A 5,000 word letter written by H.P. Lovecraft has been found by a PhD student from London. James Machin discovered the letter in an American archive. Interestingly, it’s written to J.C. Henneberger, the publisher of Weird Tales in the 1920s.
The letter was several pages of closely packed typescript sent from 598 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island—the house the family had moved to in 1904 after the death of Lovecraft’s grandfather—and dated February 2, 1924. The year was to be a significant one for Lovecraft: he was about to uproot himself from his home of 20 years to join his soon-to-be wife Sonia Haft Green…
Mr. Machin was kind enough to scan in the letter, and I’ve included the first page below. Click here to read the entire letter, and for some great background and commentary on it and on this time in Lovecraft’s life.
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Cool, thanks for passing along the news.
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Thank you Mike!
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Wow, absolutely brilliant letter. Wish I could have been a correspondent of the master himself!
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Dude
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Very interesting! Thanks for posting this. Makes me think I should track down any published collections of HPL’s letters.
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Mike,
Your timing of this article could not have proven more prescient as I’m traveling to Austin, TX next week to lead a USG panel at the Modern Language Association’s Annual Conference. As it’s located downtown, I’ll definitely attempt to steal away from the event for an hour or two to visit the Harry Ransom Center.
Cheers,
Joe
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Impressive. Definitely economic use of the page. It’s nice to see him in this light, both serious and self-aware. Not that there was any doubt, but it’s always healthy to see it in writing. Thanks for this insight.
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