When the Gods Smile on You
About six months ago I purchased some 15 or so boxes of old pre 1970 fanzines and some Arkham House books from an estate sale. With our recent move from California to Oregon I wasn’t able to really go through the boxes with any thoroughness, however last night at nearly midnight I pulled out an envelope that held a postcard hand written by H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith. What an amazing surprise indeed! For the collector/bookseller/lovecraftian that I am it was the equivalent to hitting a jackpot.
The last 15 boxes will be gone through posthaste that I can guarantee. : )
Below you can see a picture of the front and back of the card.
I haven’t be able to transcribe the entire letter but it looks as though H. P. Lovecraft might be talking about Aleister Crowley. He writes, “Glad to see the item about Crowley. What a queer duck! He is the original of Clinton in Wakefield’s “The Return at Evening”"
See pictures below.
February 1, 2011 at 10:31 am
That is wicked, what an exciting find you lucky hound!
February 1, 2011 at 10:33 am
I must admit that It has been one of the more exciting days of my adult life.
Larry L. Roberts
February 1, 2011 at 10:40 am
This is truly amazing and wonderful. Just seeing copies of HPL’s handwriting when I do Google search on such excites me — I gaze and gaze at photos of his manuscripts and feel touched by magick. There was a MS recently found for, I think, “The Unnamable,” and the last page is completed with his handwriting, and the sight of that on my laptop screen utterly hypnotized me. Don’t quite understand the allure, guess it’s like seeing the handwriting of some awesome deity. Gawd, if I ever held an actual letter or MS or postcard I’d probably swoon in true Lovecraftian fashion!
February 1, 2011 at 11:08 am
Amazing find, Larry! Awesome, and thanks for sharing!
February 1, 2011 at 11:16 am
Wow, Larry. Wow.
February 1, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Larry, this is fate and karma that you, of all folks, found this. Thank you for being so generous to share it with Lovecraftians.
February 1, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Contact S.T. Joshi via his website and see if he could possibly incorporate the text of the post card into the upcoming Hippocampus Press book of letters between Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. Just a suggestion.
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson
February 1, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Already spoke with S. T. today on the phone. I believe it will be a nice piece for their book.
February 1, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Incredible find! Please do post the transcription!
February 4, 2011 at 9:51 am
[...] on the Miskatonic Books blog [ When the Gods Smile on You ] exciting news was reported of the discovery of a new Lovecraft postcard. At the conclusion of the [...]
February 7, 2011 at 10:44 am
As far as I can make out from the scan, the postcard seems to read as follows (Comte d’Erlette = August Derleth; Jehvish-Ei = J. Vernon Shea; young Melmoth = Donald Wandrei; ? Old Monty = M. R. James ?):
Well—no sooner had my epistle gone out of the house that the expressman brought your welcome packet—the “Geography” & the “Lady”. Have thumbed through the pages of the former, & it looks as as though it promises an even rarer feast than the kindred volumes I have recently read. [?Old] Monty’s scholarship certainly is profound to the very last degree. I shall be interested to see how far the “Lady” comes forward justifying the intemperate admiration of Comte d’Erlette & Jehvish-Ei. ¶ “Dark Chamber“ & cuttings will go on the road as soon as I get down town. The weather has slightly moderated, so that I may make it today or tomorrow. ¶ This card shews a finely panelled room taken from an old house at the front of the hill not so very far from here. I never saw it in its original site, but have visited it in its present Brooklyn habitat. Another room from the same [?house] is in a museum in Minneapolis, Minn—young Melmoth’s home territory. The old brick house, stripped of its fine woodwork, still stands—in a neighbourhood of slowly decaying commercialism.
Yrs with the blessing of Nefren-Ka—
Ech-Pi-El
[P.S.] Glad to see the item about Crowley. What a queer duck! He is the original of Clinton in Wakefield’s “They Return at Evening.”
March 23, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Great find!
The reference to ‘Old Monty” in the postcard undoubtedly refers to Montague Summers, definitely not to MR James as suggested by Juha Matti above. One of Summers’ books was “The Geography of Witchcraft”, which Smith read. HPL here accords Summers too much credit for profundity. Smith refers to the book in a letter to HPL of early 1933 (see Scott Connors’ edition of Selected Letters of CAS, p. 237). I presume the postcard dates from a similar date (late 1933 or early 1934?) (I can’t make out the postcard datestamp in the scan above). Could you clarify this Chris?
The “Lady” book referred to is “The Lady Who Came to Stay” by Robin Edgerton Spencer. See Selected Letters of CAS, 240. Lovecraft sounds skeptical of its literary worth. But it has been republished as part of Lovecraft’s Library series by Hippocampus Press http://www.hippocampuspress.com/lovecrafts-library/the-lady-who-came-to-stay-by-r.-e-spencer-and-the-elixir-of-life-by-arthur-ransome
Re: the Crowley reference, this is fascinating. It sounds as though Smith sent HPL a newspaper clipping about the famous occultist. There is a similar reference to Crowley – the only published reference – in a published letter to Emil Petaja of Mar 5, 1935 – see Selected Letters (Lovecraft), V.120. HPL here refers to him as “the rather over-advertised Aleister Crowley” and again comments on Crowley as the original of the character in Wakefield’s story.
March 23, 2011 at 5:12 pm
I managed to blow the image up a bit and I can see the postmark is either Dec 4 or Dec 14, 1933. Would you be great if you could read it accurately, Chris.
May 31, 2011 at 10:15 am
> I can see the postmark is either Dec 4 or Dec 14, 1933
It’s probably Dec. 14 since a letter to CAS exists from the previous day: SL#674 (“no sooner had my epistle gone out of the house …”).
April 30, 2011 at 11:28 pm
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