An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

R.H.Barlow dated the fragment to 1934, but in a letter of October 1933 HPL writes: “I am at a sort of standstill in writing—disgusted at much of my older work, & uncertain as to avenues of improvement. In recent weeks I have done a tremendous amount of experimenting in different styles & perspectives, but have destroyed most[emphasis added] of the results” ( SL4.289). The fragment appears to be an attempt to recast Fungi from Yuggothin prose. The existing text narrates the events outlined in the first three poems of the sonnet-cycle (which indeed present a connected narrative); the fact that the text terminates at this point may suggest that HPL had no idea how to write the rest of the cycle as a coherent story.

See S.T.Joshi, “On The Book,’” Nyctalops3, No. 4 (April 1983): 9–13; rpt. CryptNo. 53 (Candlemas 1988): 3–7; Michael Cisco, “The Book of ‘The Book,’” LS No. 42 (Summer 2001): 5–21. Bor, Dam.

In “Collapsing Cosmoses,” an operator of a “cosmoscope” who sees a dangerous enemy approaching the planet from outer space.

Borellus.

Author of an unnamed work cited as an epigraph to The Case of Charles Dexter Ward(1927). HPL found the name and the passage in his copy of Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana(1702). Borellus is the seventeenth-century alchemist Pierre Borel (c. 1620–1689), not (as Roger Bryant conjectured) the Italian scientist Giovanni Borelli (1608–1679).

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See Roger Bryant, “The Alchemist and the Scientist: Borellus and the Lovecraftian Imagination,” Nyctalops2, No. 3 (January–February 1975): 26–29, 43; Barton L. St. Armand, “The Source for Lovecraft’s Knowledge of Borellus in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” Nyctalops2, No. 6 (May 1977): 16–17.

“Bouts Rimés.”

Two poems: “Beyond Zimbabwe” (8 lines) and “The White Elephant” (8 lines); cowritten with R.H.Barlow on May 23, 1934. First published in Saturnalia and Other Poems(1984). Barlow selected the end rhymes, then HPL composed the text.

Bowen, Hannah.

In “The Shunned House,” a woman who is hired by William Harris to be a servant at the house but who dies a few months later.

Boyle, Dr. E.M.

In “The Shadow out of Time,” an Australian (possibly a psychologist) who brings Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee’s papers relating to his bizarre “dreams” to the attention of Robert B.F.Mackenzie, and who then accompanies Peaslee and Mackenzie on an expedition to the Great Sandy Desert. Bradofsky, Hyman (b. 1906).

Correspondent of HPL (1934–37). He was president of the NAPA in 1935–36 and came under vicious attack by other members (in part, perhaps, because he was Jewish); HPL defended him in the essay “Some Current Motives and Practices” (1936), which R.H.Barlow mimeographed and distributed. As editor of the amateur journal The Californian(1933f.), he offered unprecedented space for lengthy contributions of fiction, essays, and poetry. The Summer 1937 memorial issue is devoted to HPL, containing fine memoirs (including Bradofsky’s own poignant brief recollection in the column, “Amateur Affairs”) and hitherto unpublished writings by HPL.

Briden, William.

In “The Call of Cthulhu,” a sailor on the crew of the Emmawho, seeing Cthulhu, goes mad and later dies.

Brinton, William.

In “The Rats in the Walls,” the archaeologist who leads the exploration party into the crypt discovered beneath Exham Priory.

Brobst, Harry K[ern] (b. 1909).

Friend of HPL (1932–37). Born in Wilming-ton, Del, Brobst came with his family to Allentown, Pa., around 1921, be-friending the young Carl F.Strauch, with whom he shared an interest in weird fiction and WT. Brobst particularly liked the work of HPL, Clark Ashton Smith, and other WTwriters. Securing HPL’s address from Farnsworth Wright, Brobst wrote to HPL, probably in the autumn of 1931, receiving a cordial reply. In early 1932, Brobst entered a program in psychiatric nursing at Butler Hospital in Providence, and from that time till HPL’s death he was a frequent visitor at HPL’s home and companion on his local travels, including Bristol and Warren, R.I., in March 1932 ( SL4.29) and a tour of Butler Hospital sometime in 1932 ( SL4.191). In July 1933 Brobst joined HPL in welcoming E.Hoffmann Price; it was on this occasion that the three of them spent an entire night dissecting a story by Strauch. Brobst has confirmed that HPL worked briefly as a ticket agent

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