For The Eban Tide: Ech-Pi-El"

Description: ......a souvenir fold-out booklet of various views of nantucket, MA., post card size with images on both sides, a Very Good+ copy, postmark is stamped Nantucket and dated 1934, 2 original 1 cent stamps on folder, addressed in Lovecraft's hand to Clark Ashton Smith's Auburn California address, signed on the inner flap of the folder by Lovecraft, the signature reads, " Yrs for the Ebon Tide -- Ech-Pi-El --, in a plain brown envelope which was used by an earlier seller to keep the folder safe, included is an original bill of sale dated 1988 from one of the most respected SF/Fantasy booksellers in California, a very nice item, in spite of the thousands of hand written letters and such forth that HPL penned in his lifetime, signed material remains elusive, this is particularly nice as he uses his KALEM Club moniker and of course this being addressed to CAS makes this even nicer

Signature (1919)

Description: .......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 ( Joshi 1-B-i-2 1), The Nameless City in November 1921 ( Joshi 1-B-i-37 ), The Street in December 1920 (Joshi 1-B-i-45), The Vivisector in June 1921 (Joshi 1-B-ii-238) and On the Return of Maurice Winter Moe, Esq. in June 1921 ( Joshi 1-B-iii-137 ). 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 ... $17,500.

{!! CP. }

A Fourth Lovecraft Letter

Yet Another Lovecraft Letter

Another Lovecraft Letter

A Lovecraft Letter

This image is from a photocopy provided by John Hay Library to a writer and recently seen on ebay.

Lovecraft Letter to C M Eddy Jr. 5 September 1925

Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips]. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS). 6 pages, dated 5 September, n.y. [but 1924], to "Dear C M E Jr." [Clifford M. Eddy, Jr.], signed "yr most obt grandpa HPL." Written on three sheets of 6 x 9 1/2-inch paper with Hotel Pantlind letterhead, from 259 Parkside Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Approximately 1000 words. Apologizes for delay in writing, citing pressures of work. Complains about the uncertainties of free-lance work; reports efforts to find regular literary employment, including for a trade journal, The Haberdasher -- undoubtedly arranged by his wife, Sonia, who worked in the fashion business. He refers to her in passing a couple of times, but never by name ("the frau," "the upper half," "the wife"). Thanks him for the loan of recent All-Stories issue with sequel to A. Merritt's THE MOON POOL ("É very good, thought its diffuseness, romanticizing & explanatory quality make it a bit less powerful than 'The Moon Pool' itself.") Reports the reading of Eddy's story "The Better Choice" at a meeting of "the gang" and its favorable reception aside from a few problems, chiefly the presence of so many formulaic phrases, of which HPL then lists a dozen examples ("rubbed elbows", "Cimmerian darkness", "wild-eyed, staring"). "The idea is to get away from formulae & state things in some new & arresting form. Of course it's darned difficult -- but it's worth it!" Reports current status of various titles on the private postal circulating library that Lovecraft and his friends used to exchange reading material. (It should be remembered that the current inter-library loan system had not yet been established.). Unpublished. Letter has faint mailing creases, but is in fine condition. (#109139) Price: $1,500.00

Handwritten Under the Pyramids

Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips]. "UNDER THE PYRAMIDS" [novelette]. AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT SIGNED (AMsS). 34 pages, handwritten on the rectos of 34 sheets of white 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper with typed and handwritten business and personal letters on the rectos. Undated, but written in late February 1924. Lovecraft was commissioned by WEIRD TALES owner J C Henneberger to ghost-write this story for Harry Houdini, part of a big push he was making to revive the magazine's sagging fortunes one year after its debut. He wrote it in a hurry during the last week of April, 1924, as he was preparing to marry Sonia Greene; lost the typescript in a train station; then had to spend the first two days of his honeymoon re-typing it from the manuscript which he had providentially brought with him. The story, retitled "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs," ran in three consecutive issues, May, June and July (sharing space with "The Loved Dead," a tale of necrophilia by C. M. Eddy which had been rewritten by Lovecraft; it alarmed some authorities and prompted editorial caution in WT which later hampered some of HPL's efforts. He was paid $100 for "Under the Pyramids," a high-water mark for a piece of fiction by him. Written in the same year (1924) as THE SHUNNED HOUSE, this is, beneath the veil of its Egyptian "color," another story, like THE SHUNNED HOUSE, about monsters in a graveyard. For that, after all, is what the pyramid is, what the surrounding district is, what the hero realizes the whole country is. "All these people thought of was death É." Just as THE SHUNNED HOUSE reduces the motif of burial down to its modest minimum (the tomb of one ancestor under the basement of a small run-down house in a small run-down city); so does "Under the Pyramids" inflate it to its grandiose maximum: a pyramid, symbol of the most venerable bloodline of Western culture. Undoubtedly, Lovecraft himself understood the difference between these two efforts, one a bit of hired hackwork to keep the pot boiling, the other an ambitious and thoughtful master work. In letters to Frank Belknap Long around this period (SL1, #163, 164, 166, 172), HPL explains that the idea for the story began with a yarn told to Henneberger by "this bimbo Houdini" (p. 312), which, after some research, HPL determined to be "all a fake" (p. 317). This probably encouraged him to embellish it without restraint -- once he got started writing the piece, which was due March 1. As of Feb. 25 he hadn't started. "I went the limit in descriptive realism in the first part, then when I buckled down to the under-the-pyramid stuff I let myself loose and coughed up some of the most nameless, slithering, unmentionable HORROR that ever stalked cloven-hooved through the tenebrous and necrophagous abysses of elder night." (p. 326) To retype the story, the honeymooners rented (for $1) a typewriter at the Hotel Vendig in New York and HPL typed while his bride dictated from the manuscript -- "a marvelous way of speeding up copying, and one which I shall frequently employ in future, since my spouse expresses a willingness amounting to eagerness so far as her share of the toil is concern'd. She has the absolutely unique gift of being able to decipher the careless scrawl of my rough manuscripts -- no matter how cryptically and involvedly interlined." (p. 332). (In truth, HPL's handwriting is not especially hard to decipher.) HPL must have been pleased at the setting for his assignment, returning him, as it did, to the scene of his childhood's first literary obsession, the Arabian Nights. Of course, that's only one section in the trackless wastes of Egypt's history, and the narrator's voyage up the Nile into its Canopically-preserved heart of darkness finds him penetrating down and down through the layers of that history: Anglo-American, Napoleonic, Saracenic, Greco-Roman, Pharaonic -- and Beyond. He finally reaches that ultimate layer, found in so many of his stories, of a primordial past of monstrous gods, hinted at by rumors of atavistic survivals and glimpsed in moments of agonizing revelation. We also see in the story an archaeology of Lovecraft's literary influences (the M. R. Jamesian voice of dry scholarship, establishing credibility; the fabled Eastern landscapes of Dunsany, establishing mood and expectation; and, in the climax, the secret atavistic rites of Machen, establishing psychological resonance). Looking beyond these we see those thematic and stylistic qualities which complete the mixture now commonly known as Lovecraftian. A tour of the various levels of meaning in the story, however casually its author may have approached its composition, takes us through important regions of personal, generic and archetypal significance. The looming prospect of marriage, an unexpected and ill-fated adventure, given Lovecraft's eternal boyhood, could well have inspired some of the nightmare imagery in the story, with its obvious sexual overtones: the bound and gagged hero must descend through a long shaft to an immense subterranean space at one end of which is glimpsed the opening of yet another ominous shaft ("the foul aperture," "the noxious aperture"), big enough to fit a house in, as the narrator notes. Old words for "house" form the etymological sources of both "husband" and "pharaoh." The one would represent to HPL a side of himself as the sacrificial victim being dragged to the altar. The other identifies the chief villain in the story, the evil pharaoh Khefren (bearing an uncanny resemblance to the guide who lured him to his doom) who, with his evil consort Queen Nitocris, presides over the unholy assemblage of monsters making sacrifice to the chief monster of them all. As a voluntary bridegroom, HPL would become both the sacrificial victim and the officiating priest. The loss of the typescript, with its resulting diversion of the author's attention away from his bride to a typewriter, would surely have prompted his analyst (if he'd had one) to label the accident a slip of the hand intended to mitigate this doom. On the level of literary genre, here again, in the shape of the pyramid, is the malignant castle or haunted house that resides at the center of the Gothic, blind guardian of "unwholesome antiquity," and framework for those subterranean passages, dank basements, hidden chambers, dungeons, oubliettes, hollow earths, fairy grottoes and ragged pits that form the setting for the hero's descent into the underworld, that climactic phase of his adventure, which we find so frequently in dark myth and weird tale. What the hero finds in that subterranean world reminds us of Lovecraft's inventiveness (allied no doubt to his learnedness) in the nitty-gritty phenomenology of supernatural horror. Building on accepted facts and popular traditions he gives us, in this case, three-dimensional hieroglyphs the size of skyscrapers; an army of soul-less zombie mummies whose souls have been weighed and found wanting; a shambling horde of reanimated composite animal/human mummies, three-dimensional counterparts of those painted chimeras in Egyptian frescoes; and the glimpse of a Thing that may have been the model for that life-size statue we know as the Sphinx. Ruling over them, as noted, are the necromantic pair, Khefren and Nitocris (one side of whose face has been eaten away by rats), coordinating their rites of worship to propitiate one of those buried Old Ones that under-gird the Lovecraftian mythos. The final payoff in "Under the Pyramid," as in THE SHUNNED HOUSE, is the glimpse of a buried something that only after the fact does the hero recognize as a part of the hole, a minor anatomical feature of the half-buried monster, whose overall shape is thus left for the reader's own half-buried fantasies to customize. Mindful of its upcoming serialization in Weird Tales, HPL has kept a running word count of the story and indicated the point where he thinks the story should be broken in two. WT editor Farnsworth Wright divided the story into three parts. Not a great piece of work, but noteworthy from a literary point of view, and of documentary value during this pivotal period of HPL's life, when he was about to get married, about to move to New York and form an in-the-flesh literary circle that would sustain him afterwards, and as he was putting down roots at the magazine that would be his most important market and of which he was about to be offered the editorship. Accompanied by an autograph letter unsigned, 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". Upper left hand corner has been scissored out, with resulting loss of salutation. No date but internal evidence puts this at the end of February 1924, as he writes, "Working like hell on the Houdini thing -- it's a fearful job but I know Cairo by heart now!" Inserted into the middle of this sentence, in margin, is written, "just finished it! SHOCKING climax! Now to type!" On the verso are two comical drawings of Egyptian scenes with accompanying poems, one a limerick ("There was an old geezer from GhizehÉ"), the other a more stately quatrain ("Frantick with rumours of eternal night É"), neither of them listed in the Joshi bibliography. A charming footnote to the saga of the "Pyramids". The letter is also missing a tiny section at bottom right hand corner and has a horizontal tear and old folding creases. The manuscript has some wear at edges, but overall is in excellent condition. Accompanied by a fragment of an undated two-page letter handwritten by Lovecraft on both sides of a single sheet, salutation and conclusion clipped away, but perhaps to Frank Belknap Long, in which Lovecraft says he is "working like hell on the Houdini thing -- it's a fearful job..." and, in postscript at top, "just finished it! SHOCKING climax! Now to type!" Verso has two small sketches (the Pyramids and on the Golden Road to Samarkand) which illustrate two short limericks, unpublished no doubt. (#108232) Price: $55,000.00

An Autograph Lovecraft Note

Lovecraft, H[oward] P[hillips]. TRAVEL EXPENSES. AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT (AMs). July, n.y. [ 1934]. A record of Lovecraft's travel expenses from July 2 through July 6 written on a 5 1/2 x 8 3/4 inch sheet of thin gray card stock. A poignant memento of HPL's frugal habits while traveling, this one recording expenses for part of his trip back from Florida to Providence in the Summer of 1934. Formerly owned by August Derleth with inked note in his hand: "Schedule made out / by H. P. Lovecraft." For an account of the trip, see Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, p. 553 and Joshi and Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, p. 276. Several faint damp spots to recto, otherwise the artifact is in fine condition. (#111243) Price: $650.00

30 April 1927 postcard to Paul J Campbell

Seller states:

Autograph postcard signed from Howard Phillips Lovecraft to Paul J. CampbellPostmarked Providence, RI, April 30, 1927Pictured on the front of card: Hotel Empire, New York CityLovecraft writes to old-time amateur journalist and friend Campbell to express sympathy over the loss of amateur papers. It reads in part:"Just got a card from Smithy [Tryout Smith] telling of your fire and the loss of your amateur collection. . . If I can help -- in connection withother amateurs -- in partly replacing your loss, I shall be glad to send some old-time items which I still retain. . . . Let me know whatyou especially desire."Signed "HPL"A nice chatty note to a long-time friend who published work by Lovecraft in his amateur journal, "The Liberal."

21 November 1924 postcard to Paul J Campbell

This actually is an important note. Sonia had a sudden gastric distress that sent her to the hospital at almost the same moment that she and HPL were breaking up. Lovecraft knew that they would immediately part company and move out of their apartment. I hope to write a nice essay on these several days in HPL's life, soon.

The seller states:

Autograph postcard signed from Howard Phillips Lovecraft to Paul J. CampbellPostmarked Philadelphia, PA, November 11, 1924Pictured on the front of card: Wister House, Germantown, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaLovecraft writes to old-time amateur journalist and friend Campbell while he's visiting Philadelphia. It reads in part:"Meant to write sooner, but have been in a turmoil of business and worry. Wife ill -- in hospital from Oct 21 to 31 --and now on a farm near Somerville, N. J. recuperating. . . I decided . . . to give the old Quaker burg the thorough exploration I've long wanted to give it. . . ."It ends with an allusion to the financial troubles he and his wife were having that would cause them to give up their niceapartment: "P.S. Will probably have to break up 259 Parkside and board soon. Alas!"Signed "HPL"A nice chatty note to a long-time friend who published work by Lovecraft in his amateur journal, "The Liberal."

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.

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".