The Lovecraft Letters Vol 1: Mysteries of Time & Spirit: Letters of H.P. Lovecraft & Donald Wandrei (v. 1) [Hardcover]

H. P. Lovecraft (Author), Donald Wandrei (Author), S.T. Joshi (Editor), David E. Schultz (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Lovecraft Letters | Publication Date: October 30, 2002

Mysteries of Time and Spirit is a collection of all the correspondence between Lovecraft and future Arkham-House co-founder Donald Wandrei.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For the inaugural volume of their Lovecraft Letters series, editors Joshi and Schultz have chosen wisely and well: first, because the correspondence between H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) and Donald Wandrei (1908-1987), the co-founder of Arkham House in 1939, is largely complete on both sides; second, because the two writers often discuss horror fiction, as well as the timeless vagaries of getting published, whether in magazine or book form. In 1926, Wandrei, then a University of Minnesota undergrad, wrote the master of Weird Tales a fan letter, initiating a friendship that would last until HPL's premature death. Besides extolling the beauties of his native Providence, R.I., and the old cities he visits on his travels, Lovecraft takes obvious pleasure in guiding his prot‚g‚'s reading and introducing him to other members of his circle, including Arkham House's other future co-founder, August Derleth. As the years pass, HPL has more trouble placing his work, but he remains true to his principles: "it is clear that I can never land anything more unless I cater to the debased pulp ideal-and that I shall never do." Though lacking the illustrations and authorial commentary of Willis Conover's classic Lovecraft at Last (1976), this book should satisfy both scholars (footnotes at the end of each letter make for easy access) and fans eager to know more about these two pulp-era paragons from their own words.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

Night Shade is kicking off a series of volumes of H.P. Lovecraft's letters, starting with this volume. For those of you who already have the five volume set of letters put out by Arkham House, Night Shade's editions will be completely different.

Rather than chronological, as with the Arkham editions, ours will be thematic. Each volume will be dedicated to a specific subject, time, or place.

The Arkham editions have severely edited/cut the letters, eliminating a great deal of material. Ours will be uncut, containing the complete texts of the letters, as well as any additional illustrations.

Our editions will be (we hope) far more comprehensive. Most of Mysteries of Time and Spirit is unpublished material, as will most of the letters volumes we produce in the future. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 439 pages
• Publisher: Night Shade Books (October 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892389495
• ISBN-13: 978-1892389497
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,420,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic glimpse into the life of Lovecraft!, March 17, 2003

By 

Jesper Mikkelsen (Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lovecraft Letters Vol 1: Mysteries of Time & Spirit: Letters of H.P. Lovecraft & Donald Wandrei (v. 1) (Hardcover)

This must surely be one of the most fascinating books published on Lovecraft in a very long time. The book contains nearly all of the correspondance between him and Donald Wandrei, a horror/sci-fi writer in his own right, as well as upcoming co-founder of Arkham House. What makes this volume particular fascinating, is that it not only contains Lovecrafts letters, but also Wandreis, making this volume so much more exciting to read because of the ping-pong effect it gives. A lot of other letter-books tend to be slightly boring because the letters seem out of place due to the missing answers.
The two talk about their life, their writings, their authorfriends and what they read, giving a wonderful glimpse into the lives of two struggling writers who never made the big jackpot!
Of course the book will mainly be enjoyed by the hardcore-Lovecraft-fan, but even the more casual reader will be entertained by this book, that also gives a glimpse into the way life was lived in the beginning of the last century!

On top of that, the publisher has done a wonderful job in producing the book; smythsewn binding, fine paper and highquality printing!!
The book is the first in a series of books containing letters of Lovecraft, and I already look forward to the next volumes!
Highly recommended!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy addition!, April 25, 2003

By 

Annette Hrisko-Allen (pdx,usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lovecraft Letters Vol 1: Mysteries of Time & Spirit: Letters of H.P. Lovecraft & Donald Wandrei (v. 1) (Paperback)

H.P. Lovecraft was at the hub of a small circle of weird fiction writers, artists and enthusiasts. Even the most casual note sent in by a fan of his work would often receive a wonderfully long and detailed letter by way of thanks. Were it not for HPL's mammoth correspondence, writers like Frank Belknap Long, Clark Ashton Smith, E. Hoffmann Price, August Derleth, and Donald Wandrei would never have gotten to know one another and, very possibly, might not have persued writing careers with nearly as much fervor and creative imagination.

This book is a record of the friendship that developed between HPL and Donald Wandrei who, as a 19-year-old University of Minnesota student in 1926, one day decided to write a fan letter. For the next ten years, the two men would exchange views on everything from the "weird" influence on art and literature to the woes of trying to get Hugo Gernsback, editor of WEIRD TALES, to pay for the stories he bought.

Readers will also find interesting Wandrei's hitching odessey in the Summer of 1927, when he went from St. Paul to New York City to Providence, Rhode Island (bumming lifts all the way) in order to visit HPL from July 12-29.

There is also a great deal of humor to be garnered from these letters, especially HPL's near obsession with a cheap eatery called JAKE'S (where you could get a complete meal for 25 cents) and a precursor to Baskin and Robbins called MAXWELL'S, where HPL would take visitors and stage ice cream eating contests.

The only truly sad notes were HPL's consistent failures to secure a steady writing job and his persistent racism (also shared by Wandrei, at least while he explored New York). While certainly a blot on their characters, it does add to rendering a more complete picture of two creative people: one a neophyte, the other a rather weary and disillusioned veteran.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a correspondent's dream team, February 9, 2004

By 

DC5 (Northwest United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lovecraft Letters Vol 1: Mysteries of Time & Spirit: Letters of H.P. Lovecraft & Donald Wandrei (v. 1) (Hardcover)

Mysteries of Time and Spirit is a superb and wholly interesting collection of letters between H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) and Donald Wandrei (1908-1987), the latter being one of the co-founders (with Auggie Derleth) of Arkham House. In this book, we find Necrophilis and Ghost-Eater Lovecraft--so named in an 1927 letter by Wandrei--and the young Melmoth himself (one of HPL's names for Wandrei)--in a long series of eloquent, erudite letters which give the reader an in-depth look at the lives and interests of both men from late 1926 up to the time of Lovecraft's death from intestinal cancer in 1937. There's much epistolary greatness here, and as I was reading, I found myself envious of the relationship of these two men of letters. How I wish I could have been a correspondent of either of them.

I highly recommended this book to Lovecraft & Wandrei fans, weird fiction enthusiasts or historians, or anyone interested in epistolary greatness.