This week another postcard sent to Lovecraft, rather than by him. He once had this card (or one very like it). I think it arrived from Paris and was sent by his young friend Galpin, though I could be wrong about that. Anyway he remarked, in a letter I recently read, on the very close resemblance of the painting to his elderly friend and adventure writer Everett McNeil. Then living in the slum of Hell’s Kitchen, New York City.

Though I should add that the good postcard promo-photo of the white-haired McNeil that I found (see my book on McNeil) shows no sign of the Innsmouthian nose-blobbling seen above.

Incidentally, now on Archive.org “to borrow”, two of McNeil’s best-selling boys’ adventure books. The librarians complained they were so popular with boys that (even with multiple copies) his books were almost impossible to keep on the shelves…

The Shadow of the Iroquois (1928)

The Shores of Adventure (1929)

McNeil’s later books are still hard to find in open form, due to copyright renewals by a family member… who then failed to keep the books in print. But his work should all fall out of copyright in the U.S. in 2025.