Letter to August Derleth

From Clark Ashton Smith

[4]

Auburn, Calif.

April 9th, 1937

Dear August:

[. . .]

It is painful to think of that last month and the agonies evinced in the diary.[1] Wright said something about morphine being administered at the hospital; so it would seem that he should have rested more easily after his entry there. But the necessity of morphine confirms all one's worst apprehensions and the references in the diary. Barry Brobst thinks that cancer of the liver served to complicate the kidney condition. It hardly bears thinking about.

[. . .]

More and more of HPL's letters are coming to light here. I find, since the very first one is now at hand, that our correspondence did not begin till the summer of 1922. I recalled sending him frequent page-proofs of Ebony and Crystal that year, and really thought we had been corresponding and exchanging mss. for about 18 months previous. It humbles me to note the extreme humility of attitude in these letters.

Best, as always,
Clark Ashton

* * *

  1. Evidently a reference to Lovecraft's so-called "Death Diary", a notebook kept by Lovecraft of his physical condition during the last months of his life. This diary was partially transcribed by R. H. Barlow and sent by him to Derleth. The actual diary is now lost and only Barlow's transcription survives.

From: Clark Ashton Smith: LETTERS TO H. P. LOVECRAFT, edited by and footnotes by Steve Behrends (July 1987) Necronomicon Press.

Top of Page