Tuesday, December 17, 2013

EDWARD PICKMAN DERBY by MICHELLE SOULIERE

 EDWARD PICKMAN DERBY
"Blond and blue-eyed, he had the fresh complexion of a child; and his attempts to raise a moustache were discernible only with difficulty. His voice was soft and light, and his pampered, unexercised life gave him a juvenile chubbiness rather than the paunchiness of premature middle age. He was of good height, and his handsome face would have made him a notable gallant had not his shyness held him to seclusion and bookishness."

"Edward went to pieces rapidly after that. He did not call again, but I went daily to see him. He would always be sitting in his library, staring at nothing and having 
an air of abnormal listening."
H.P. Lovecraft, The Thing On the Doorstep
Illustration by Michelle Souliere 

 

4 comments:

  1. This portrait depicts our hero in sadder days: "Edward went to pieces rapidly after that. He did not call again, but I went daily to see him. He would always be sitting in his library, staring at nothing and having an air of abnormal listening." Poor Edward!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, I actually see Clark Ashton Smith!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brian-- Yes! Is has been speculated that "The title of Derby's book suggests that Lovecraft had Clark Ashton Smith in mind, who won acclaim at the age of nineteen when he published a book of poetry called The Star-Treader and Other Poems (1912)." I based it off of a young portrait of Smith and then tried to bring out the worried peakedness that shadows his face in this picture: http://alangullette.com/lit/smith/cas_gs.htm

    ReplyDelete