by Phil Sawyer
After Sprague’s H. P. Lovecraft biography was published in 1975 this beautiful collection of Lovecraft’s nonfiction essays was published by Donald M. Grant in 1976. In the introduction Sprague writes, “In researching for my book Lovecraft, I read many non-fiction writings by the great American writer of weird and macabre fantasy […] not currently available.” The introduction is reproduced below:
This book is divided into four sections. Below is de Camp’s original Table of Contents. In the final version “Astronomical Columns” was separated into four separate entries: Trans-Neptunian Planets (1906), November Skies (1915), June Skies (1916), and May Skies (1917). Thus, changing the total essays from 14 to 17.
(1.) Science: Lovecraft wrote many essays for the local newspapers describing the night sky and the legends and the myths behind them. He almost certainly wrote the essays for free as he thought it was ungentlemanly to ask for money for one’s work. Sprague also found a 1906 letter to the Scientific American (published here as “Trans-Neptunian Planets”) where Lovecraft suggests looking for an extra outer planet. This foreshadows the discovery of Pluto by over 20 years and of course we remember Pluto as Yuggoth!
Sprague read these essays carefully and he shows his “Mastery of Lore” in the footnotes. On page 22 in note #4 he corrects Lovecraft by writing “In the Greek legend, Perseus flew, not on Pegasus, but by the winged sandals Hermes had lent him.” And on page 27 his note reads “Classical sources (e.g. Apollodoros, III, i.4) usually describe the Minotaur as a bull-headed man.”
I am impressed by the amount of knowledge the young Lovecraft showed in these essays. A sad note by Sprague on page 13 reminds us that “During high school, Lovecraft casually assumed that he would go on to Brown University, major in astronomy, and become a professor of that subject. His neuro-physical collapse in his fourth year of high school and his failure to graduate ended his prospects of a scientific career.” It’s strange to be reminded that the Eldritch Yankee Gentleman was a high school dropout!
In the article above from The Phoenician Lovecraft guesses that there might be life on Mars. The jury’s still out on that one!
(2.) Literature and Esthetics: Here are some of what Sprague describes as “many lively opinions on the crafts of prose and poetry.” Sprague acknowledges Lovecraft’s “ultraconservative outlook,” but Sprague always agreed with Lovecraft (and for what it’s worth, Moi!) when Sprague writes that since Lovecraft’s time “serious poets have almost entirely abandoned fixed forms in favor of free verse. Their product has disintegrated into mere concatenations of free association verbiage, which can be and have been composed as well by a child or a computer as by a mature poetic artist. So, perhaps, there is something to be said for Lovecraft’s views. Moreover, his opinions on this subject, as on others, became broader and more tolerant in his last years.”
Sprague shows us his lore chops when he writes “In ‘The Allowable Rhyme,’ Lovecraft assumes that Pope’s rhyming of ‘join’ and ‘line’ is a case of mere laxity. In fact, in the speech of many of Pope’s time, ‘join’ and ‘line’ did rhyme, using the same diphthong, intermediate between those now heard in those words, in both.” Of these essays, my favorite is Lovecraft’s “The Literature of Rome.”
(3.) Philosophy: Here we read of Lovecraft’s “formidable” nontheistic materialism. Lovecraft was a keenly logical thinker concerning the supernatural. And Sprague does not spare us Lovecraft’s notorious racism or ethnocentrism. You get to read “The Crime of the Century” and “Nietzscheism and Realism.” Sprague is very careful to remind us that Lovecraft was far from the only intellectual to harbor such thoughts at the time and that “In his last few years, he one by one abandoned these animosities until they were practically all gone.” Also Sprague reminded us that a lot of these fulminations and rantings now seem far more sinister after Dauchau and Treblinka and Auschwitz than they did at the time.
(4.) Travel, Description, and History: Lovecraft in his later years was what Sprague described as “quite a gadabout.” These are very charming essays again showing Lovecraft’s delight in travel and history. This was the first publication of Lovecraft’s “Quebeck.” It was a 75,000-word essay written in long hand over 3 months describing the wonders and beauty of Quebec. As a pro, Sprague could only shake his head at “A professional writer, in precarious financial shape, would think himself mad to spend over three months on unpaid hobby writing.” Sprague always thought that with a little editing this would have been an excellent Quebec travel guide and it was a shame that it did not seem to occur to Lovecraft to try to professionally publish the essay.
Sprague spent a lot of time ensuring the spelling and accuracy of names and places in this essay. He sent several back-and-forth letters to M. Louis Paré, the Quebec Tourism Director to ensure corrections were made and dedicated the book to him for his help.
All in all, this is a beautiful and fascinating book. As far as I know there was never another edition after Donald M. Grant published it.
I thought I would add a little to Brian’s excellent Lovecraft book review. My correspondence with Sprague was just hitting its stride when Lovecraft came out and I remember the controversy and the hue and cry. Lovecraft was debated at the World Fantasy Convention. Sprague pointed out to critics that he did not like or dislike Lovecraft because he never met him. Lovecraft was a historical figure. And to me what was often overlooked was that Sprague took pains to point out that Lovecraft kept learning his whole life and that Lovecraft was a man who always “tried to do the right thing.”
I have a copy of a very bitter review of Sprague’s HPL biography by a devoted fan of the time named Dirk Mosig. Mosig managed to get under Sprague’s skin and he and Mosig had some pretty rancorous exchanges. Sprague and Catherine were worried enough about all the animosity that they actually requested that myself and a friend be on hand at the 1978 World Fantasy Convention to try to prevent any physical assaults!
In conclusion, if you ever find a copy of To Quebec and the Stars, grab it! It’s a beautiful and endlessly fascinating volume. Besides being an excellent writer Sprague was also an outstanding editor!
spraguedecampfan 
Interesting article. Thanks.