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Three manuscript letters written by H.P. Lovecraft and signed to Clark Ashton Smith. Each a single sheet written both sides in ink, folded two or three times. Second and third letters accompanied by matching envelopes with handwritten postscripts. Fine with toning to all items, minimal red pencil marks to second and third letters and envelopes. Sender's address on third envelope has been partially torn off. Housed in a custom dark red cloth clamshell case, portrait onlay to front cover, lightly rubbed and scuffed. The first letter, written at Lovecraft's home in Rhode Island and dated Sept 27, 1922, is the second he that ever sent to Clark Ashton Smith. Lovecraft begins: "My dear Mr. Smith: It is needless to say that I was vastly pleased to receive your reply to my unsolicited letter, & that I appreciate very much your courtesy in thus noticing an obscure companion in the realms of the macabre." He heaps praise upon Smith's work and laments the indifference of American critics toward horror ("Today neither Poe nor Baudelaire could expect the slightest hearing in a standard magazine"). The author finishes by thanking Smith for the other man's praise of his own work, and adds that he has included some pieces of writing, "which you might glance over if they look promising." He signs off "with every kind of appreciation and admiration, believe me, most sincerely yrs HP Lovecraft." The second letter letter is dated June 7, and the postmark on the accompanying envelope indicates that it was posted that same day in 1928. By now the formal salutation has been dropped for "Dear CAS." Lovecraft is on his way to meet the poet and woodcutter Bernard Austin Dwyer for the first time: "I am certain I shall like Dwyer, who seems to have as delicate & Machen-like a sense of the mystery of landscape as anyone I know." He moves on to a discussion of Smith's latest work, condoling with him on a writer's block. Lovecraft declares that "I've had no time or opportunity to write anything myself of late," but mentions that W. Paul Cook, an amateur publisher, is preparing a small hardcover anthology of his work. Signed "most sincerely yrs HPL." The third letter, dated April 14, 1929, opens with "My dear Klarkash-Ton," referring to the fictionalized version of Smith that Lovecraft created. Once again Lovecraft is traveling around New York, and once again he reassures his friend that the writer's block isn't so bad as all that: "I'm sure your work doesn't indicate any lax period to me; & if it really does represent such, I can't but wonder what you would consider a real spell of fertility and inspiration!" Further topics include a letter from a witch-descendent, the Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany, and the publishing industry. Signed "Yr obt Servt HPL." These three letters are just a small part of Howard Phillip Lovecraft's voluminous correspondence, but they reveal a great deal. Toiling in obscurity the writer might have been, but he was clearly an affectionate man with a strong network of friends and associates, whom the keen traveller liked to visit when he could. Those friends were responsible for ensuring Lovecraft's posthumous fame after his death from cancer in 1937: August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, the latter mentioned in these letters, formed the legendary publishing firm Arkham House just to publish Lovecraft's work. Clark Ashton Smith, who exchanged hundreds letters with Lovecraft, was later published by the same imprint.
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