Martinus Wrote:
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> I agree with walrus: Lovecraft Remembered is a
> great book, and W. Paul Cook's memoir in
> particular makes it worth buying. I also remember
> nice memoirs by Donald Wandrei, Rheinhart Kleiner,
> E. A. Edkins, and Dorothy C. Walter. They
> definitely make HPL come alive.


I am reading Lovecraft Remembered. Wonderful book. These first-hand accounts carry me back in time to old Providence, to see gentleman Lovecraft walking about, sitting in the same room, hearing his voice, observing his personality traits, clothing. I like his company.
I have only read the first few memoirs so far, but each one alone is worth the price of the book. And it has a nice cover by artist J. C. Eckhardt, who has a distinct feeling for the atmosphere of Lovecraft's New England.

I only miss one thing in my biographical excursions. Are there any maps of Lovecraft's and CAS's apartments and houses available anywhere, with room measurements and planning? From Dr. Farmer's colorful descriptions, I have a general picture of Clark's house, to which I am very grateful.

Knygatin Wrote:

> I only miss one thing in my biographical
> excursions. Are there any maps of Lovecraft's and
> CAS's apartments and houses available anywhere,
> with room measurements and planning? From Dr.
> Farmer's colorful descriptions, I have a general
> picture of Clark's house, to which I am very
> grateful.


I don't know if there are any with measurements, but there are some sketches of some of HPL's rooms (from letters he wrote) in Joshi's H. P. Lovecraft: A Life. There is also at least one photograph of his study (taken by Barlow, if I recall correctly) in Marginalia... though I no longer have a copy of the book, and could not refer you to the exact facing page(s). Unfortunately, I have no idea about any such of Smith's lodgings (though I, too, would be grateful to be pointed in the proper direction)....

Yes, there are two photos of HPL's study in Marginalia, plus a floor plan and wall plan of his study (very difficult to decipher).

Perhaps the Municipal Archives of Providence have illustrated floor plans of all architecture built in the city.

Floor plans are very hard to come by as a rule because things like furniture arrangement chanages over time. Just the bare-bones room which one might find in architectural plans don't tell us all that much. It's where the desk was and the bookcase and the easy chair which gives us the feel for the place and the person. We're lucky with HPL because he did sketch his room and there seem to be photos.

There is a real estate atlas for Providence dated 1937 published by Hopkins which shows the plots of land and the buildings, but that doesn't show what's in the houses. For Smith, there may be older county maps showing some things. I don't know if any aerial photography was flown for either the Providence area or the Auburn area for the proper time periods, but there should be such and satellite imagery for the present.

JBP

Martinus Wrote:
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> Yes, Harry Brobst celebrated his 100th birthday in
> February -- he lived in Providence in the 1930s,
> visited HPL in the hospital during his final days,
> and attended his funeral.

I just learned that Harry Brobst passed away on January 13, almost 101 years old.