July 2013 Auction Ends Tuesday, July 23rd, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/23/2013
20th century literary master of ''cosmic horror'', H.P. Lovecraft autograph letter signed, datelined 29 October (no year but likely 1930) from ''monolith of the Shoggoths / Vale of Pueth''. A prolific letter writer, Lovecraft here writes to ''Klarkash-ton'' discussing a medley of imaginative topics including various stories, ideas of horror, science fiction, and mythological places, as well as various geographical landscapes on the east coast that conjure up macabre and out-of-this-worldliness. Reads in full: ''Dear Klarkash-ton: I am delighted to hear that you were not disappointed in 'The Whisperer', & I hope I can grind out some more things of the sort during the ensuing months. Cerleth says that Wandre's -- with whom he is in close touch nowadays -- wants to borrow it during the presence in the Turin Cities & it will be interesting to see what they think of it. Tsathoggua -- or Azatoth still broods cryptically on his neighboring pedestal, eyeing with varied emotions the trivial human world into which he has been projected. I certainly would like to see the rocky Desert of Deserts beyond Bodrahalin whence he came, & doubt not but that many arcane palaeageanentitles even more terrible than he lie waiting beneath the scariac flocks which mark the ruins of the aemon-city Akghurr & the frightful five-dimensional temple of Hei-Y-at. Really sinister scenery is the one thing which cannot be found among the exquisite rural beautify of Southern New England. One has to get up to Vermont to see any natural landscapes suggestive of the weird. About the most daemoniac place I ever saw was a valley in New Jersey -- in the foothills of the Ramapos -- where the sides were covered with the outcroppings of a black crystalline basaltic formation, & the floor was strewn with curiously angular fragments. I only saw it once, but its image has lingered with me. So Meester Gernspack vants someding more should happen by de 'Red Voild' a ready! Oy, should ah poor man pay oudt good money, buy a story vere effedying stand still, ent don't say it unddings? I shan't find the gentleman's periodical much of a haven for my stuff -- though he did take my 'Colour Out of Space' in the old amazing days...paying all of $25 like the generous philanthropist he is! I am eager to see your 'Offering to the Moon' & meanwhile you are aware of the enthusiasm with which I perused the 'Rendezvous.' I hope Wright will take 'Zonaida.' Oriental doesn't look like much of a market for me, for I've never seemed to get captivated by the conventional 'Spell of the East.' To my mind the Orient is so remote that its happenings lack the sense of substance needed to produce an impression of reality. Only when it is sublimed out of a sort of fantastic ethereal pseudo-Orient does it pack any real kick for me -- & even then it only runs a good second to the still less real Danvanie beyond the East & over the edge of the world. The one possible exception is the Arabian Nights tradition. I was utterly fascinated by Andrew Lang's version of the A.N. when I was 5 years old, & never fail to experience a sort of retrospective thrill when confronted again with the old Bagdad scene. I would try something in this line if I had the right background of scholarship. I wonder what the best works on Arabic history & customs are. 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 on another world. The one fatal weakness of nearly all interplanetary tales is that they almost completely ignore this factor of the situation. To my mind, the stupendous wave of emotion -- incredulity, lostness, wonder, stark terror -- incident to this supreme dislocation from man's immemorially fixed background would be so colossal a thing as almost to dwarf any events which might happen to a celestial traveler. I yet mean to write a tale whose one supreme climax shall be the man's discovery, after many torturing & ambiguous doubts, that he is on another world. Thanks exceedingly for the additional Carlsbad cuttings. What a cosmos of subterraine secrets!'' Signed, ''Best wishes -- Yr obt / E'ch-Pi-El''. 2pp. letter, front and verso, measures 5.5'' x 9'', written in black ink. Someone has written ''Nov. 29, 1930'' in pencil at top. Circular dampstain to top, minor toning and two folds, else near fine.
Rare Autograph Letter Signed by H.P. Lovecraft -- ''...I yet mean to write a tale whose one supreme climax shall be the man's discovery, after many torturing...that he is on another world...''
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