[...] & I will ask
you to pass it along—after as long a reading as you care to give it—to Robert
E. Howard, Lock Box 313, Cross Plains, Texas. When many people want to see the
same story, it is most convenient to start it circulating in this way.
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, 17 Sep 1931 (OFF 8)
The two tales safely
arrived, & I am glad the “Mts. of Madness” duly reached you. When you are
entirely through with the latter, I would appreciate your sending it on to Robert E. Howard, Lock Box 313, Cross Plains,
Texas.
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, 25 Sep 1931 (OFF 10)
 |
| R.H. Barlow |
This morning I took out a
big registered envelope with a “War Department” letter-head. I had visions of
me shouldering a Springfield already, but it was from a gentleman named Barlow,
at Fort Benning, Georgia, asking me for my autograph, for which purpose he
enclosed a blank sheet of paper and a stamped self-addressed envelope. He also
enclosed a 115 page ms. which he said Lovecraft had instructed him to forward
me. It’s the Antarctic story which Farnsworth rejected, and which Lovecraft
promised to let me read in the original.
— Robert E. Howard to
Tevis Clyde Smith, Oct 1931 (CL2.273)
Which was followed shortly after by the first
mention of Barlow in Howard’s letters:
When Mr. Barlow sent me
the ms. he did not mention whether it should be returned to him, or to you, so
I am sending it to you, as I suppose it was intended that I should.
— Robert E. Howard to H.
P. Lovecraft, Oct 1931 (CL2.274, MF1.231)
No mention is made of the autograph, and this
initial contact was not followed up immediately by either party, though, as was
common in his letters, Lovecraft would make occasional comments on Howard’s
fiction in Weird Tales to his young
correspondent. (OFF 29) Around
mid-December 1932, Barlow began to write to Lovecraft and Howard’s mutual
correspondent and fellow pulpster E. Hoffmann Price (OFF 45, cf. BOD 52-53);
where Barlow had initially asked Lovecraft and Howard for autographs, now he
was becoming more ambitious in his collecting:
Dear Mr. Barlow:
Price tells me that you
are interested in the collection of first drafts of Weird stories. I am sending
by express, the first writings — or rather the first typings, since I do all my
work on the typewriter — of “The Phoenix on the Sword”, “The Scarlet Citadel”,
“Black Colossus”, and “Iron Shadows in the Moon”. Some of the pages seem to be
missing from the first named story, but the others are complete. Hoping you
will find them of interest, I remain,
Cordially,
[Robert E. Howard.]
P.S. “The Phoenix on
the Sword” and “The Scarlet Citadel” have appeared in Weird Tales. “Black
Colossus” is scheduled for the June issue, and “Iron Shadows in the Moon” has
been accepted, but not scheduled.
REH.
— Robert E. Howard to
R. H. Barlow, Dec 1932 (CL2.519)
Barlow was appreciative, and asked Howard to
sign the title pages of the stories, which the Texan consented to do. (CL2.519) Lovecraft, meanwhile, continued
to sing Howard’s occasional praises in his letters to Barlow:
Some of the long
argumentative & descriptive letters of our group really approach
literature—the most remarkable ones coming from Robert E. Howard, whose
reminiscences & historical sketches of his native Texas country are
literature in the truest sense of the word, far more so than any save the very
best of his stories.
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, 14 Mar 1933 (OFF 56)
The next letter from Howard to Barlow is the
most substantial in their correspondence:
Dear Mr. Barlow:
Here are some notes of
Price’s which I am instructed to forward to you. They were sent by Price to
Clark Ashton Smith, who sent them to me, requesting that I, in turn, forward
them to you. I suppose Price will — or perhaps already has — let you know where
they are to go next.
Cordially,
[Robert E. Howard.]
P.S. I just received your
letter. I had no regular correspondence with Whitehead, beyond a few brief
notes exchanged in a business way. The enclosed missile is the nearest thing to
a regular letter I ever got from him, and I doubt if you can use it for your
purpose. However, I’m sending it along; you may return it at your convenience;
no hurry. There may be some delay about my returning the signed title pages, as
I expect to leave tomorrow for the state capital. However, they will be
forwarded to me from Cross Plains as soon as they arrive, and I’ll sign them
and send them at once to you.
REH.
— Robert E. Howard to R.
H. Barlow, 2 Apr 1933 (CL3.47)
The notes referred to consisted of a
manuscript of materials related to Theosophy and the Book of Dyzan that Price had copied, and which were passed around
the circle of Lovecraft’s correspondents in early 1933. (OFF 60) The Reverend Henry S. Whitehead was an Episcopal priest and
weird fiction writer who was living in Dunedin, FL when H. P. Lovecraft was visiting
him in 1931, best known for his occult investigator Gerald Canevin, but had
died on 23 Nov 1932. Lt. Col. Barlow retired from the army and moved his family
down to DeLand, Florida in early 1933, and R. H. Barlow conceived the idea of
collecting Whitehead’s letters with the aim of publishing them in a limited
edition, hence the request to Howard. (cf. OFF
56, 61, 65) Lovecraft noted:
Trust the Canevin letters
will not prove too exacting a job—at least, there’s no hurry about them. If you
print enough copies you can get a highly appreciative audience for this
opus—for Dwyer, Price, Klarkash-Ton, Wright, Howard, & many more will
certainly be eager to see it.
—H. P. Lovecraft to R. H.
Barlow, 13 Nov 1933 (OFF 85, cf. 101)
The collection never came off, although it led
to the publication of The Letters of
Henry S. Whitehead (1942, FAFA). Lovecraft was also in the habit of lending
out photographs of his correspondents, including one of Robert E. Howard:
Speaking of snaps—would
you care to see any of some of the other W.T. hacks? I can lend you Long,
Talman, Price, Howard, Wandrei, Klarkash-Ton, & Derleth.
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, Sep 1933 (OFF 78)
I’ll wager that Robert E.
Howard looks exactly like what his sanguinary tales have led you to expect…
Two-Gun Bob, The Terror of the Plains!
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, 21 Oct 1933 (OFF 81)
 |
| Robert E. Howard with "hat in hand." |
Beginning in late 1933, the two Bobs shared a
mutual interest in the fanzine The
Fantasy Fan, which ran Barlow’s “Annals of the Jinns” fiction series and
various short essays and letters, and Howard’s “Gods of the North,” poems, and
brief letters. Barlow’s letter published in the April 1934 issue is his only
published praise for Howard’s fiction:
The March issue is very
interesting. Howard’s story is both unusual and well-written, and any poetry of
Smith’s is predestined to excellence. (FF
114)
No letters or references survive to suggest
that Howard and Barlow exchanged any mail from April 1933 to April 1934. During
this break in their correspondence Barlow and Howard both featured, rather
sporadically, in Lovecraft’s letters to both. (OFF 91, 94-95, 110, 129, 130-131, 132; MF2.272, 276). This break would come to an end with the
announcement:
My temporary address for
a fortnight or so will be c/o R. H. BARLOW, BOX 88, DE LAND, FLORIDA.
— H. P. Lovecraft to
Robert E. Howard, 25 Apr 1934 (MF2.763-764,
cf. CL3.204)
Barlow had invited Lovecraft to come visit him
in Florida since the family had moved there in 1933 (OFF ix), and the Yankee had finally taken his friend up on the
offer. At some point around late April or May 1934, Barlow apparently wrote to
Howard again, this time asking for drawings by Weird Tales artist Hugh Rankin, who had provided the cover for “The
Moon of Skulls” (WT Jun 1930), and
interior art for “Skulls in the Stars” (Jan 1929), “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune”
(Sep 1929), “Skull-Face” (Oct-Dec 1929), “The Moon of Skulls” (Jun-Jul 1930),
“The Hills of the Dead” (Aug 1930), “Kings of the Night” (Nov 1930), “Rogues in
the House” (Jan 1934), “The Valley of the Worm” (Feb 1934), “Shadows in the
Moonlight” (Apr 1934), and “Queen of the Black Coast” (May 1934). Lovecraft
appealed on behalf of his host:
Hope you can conveniently
grant the request of our young friend Ar-E'ch-Bei.
— H. P. Lovecraft to
Robert E. Howard, May 1934 (MF2.764)
Nevertheless, Howard responded:
Dear Mr. Barlow:
Concerning the
illustrations you mentioned, I am very sorry, but I am a sort of a fiend about
Rankin’s illustrations myself. I am making a collection of the illustrations of
my stories appearing in Weird Tales,
and contemplate arranging them on a panel for display. As you say, Rankin’s
work is fine, though I consider that Doolin, who used to illustrate my stories
in Oriental Stories and Magic Carpet — and occasionally in Weird Tales — is equally good. I hope my
inability to supply these drawings will not inconvenience you in any way.
Thank you very much for
your kind comments concerning “Queen of the Black Coast”, and I am sorry about
your eyes. I strained mine at a comparatively early age, and have been forced
to wear glasses while reading or working for a number of years now.
I am sure that you and
HPL are having a splendid time. Would you please hand him the enclosed note?
Thanks.
With best wishes.
Cordially,
[Robert E. Howard.]
— Robert E. Howard to R.
H. Barlow, 1 Jun 1934 (CL3.212-213)
Dear Mr. Barlow:
If I ever decide to
dispose of the Rankin drawings, you shall most certainly be given first choice.
I’ll be sending you a weird ms. in a few days. (As soon as I can get around to
sorting it out from among the junk which I untidily allow to accumulate.)
Yes, my eyes are poor;
started when I was a kid, sitting out on the woodpile and reading until after
dark. The condition hasn’t been improved by getting a large number of boxing
gloves stuck in my eyes and bounced off my temples.
I’ve read your stories in
Fantasy Fan with the keenest interest
and I think you have real literary talent. I look forward to seeing your work
in the larger magazines.
With best wishes,
Cordially,
[REH.]
P.S. Will you please hand
the enclosed missive to Mr. Lovecraft?
— Robert E. Howard to R. H. Barlow, 14 Jun 1934
(CL3.215)
Howard makes some passing references to Barlow
in his letters to Lovecraft during this period, as Lovecraft’s initial two-week
stay stretched out to seven weeks. (OFF xiii)
During this period he apparently had another letter from Barlow, to which the
Texan responded:
Dear Mr. Barlow:
Here, at last, is the ms.
I promised you some time ago. “A Witch Shall be Born”. It is my latest Conan
story, and Mr. Wright says my best. This delay in sending it to you was
occasioned, mainly, by a sojourn in the extreme western part of the State, and into
New and Old Mexico. I suppose Lovecraft has returned to New England by this
time; I envy him his visit to Florida.
With best wishes.
Cordially,
[REH.]
— Robert E. Howard to R.
H. Barlow, 5 Jul 1934 (CL3.219)
This was not actually the final draft, which
was then at the Weird Tales offices (CL3.219n228), but an earlier draft that
had been typed on the back of “Knife River Prodigal”; the title page was then
signed “Best Regards, Robert E. Howard.” (Sasser)
Barlow and Howard’s correspondence appears to
have dropped off again, though Lovecraft relayed news about them both. (OFF 150, 154, 163, 181, 187, 230, 232,
266, 270, 282; MF2.801, 802) In
August of 1934, Howard received in the mail a copy of The Battle That
Ended the Century, an 8 ½” x 14” mimeographed broadsheet
containing an anonymous collaboration between Lovecraft and R. H.
Barlow—although Howard correctly guessed that Lovecraft had a hand in it:
Yes, I received a copy of
“The Battle That etc.”; it was mailed from Washington, D.C. It was cleverly
done, and rather humorous. I don’t see how anybody but Lovecraft could have
written it, because some of the points touched on were obscurely but
unmistakably related to some matters that he and I have discussed and argued in
our personal correspondence.
— Robert E. Howard to
Charles D. Hornig, 10 Aug 1934 (CL3.248)
Howard showed limited interest in Barlow, with
the longest exchange regarding him with Lovecraft being over a bas-relief of
Cthulhu that the young man had made:
As soon as I get some
more prints, I'm going to show you a photograph of the Cthulhu bas-relief which
Barlow made for me. I think you'll agree that it's tremendously clever.
— H. P. Lovecraft to
Robert E. Howard, 27 Jul 1934 (MF2.801)
I’d like very much to see
that photograph you mentioned — Barlow’s bas-relief of Cthulhu.
— Robert E. Howard to H.
P. Lovecraft, Dec 1934 (CL3.274, MF2.817)
And thanks, too, for the
splendid picture of Cthulhu. Do you wish it to be returned? Barlow seems to be
a very versatile young fellow.
— Robert E. Howard to H.
P. Lovecraft, Jan 1935 (CL3.301)
Barlow was in fact a versatile writer, artist,
and would-be publisher (under the name Dragon-Fly
Press), though he often had so many projects going that few came to
completion. In summer 1935 Lovecraft repeated his southern adventure with
another visit with the Barlows, occasioning a long description of their activities
(MF2.860-861), and was followed up by
subsequent references in their correspondence over the following weeks (MF2.890, 892, 893, 894). While there,
Lovecraft assisted with the printing of The
Goblin-Tower, a collection of poems by Frank Belknap Long. (OFF xiii) A copy of this was sent to
Howard:
Dear Mr. Barlow:
Thank you very much for
the copy of the Goblin Tower; a neat,
attractive job of printing and binding which does credit to Long’s splendid
verse.
Robert E. Howard
— Robert E. Howard to R.
H. Barlow, 17 Dec 1935 (CL3.394)
By autumn, Lovecraft was back in Rhode Island,
and the usual references to Barlow and Howard in his letters resume (OFF 299, 300, 305), noting especially
the “collaboration” between Lovecraft and Howard in the round-robin “The Challenge from Beyond” which ran in the Fantasy Magazine (Sep 1935). As a
Christmas present to Lovecraft, Barlow printed a small chapbook edition of his
story The Cats of Ulthar as well as
the first issue of his amateur journal The
Dragon-Fly (OFF xiii), copies of
which were sent to Howard, and formed the subject of his final letter to
Barlow:
Dear Mr. Barlow:
This is to express,
somewhat belatedly, my thanks and appreciation for the fine copy of “Cats of
Ulthar” and “The Dragon Fly”.
[Robert E. Howard]
— Robert E. Howard to R.
H. Barlow, 14 Feb 1936 (CL3.417)
 |
| First page of Barlow's copy of Howard's "A Witch Shall Be Born." |
Just received the
splendid elegy which shows that you’ve received the bad news. Nothing has
jolted me worse in recent years than poor old Two-Gun’s end. His moody,
sensitive streak must have run deeper than we thought. I assume that you have
the main facts—that REH shot himself upon learning that his other was about to
die. His desperate response to the bereavement shows how highly-strung &
neurotic he was, since most persons accept philosophically the inevitable
ultimate loss of the older generation, even when the strongest degree of
affection exists. The shock to poor old Dr. Howard must be atrocious—wife &
splendid only child gone at one stroke. He has given Two-Gun’s books to Howard
Payne College as the nucleus of a Robert E. Howard Memorial Collection—which
will also include letters, MSS., books by REH’s friends & any books of the
sort that REH would have liked. Dr. Howard asked me for any books of mine that
existed, & I sent him the Ulthar brochure. I wish you’d let me have a set
of Shunned House sheets to get bound for the collection—unless you’d like to
bind some & make the donation yourself. Price—the only one of us to meet
Two-Gun in person—says he feels “clubbed on the head” by the news—& so do
I. Here is Sultan Malik’s personal description of REH—which please return for
re-lending. I’m telling EHP that he ought to write the official obituary for
WT—just as I did in the case of good old Canevin. What a hell of a year 1936
is! Your sonnet-elegy is magnificent, & I hope you’ll try it on WT. In the
copy sent me line 3 is defective—lacking 2 syllables. Just to fill out, I’ve
put sadly before mute—but you can adopt any other arrangement you like.
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, 9 Jul 1936 (OFF 349-350)
Barlow had composed the elegy “R.E.H.” in
remembrance of the Texan, which Lovecraft duly praised. (ES2.740, LCM 248-249, LFB 330-331, LJM 389-390, LRB 173,
337, LRS 82-83, 85, OFF 351, 367) It was accepted for
publication by Weird Tales editor
Farnsworth Wright, and was published in the October 1936 issue—Barlow’s first
professional publication.
Satrap Pharnabazus tells
me that he’s accepting your elegy, & I’m taking the liberty of asking him
to hold that 3rd line for repairs. [...] I’m suggesting “sadly mute”, but
urging him to hold everything for instructions from you.
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, 10 Jul 1936 (OFF 352)
Satrap Pharnabazus
informed me in the same mail that the emendation for the elegy had come in
time—a message which profoundly relieved me. I’ll be interested to know what
the “mute” line originally was. If it was much superior to the result of the
emendation, I shall be sorry you didn’t look it up at once & rush the
result to WT.
Two-Gun’s
tragic end surely has shaken weird fandom…. & with good reason! I’m sure
Dr. Howard* would appreciate one of the signed MSS. for the collection, as well
as a bound “Shunned House”. He wants Sultan Malik to come to Cross Plains at
his expense to sort out REH’s manuscripts & act as a general literary
executor. EHP would like to, but is not yet sure that he can. Leedle Shoolie
says he is going to use my rather longish obituary in full—as well as any
personal reminiscences which the Peacock Sultan may send him. No question about
the sincere popular eagerness to honour Two-Gun’s memory—& I am glad that
something of this wide & spontaneous appreciation was manifest during its
object’s lifetime. Yes—I have the hat-in-hand, horizon-gazing snapshot (1931) which
you mention, & really like it better than the round-faced, moustachio’d one
(1936) which Dwyer has—or has lost. The 1931 one ought really to be the
standard likeness to be remembered, since its represents the aspect of REH
during the greater part of his writing career.
* Yes—Lock Box 313.
— H. P. Lovecraft to R.
H. Barlow, 23 Jul 1936 (OFF 352-353)
The
Shunned House was nominally Lovecraft’s first
published book—a small debacle of a printing job by his friend W. Paul Cook of
the Recluse Press in Vermont, the 300 copies printed were not bound at the time
of publication, and 1935 Barlow received 150 sets of the unbound sheets and
bound eight. One of these, Lovecraft avers, was made by Barlow for the Robert
E. Howard memorial collection:
Incidentally, he made me
up a rather crude bound copy to send to Dr. Howard for the Robert E. Howard
Memorial Collection.
— H. P. Lovecraft to
Donald Wandrei, 8 Nov 1936 (MTS 384)
An entry for The Shunned House does appear in the Howard Payne College library’s
accession list for the Howard collection, as is Barlow’s edition of The Cats of Ulthar. Dr. Howard himself
was pleased with “the beautiful eulogy in verse from Mr. Barlow” (IMH 101-102), though any acknowledgment
of the receipt of The Shunned House has
been lost.
Barlow’s situation was changing, in July 1936
he left Florida to visit Lovecraft in Providence for over a month, then left to
live with relatives in Kansas, where he began his studies at the Kansas City
Art Institute. (OFF xvii) Around this
time Lovecraft wrote:
Two-Gun’s father,
although I’ve heard from him several times (he sent me a fine large photograph
of REH—also one to Sultan Malik), did not answer my questions regarding the
loan of verse MSS.& the matter of signed MSS. for the collection. Better drop
him a line yourself—Dr. I. M. Howard, Lock Box 313, Cross Plains, Texas. I
don’t see why the hell you’re so reluctant to write letters. — H. P. Lovecraft
to R. H. Barlow, 30 Nov 1936 (OFF
372)
What Lovecraft may not have known is that
Barlow already had written to Dr.
Howard, in a letter dated 5 July 1936:
Dear Mr. Howard:
Farnsworth Wright has
written me of the shocking death of your son, of which I had not heard, and
while I am aware that no expression of sorrow can mean anything to one who
suffers a personal loss such as yours, I am sending you my sonnet—an echo of
that uncapturable emotion that is its source—prompted by the tragic news. That
I or anyone could pay adequate tribute to the vivid talents and personality of
your son is unlikely. I had known and delighted in his writing for many years
before I came in touch with im, and while it was my misfortune never to meet
him, I have always felt that I knew him both through his letters and his close
connection with Howard Lovecraft.
Possibly my name may be familiar to you—I do not know.
Some while ago I sent him the small book I printed last year, and very
recently, The Dragon-Fly, a paper
which I produce for my own pleasure. With the slowness of an amateur publisher,
I have been working on further books, one of which—the poems of Lovecraft—will
be ready this autumn, and another, by Clark Ashton Smith, to be produced next
year. For some little while I had considered asking your son to assemble his
poems, so that I could print them later, perhaps in the summer of next year.
Now I cannot do this, but the sudden tragedy impels me to speak of it to you.
Naturally I had not intended to undertake such a thing until my current
projects were finished. I hence had not spoken of it to him. But so many times
I have seen unprinted manuscripts disappear with no copy preserved, at times
like this. In three recent cases important things were lost or destroyed after
only a little while had gone, and for this reason I am going to make a request
(explaining, first, that it will be at least a year before I could do further
work). Would it be asking too great a favor for you to assemble those poems
which have not seen print (or have been altered since publication) and permit
me to make a transcription of them for a future volume? A number of writers
whom you may know have entrusted to me for preservation their only copy of
things—I have two novelettes by Lovecraft, stories by Price, Whitehead, Moore
and others of which not even the authors have a copy. However, I realize that
you might be reluctant to send anything so personally valuable (aside from
their literary merit) as those poems, to a person of whom you may not even
know. If you would allow me to make a copy, however, each of us would be
assured that his MS. were fairly secure, and that they would be reading for
printing n a small edition later. I am sure that such preservation and
publication will appear even more desirable to you than to me, and trust the
request is not too much of a burden or an imposition. Any poems that you locate
and send, if you should concur, would be promptly copied and returned. (IMH 71-72)
 |
| H.P. Lovecraft |
Ar-E’ch-Bei spoke all too
truly when he wrote:
“Conan, the Warrior-King,
lies stricken dead”.
— H. P. Lovecraft to
Clark Ashton Smith, 5 Feb 1937 (DS
661)
H. P. Lovecraft had left “Instructions in the
Case of Decease” which named the 18-year-old R. H. Barlow as his literary
executor, and he hastened to Providence to consult with Lovecraft’s surviving
aunt Annie Gamwell on the disposition of his books and papers. Barlow arranged
for the deposit of the bulk of Lovecraft’s manuscripts and weird magazines at
the nearby John Hay Library of Brown University. (OFF xviii-xix) Lovecraft’s file of letters, including those from
Robert E. Howard, remained with Barlow; Dr. Isaac M. Howard inquired after
these:
H. P. Lovecraft’s
letters from Robert E. Howard, I have ascertained are with Mr. Barlow in Kansas
City. He will send them to me. These letters will help furnish a basis from
which to make a book of his life. A book I intend shall be published if
possible.
— Dr. I. M. Howard to
Otis A. Kline, 15 May 1937 (IMH 164)
Dear Sir:
Your
letter has reached me. I had written your addressed letters as Mrs. Gamwell had
said would be your address: 810 West 57 Terrace, Kansas City. Letters returned
unclaimed. Since Mrs. Gamwell has given her consent for me to have the letters
written by my son to H. P. Lovecraft, and at same requesting that I send August
Derleth H. P. Lovecraft’s letters which I have done. May I not urge you to send
my son’s letters to me at once. I am asking that you do this even though it may
inconvenience you to do so. We have been trying to secure these letters for
weeks and I feel that since so important a matter that you should do me the
kindness to get them to me at once.
—
Dr. I. M. Howard to R. H. Barlow, 12 Jun 1937 (IMH 166)
The confusion in reaching Barlow was likely do
to his still-unsettled situation in Kansas. Barlow was not idle during the
period of 1937-1938, and brought forth two issues of Leaves, the Summer 1937 issue of which contained Robert E. Howard’s
“With A Set of Rattlesnake Rattles”—taken from Howard’s letters to Lovecraft (MF2.957, CL2.453)—and made a brief trip to Mexico in 1938. (Abrams 4)
In 1938-39, Barlow moved to San Francisco, where
he met Groo Beck (OFF 408-409)
Together, Beck and Barlow formed the Futile Press, which published an edition
of Lovecraft’s Commonplace Book (Faig
59), and then the Druid Press, resurrecting the idea of a volume of Robert E.
Howard’s poetry. They wrote to Kline, who was still the agent for Robert E.
Howard’s estate, and Kline sent them a box of Howard’s poetry manuscripts to
“make copies of any poems you desire to use, returning the originals intact to
the collection.” (IMH 169) Some
months later:
The Druid Press of San
Francisco is still holding Robert’s poems, but has not yet made an offer. A
letter from the editor which I received about a month ago, stated that they had
not yet finished going over all the poems—there were so many of them—but that they
would make an offer as soon as possible.
— Otis A. Kline to
Dr. I. M. Howard, 17 Jan 1940 (IMH 171)
The Druid Press eventually replied with a
letter dated 15 February 1940, apologizing for the delay and returning the
poems by express mail. They also noted: “At your suggestion, we have taken
transcripts (on microfilm) of those we would like to see in a book.” (IMH 172) This letter includes a list of
51 poems that the Druid Press had microfilmed. (Lord 13) Like many of Barlow’s
publishing projects, this one would be stillborn.
During this time (Fall/Spring 1939) Barlow
had, following a recommendation returned to college, taking courses at the
Polytechnic Institute (“junior college” OFF
xx, 412-413) which spurred his interest in anthropology; the summer of 1940
saw him at the National University Summer School in Mexico City, and in 1941
was taking classes on anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley.
(OFF xx-xxi, 414; Abrams 4) While in
San Francisco Barlow was a close associate of E. Hoffmann Price, who was also
in the area. (BOD 53, 277) In fall
1942 Barlow received his B.A. degree and in 1943 returned to Mexico, where he
spent most of the remainder of his life. (Abrams 6)
In 1943, Dr. Howard appears to have
accidentally burned many of the unpublished poem manuscripts, and inquired
after Barlow & Beck’s microfilm transcription:
It will indeed be a
tragedy if all of Robert’s unpublished poems are lost. I have lost all contact
with the former owners of the Druid Press, but am airmailing Edgar Price to see
if he can put us in touch with them. One, I recall, had gone to Mexico City.
— Otis A. Kline to
Dr. I. M. Howard, 15 Oct 1943 (IMH 187)
Also, I am enclosing
carbon copy of a letter written by E. Hoffmann Price to Robert Barlow, formerly
of the Druid Press, with regard to the microfilm copies of the poems which you
wrote me had been burned by mistake.
As this was written on October 26, and I have heard
nothing further, I don’t know whether he succeeded in locating Mr. Barlow or
not. However, I’ll let you know when and if I receive further word on this.
— Otis A. Kline to
Dr. I. M. Howard, 26 Nov 1943 (IMH 191)
I am very, very sorry
that I have had the misfortune to lose those manuscripts of his poems; that was
so tragic I can’t bear to think about it. However, I hope that the Druid Press,
at the time those boys had the manuscripts, photostated them, and that they
will be able to help us to recover some of his best poems, for I’m sure that
they well understood the merit of the poems sufficiently to select the best,
and maybe we can recover through them what we want.
— Dr. I. M. Howard to
E. Hoffmann Price, Dec 1943 (IMH 192)
 |
| Glenn Lord |
Most of the present
collection is unpublished; but not all. Others, all unpublished, are filed on a
microfilm roll which accompanies this. (Lord 8)
The date suggests that Barlow prepared these
materials before receiving Kline’s letter, and the typescripts in the
collection were made by Barlow, suggesting that these were the materials the
Druid Press had copied in 1940. (Lord 9) The alleged microfilm roll, however,
does not appear to have ever been part of the Bancroft collection; as Lord
reconstructs the sequence of events:
We know that Barlow did
eventually send the microfilm roll to Price sometimes between 1944 and Barlow’s
death in 1951 (or informed Price of where the microfilm roll was residing), but
exactly when he sent the microfilm or when Price came in possession of it is
not currently known. If Price acquired
the microfilm roll relatively soon after he sent his letter to Barlow, he
simply may not have had a chance to forward it to Dr. Howard who died shortly
thereafter on November 12, 1944. In any case, the roll remained in Price’s
possession until Glenn Lord contacted Price and inquired about the missing Howard
material. Price then sent the microfilm roll to Glenn Lord in late March 1958
[...] (Lord 10)
It later became apparent that Lord was correct
in assuming E. Hoffmann Price had received the microfilm around 1944; with the
death of Dr. Howard, his heirs the Kuykendalls had sent him a trunk of material
(including the Howard-Lovecraft letters that had been in Barlow’s possession
before he turned them over to Dr. Howard). (Roehm 29 Jan 2014)
R. H. Barlow committed suicide at the
beginning of January 1951. His collection, including the Howard story
typescripts, appears to have fallen into private hands, while the poetry
typescripts, some letters, postcards, and other sundry materials survive at the
Bancroft Library; Lovecraft’s letters to Barlow himself, with their references
to Robert E. Howard, were deposited at the John Hay Library. The microfilm,
with copies of Robert E. Howard poems that might otherwise have been lost, was
found, the contents published. An elegiac sonnet. These are the most concrete
examples of Barlow’s sporadic relationship with Howard, and later with his
estate.
The Barlow-Howard relationship was sporadic,
and is often overlooked; what is left of their correspondence makes it appear
to be brief, and generally formal. The pulp studies or weird fiction interest
in Barlow comes from his relationship with H. P. Lovecraft and his status as
Lovecraft’s literary executor, and the impact of Barlow on the survival of
certain of Howard’s materials is in large part a reflection of their mutual relationship
with Lovecraft—but also of a plucky fan, collector, and fan-publisher who
endeavored to preserve manuscripts and typescripts before they were lost
forever, and to publish them. Few of Barlow’s proposed books ever achieved
physical existence, but without his efforts a not-inconsiderable amount of
Howard’s material may have been lost.
Abbreviations
BOD Book
of the Dead Friends of Yesteryear: Fictioneers & Others
CL Collected
Letters of Robert E. Howard
DS Dawnward
Spire, Lonely Hill
ES Essential
Solitude
FF The
Fantasy Fan
IMH Collected
Letters of Dr. Isaac M. Howard
LCM Letters
to C. L. Moore & Others
LFB Letters
to F. Lee Baldwin, Duane W. Rimel, and Nils Frome
LJM Letters
to James F. Morton
LRB Letters
to Robert Bloch & Others
LRS Letters
to Richard F. Searight
MF A
Means to Freedom
MTS Mysteries
of Time & Spirit
OFF O
Fortunate Floridian
Works
Cited
Abrams,
H. Leon (1981). Robert Hayward Barlow: An
Annotated Bibliography with Commentary. In the series Katunob...Occasional Publication
in Mesoamerican Anthropology No. 16. Greeley, CO: University of Northern
Colorado.
Faig,
Kenneth W. (1988). “Robert H. Barlow as H. P. Lovecraft’s Literary Executor: An
Appreciation” in Robert M. Price (ed.) Crypt
of Cthulhu vol. 8, no. 1. Mount Olive, NC: Cryptic Publications.
Hornig,
Charles D. (Ed.) (2010). The Fantasy Fan.
Lance Thingmaker.
Howard,
Robert E. (2007-2008). The Collected
Letters of Robert E. Howard. Edited by Rob Roehm. Robert E. Howard
Foundation Press.
Howard,
Robert E. & Lovecraft, H. P. (2017). A
Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. 2nd
ed. Edited by S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz, & Rusty Burke. New York:
Hippocampus Press.
Lord,
Glenn (2004). “Bibliography of the Robert E. Howard Collections held by the
University of California at Berkeley, Bancroft Library” in Frank Coffmann (ed.)
The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E.
Howard Studies no. 7. New Paltz, NY: Seele Brent Publications.
Lovecraft,
H. P. (1992). Letters to Richard F.
Searight. Edited by David E. Schultz, S. T. Joshi, and Franklyn Searight.
West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press.
Lovecraft,
H. P. (2003). Mysteries of Time &
Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei. Edited by S. T.
Joshi & David E. Schultz. Portland, OR: Night Shade Books.\
Lovecraft,
H. P. (2007). O Fortunate Floridian: H.
P. Lovecraft’s Letters to R. H. Barlow. Edited by S. T. Joshi & David
E. Schultz. Tampa, FL: University of Tampa Press.
Lovecraft,
H. P. (2011). Letters to James F. Morton.
Edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press.
Lovecraft,
H. P. (2015). Letters to Robert Bloch and
Others. Edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus
Press.
Lovecraft,
H. P. (2016). Letters to C. L. Moore and
Others. Edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus
Press.
Lovecraft,
H. P. (2016). Letters to F. Lee Baldwin,
Duane W. Rimel, and Nils Frome. Edited by David E. Schultz & S. T.
Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press.
Lovecraft,
H. P. & Derleth, August (2013). Essential
Solitude: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth. Edited by
David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press.
Lovecraft,
H. P. & Smith, Clark Ashton (2017). Dawnward
Spire, Lonely Hill: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.
Edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press.
Price,
E. Hoffmann (2001). Book of the Dead
Friends of Yesteryear: Fictioneers & Others. Sauk City, WI: Arkham
House.
Roehm,
Rob. (Ed.) (2011). The Collected Letters
of Doctor Isaac M. Howard. The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press.
Roehm,
Rob (29 Jan 2014). “The Legend of the Trunk - Part 3” on REH Two-Gun Raconteur
blog. Retrieved from:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150907105625/https://rehtwogunraconteur.com/the-legend-of-the-trunk-part-3/
Sasser,
Damon C. (21 Apr 2013). “A Witch Shall Be Bought” on REH Two-Gun Raconteur
blog. Retrieved from:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150908093814/https://rehtwogunraconteur.com/a-witch-shall-be-bought/
2 comments:
Absolutely fascinating! So rich in information and personal detail, it demands and surely rewards repeated reading...
Great stuff, thanks for posting it.
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