Case 6
… the bus swung in, and a tall, stooped figure, with grey-brown hair and a protruding jaw
emerged gauntly and hailed me. *
Robert H. Barlow, “The wind that is in the grass : a memoir of H. P. Lovecraft in Florida,” 1944
Florida was one of Lovecraft’s favorite places. The items in this case are a diverse selection of artifacts and manuscripts representing two of the three trips he took to the subtropical state during his lifetime. During the summers of 1934 and 1935, Lovecraft headed south from Providence for an extended stay with his young correspondent and fellow weird fiction enthusiast Robert Hayward Barlow at his family’s rural home in DeLand, Florida. The climate suited his constitution and alleviated ailments that may have been signs of his imminent cancer diagnosis. In a letter that he wrote to Robert Bloch after his arrival to DeLand in June 1935, Lovecraft asserts, “I began to feel a certain strength + comfort the moment I struck the hot Carolina lowlands— + by the time I reached Charleston I was feeling really well for the first time in 1935.” The materials included describe Lovecraft’s vacation and his perceptions of the history, landscape, and environment he encountered. Days in DeLand were filled with discussions of fiction, searches through “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis”—the collection of weird books and magazines that Barlow kept in his bedroom closet, adventures in nature, and printing and book-making endeavors.
During the last decade of his life, Lovecraft traveled frequently to cities along the East Coast. He documented his excursions through his letters and prolific postcards, often detailing his impressions of a place’s historical authenticity and noting sites or environmental features that inspired him. Lovecraft used identifiable settings from both his hometown and travel destinations in much of his fiction and travelogues.
- the bus swung in, and a tall, stooped figure with grey-brown hair and a protruding jaw emerged gauntly and hailed me
Case Contents:
- H. P. (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft (Providence, Rhode Island 1890-1937 Providence, Rhode Island)
Letter to Duane W. Rimel - MS.Lovecraft
- First page of an eight-page letter written from DeLand, Florida. Barlow drawing for “The Tree on the Hill” and Lovecraft drawing of Barlow residence in DeLand, Florida, inserted.
- R. H. (Robert Hayward) Barlow (Leavenworth, Kansas 1918-1951 Mexico City, Mexico)
Untitled
1934 May 3
Oil on canvas board
John Hay Library. Star Collection. RARE 3-S PS3523.O82 Z98 L7
Inscribed on reverse side: “May 3, 1934 For HPL in appreciation of appreciation R H Barlow” - H. P. (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft (Providence, Rhode Island 1890-1937 Providence, Rhode Island)
Letter to Duane W. Rimel
1935 June 30
Autograph letter signed (eight pages on four sheets), decorated envelope
John Hay Library. Howard P. Lovecraft Collection, 1894-1971. MS.Lovecraft
First page of an eight-page letter written from DeLand, Florida. Pressed insect included, identified by Lovecraft on reverse side, “mosquito from DeLand, Fla.” - H. P. (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft (Providence, Rhode Island 1890-1937 Providence, Rhode Island)
Letter to Robert Bloch
1935 June
Autograph letter signed (two pages on one sheet)
John Hay Library. Howard P. Lovecraft Collection, 1894-1971. MS.Lovecraft
First page of a two-page letter written from DeLand, Florida. Printed illustration identified by Lovecraft as the “linoleum block work of Ar-Ech-Bei’s [R. H. Barlow]. The large monster of the letterhead is our old friend Cthulhu in one of his less usual + more active poses.” - Robert Bloch (Chicago, Illinois 1917-1994 Los Angeles, California)
Letter to H. P. (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft
1935 July 31
Autograph letter signed (two pages on one sheet), decorated envelope
John Hay Library. Howard P. Lovecraft Collection, 1894-1971. MS.Lovecraft
First page of a two-page letter written from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.