"A Slave" original drawing by Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was a noted poet and Weird Tales author, and a close friend and correspondent of H.P. Lovecraft. He produced many drawings like these between about 1915 and 1925 and would include them with letters he sent to friends, most notably Cleveland poet Samuel Loveman.
When H.P. Lovecraft visited Samuel Loveman in 1922, he saw Loveman's collection of original drawings sent to him by Clark Ashton Smith. Lovecraft immediately sent Smith a fan letter, initiating a correspondence that would last 15 years until Lovecraft's death in 1937.
This original Clark Ashton Smith drawing is mounted on black board and labeled on the back "ORIGINAL DRAWING by Clark Ashton Smith", which confirms this is indeed from Samuel Loveman's collection and was most likely seen and handled by Lovecraft on one of his visits to Loveman in either Cleveland or New York. The mounting and labelling was done by collector and book dealer Gerry de la Ree after he bought Loveman's collection in 1970.
Published in In the Realms of Mystery and Wonder, Centipede Press, 2017.
Signed "C.A.S." lower right.
Pencil
Measures about 7" by 5" (board)
