Events in H. P. Lovecraft's life

thumb|H. P. Lovecraft
This is a timeline of significant events in the life of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
== 1890 ==
* August 20: Howard Philips Lovecraft born at 454 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island.
== 1893 ==
* April 25: Winfield Scott Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft's father, committed to Butler Hospital in Providence after suffering a psychotic break at a hotel in Chicago. Howard will not see his father again.
== 1897 ==
* Lovecraft writes "The Little Glass Bottle," his earliest surviving fiction.
== 1898 ==
* Lovecraft begins attending Providence's Slater Avenue School in 1898. He discovers Edgar Allan Poe the same year.
* July 19: Winfield Scott Lovecraft dies at Butler Hospital.
== 1904 ==
* Lovecraft begins attending Providence's Hope Street High School in 1904.
* March 4: Whipple Van Buren Phillips, Lovecraft's maternal grandfather, dies. Lovecraft and his mother move to 598 Angell Street, where he will live for the next 20 years.
== 1905 ==
* April 21: Lovecraft writes "The Beast in the Cave."
==1908 ==
*Lovecraft has a nervous breakdown that forces him to leave high school without graduating. He spends the next five years as a virtual hermit.
*Lovecraft writes "The Alchemist."
==1913==
*Lovecraft writes a letter to Argosy mocking the romance writer Fred Jackson, prompting a spirited debate (largely in verse, on Lovecraft's end) that gets Lovecraft noticed by Edward F. Daas, president of the United Amateur Press Association.
== 1914 ==
* January 1: Lovecraft begins writing an astronomy column for the Providence Evening News that will continue until 1918.
== 1915 ==
* April: The first issue of Lovecraft's amateur press journal, The Conservative, appears.
== 1916 ==
* November: "The Alchemist" printed in The United Amateur, Lovecraft's first published fiction. 
==1917==
* Lovecraft returns to fiction writing by writing two humour pieces, "A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson" and "Sweet Ermengarde," sometime in 1917.
* May: Lovecraft attempts to enlist in the Rhode Island National Guard, and later the U.S. Army, but is rejected by both.
*June: Lovecraft writes "The Tomb."
*July: Lovecraft writes "Dagon."
==1918==
*Lovecraft writes "The Green Meadow" with Winifred V. Jackson sometime in 1918 or 1919.
*May: Lovecraft writes "Polaris." (Month is approximate.)
== 1919 ==
*Lovecraft writes "Beyond the Wall of Sleep," "Memory," and "Old Bugs" sometime in 1919.
*March: Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, Lovecraft's mother, is committed to Butler Hospital.
*September: Lovecraft discovers the work of Lord Dunsany.
*September 16: Lovecraft writes "The Transition of Juan Romero."
*October: Lovecraft writes "The White Ship." "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" published in Pine Cones.
*October 19: Lovecraft sees Dunsany lecture in Boston.
*November: "The White Ship" published in The United Amateur, "Dagon" in The Vagrant.
*December: Lovecraft writes "The Statement of Randolph Carter."
*December 3: Lovecraft writes "The Doom That Came to Sarnath."
== 1920 ==
*Lovecraft writes "The Temple," "The Tree," "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family," and (with Anna Helen Crofts) "Poetry and the Gods" sometime in 1920. "The Street" may be written in 1920 as well. He writes "Ex Oblivione" and (with Winifred V. Jackson) "The Crawling Chaos" in either 1920 or 1921.
*Lovecraft begins corresponding with Frank Belknap Long early in 1920.
*January 28: Lovecraft writes "The Terrible Old Man."
*May: The Statement of Randolph Carter appears in The Vagrant.
* June: "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" appears in The Scot.
*June 15: Lovecraft writes "The Cats of Ulthar."
*November: Lovecraft writes "Celephaïs"; "The Cats of Ulthar" appears in The Tryout. 
*November 16: Lovecraft writes "From Beyond."
*December: Lovecraft writes "Nyarlathotep."
*December 12: Lovecraft writes "The Picture in the House," the first story to mention Arkham and the Miskatonic Valley.
==1921==
*Lovecraft writes "The Outsider" sometime in 1921.
*January: Lovecraft writes "The Nameless City," often considered the first Cthulhu Mythos story.
*February 28: Lovecraft writes "The Quest of Iranon."
*March: Lovecraft writes "The Moon-Bog." "Arthur Jermyn" published in The Wolverine. 
*May 24: Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft's mother, dies at Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island.
*Summer: "The Picture in the House" appears in The National Amateur (dated July 1919). 
*July 4: Lovecraft meets Sonia H. Greene at the National Amateur Press Association in Boston.
*August 14: Lovecraft writes "The Other Gods."
*September: Lovecraft begins writing "Herbert West—Reanimator."
*November: "The Nameless City" appears in The Wolverine. 
*December: Lovecraft writes "The Music of Erich Zann."
== 1922 ==
*Home Brew begins publishing "Herbert West—Reanimator," Lovecraft's first professional sale. 
*March: Lovecraft writes "Hypnos."; "The Music of Erich Zann" appears in The National Amateur and "The Tomb" in The Vagrant.
*April 6-12: Lovecraft's first trip to New York City, where he first meets Frank Belknap Long in person.
*June: Lovecraft writes "Azathoth" and (with Sonia H. Greene) "The Horror at Martin’s Beach."
*June 5: Lovecraft writes "What the Moon Brings."
*August: Lovecraft begins corresponding with Clark Ashton Smith.
*September: Lovecraft writes "The Hound."
*November: Lovecraft writes "The Lurking Fear."
== 1923 ==
*Lovecraft writes three stories with C. M. Eddy, Jr., "The Ghost-Eater," "The Loved Dead," and "Ashes," sometime in 1923. A fourth story with Eddy, "Deaf, Dumb, and Blind," is possibly written in 1924.
*January: Home Brew begins publishing "The Lurking Fear." 
*February 18: The first issue of Weird Tales appears (dated March 1923). 
*June: Lovecraft discovers Arthur Machen. 
*July: The last issue of The Conservative is published.
*August–September: Lovecraft writes "The Rats in the Walls."
*September: Lovecraft writes "The Unnamable."
*October: Lovecraft writes "The Festival." "Dagon" is published in Weird Tales, Lovecraft's first appearance in that magazine.
*November: "The Horror at Martin’s Beach" is published in Weird Tales.
==1924==
*February: "The Hound" is published in Weird Tales.
*February–March: Lovecraft ghostwrites "Under the Pyramids" for Harry Houdini.
*March: "The Rats in the Walls" published in Weird Tales. 
*March 3: Lovecraft marries Sonia Greene at St. Paul's Chapel in Manhattan, New York City, and moves to her apartment at 259 Parkside Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
*October 16–19: Lovecraft writes "The Shunned House."
== 1925 ==
*January: "The Festival" published in Weird Tales.
*January 1: Sonia Greene takes a job in Cleveland, and Lovecraft moves to a one-room apartment at 169 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights.
*July: "The Unnamable" published in Weird Tales.
*August 1–2: Lovecraft writes "The Horror at Red Hook."
*August 11: Lovecraft writes "He."
*September 18: Lovecraft writes "In the Vault."
== 1926 ==
*Lovecraft writes "Pickman’s Model" and "The Silver Key" sometime in 1926. "The Descendant" is possibly written the same year.
*March: Lovecraft writes "Cool Air."
*April: "The Outsider" published in Weird Tales.
*April 17: Lovecraft returns to Providence from New York City, moving to 10 Barnes Street.
*Summer: Lovecraft writes "The Call of Cthulhu," the first story that mentions Cthulhu.
*July: Lovecraft begins writing "Two Black Bottles" with Wilfred Blanch Talman, completing it in October.
*August: Lovecraft begins corresponding with August Derleth.
*November 9: Lovecraft writes "The Strange High House in the Mist."
== 1927 ==
*Lovecraft writes "History of the Necronomicon" and (with Adolphe de Castro) "The Last Test" sometime in 1927.
*January: "The Horror at Red Hook" published in Weird Tales.
*January 22: Lovecraft finishes The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, begun in the previous year.
*March 1: Lovecraft finishes The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, begun in January.
*March: Lovecraft writes "The Colour out of Space."
*September: "The Colour out of Space" published in Amazing Stories.
* October: "Pickman’s Model" published in Weird Tales. 
*November 2: Lovecraft writes "The Very Old Folk."
==1928==
*Lovecraft writes "The Curse of Yig" with Zealia Bishop sometime in 1928. "Ibid" may also have be written this year. Also in 1928, Recluse Press prints The Shunned House, but does not bind or distribute it. 
*February: "The Call of Cthulhu" published in Weird Tales. 
* March: "Cool Air" appears in Tales of Magic and Mystery.
*Summer: Lovecraft writes The Dunwich Horror.
==1929==
*Lovecraft may write "The Electric Executioner" with Adolphe de Castro sometime this year.
*January: "The Silver Key published in Weird Tales.
* April: "The Dunwich Horror" published in Weird Tales.
*December: Lovecraft begins writing "The Mound" (with Zealia Bishop), which is completed in early 1930.
== 1930==
*February 24: Lovecraft begins "The Whisperer in Darkness."
*May: Lovecraft writes "Medusa’s Coil" with Zealia Bishop,
*August: Lovecraft begins corresponding with Robert E. Howard.
*September 26: Lovecraft finishes "The Whisperer in Darkness."
==1931 ==
*February: Lovecraft begins At the Mountains of Madness.
*March 22: Lovecraft finishes At the Mountains of Madness.
*August: "The Whisperer in Darkness" published in Weird Tales.
* October: "The Strange High House in the Mist" published in Weird Tales.
*December 3: Lovecraft finishes The Shadow over Innsmouth, begun perhaps in November.
*Lovecraft writes "The Trap" with Henry S. Whitehead in late 1931.
== 1932 ==
*Lovecraft writes "The Man of Stone" with Hazel Heald sometime in 1932.
*January: Lovecraft starts "The Dreams in the Witch House."
*February 28: Lovecraft finishes "The Dreams in the Witch House."
*October: Lovecraft writes "The Horror in the Museum" with Hazel Heald, and starts "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" with E. Hoffmann Price.
== 1933 ==
*Lovecraft writes two stories with R. H. Barlow, "The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast" and "The Slaying of the Monster," and two stories with with Hazel Heald, "Out of the Aeons" and "Winged Death," sometime in 1933. "The Horror in the Burying-Ground," also with Heald, is written sometime between 1933 and 1935. 
*April: Lovecraft finishes "Through the Gates of the Silver Key." He begins corresponding with Robert Bloch.
*May 15: Lovecraft and his aunt Annie Gamwell move to 66 College Street, Lovecraft's last address.
*July: "The Dreams in the Witch House" published in Weird Tales.
*August 21–24: Lovecraft writes "The Thing on the Doorstep."
*October: Lovecraft writes "The Evil Clergyman."
*"The Book" is perhaps written in late 1933.
== 1934 ==
* May: Lovecraft writes "The Tree on the Hill" with Duane W. Rimel.
*June: Lovecraft writes "The Battle that Ended the Century" with R. H. Barlow. "From Beyond" appears in The Fantasy Fan, 
* July: "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" published in Weird Tales. 
*November: Lovecraft begins The Shadow out of Time.
== 1935 ==
*January: Lovecraft writes “'Till A’ the Seas'” with R.H. Barlow.
* March: Lovecraft finishes The Shadow out of Time.
* April: "Out of the Aeons" published in Weird Tales under Hazel Heald's name. 
*June: Lovecraft writes "Collapsing Cosmoses" with R.H. Barlow.
*August: Lovecraft writes "The Challenge from Beyond" with C. L. Moore, A. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long. 
*September: Lovecraft writes "The Disinterment" with Duane W. Rimel. 
*October: Lovecraft writes "The Diary of Alonzo Typer" with William Lumley. 
* November: Lovecraft writes "The Haunter of the Dark."
== 1936 ==
* January: Lovecraft writes "In the Walls of Eryx" with Kenneth Sterling.
* February: At the Mountains of Madness begins serialization in Astounding Stories.
* June: "The Shadow out of Time" published in Astounding Stories.
* June 11: Suicide of Robert E. Howard.
*Autumn: Lovecraft writes "The Night Ocean" with R.H. Barlow. (Season is approximate.)
*October 14: Lovecraft's correspondence with Fritz Leiber begins (initiated by Leiber's wife Jonquil).Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein, "Her Letters To Lovecraft: Jonquil Leiber," by Bobby Derie, November 25, 2020.
*November: The Shadow over Innsmouth published in a run of 400 (200 of which were later destroyed) by Visionary Publishing. This is the only book of Lovecraft's fiction printed and distributed during his lifetime.
*December: "The Haunter of the Dark" published in Weird Tales.
==1937 ==
*January: "The Thing on the Doorstep" published in Weird Tales.
*March 10: Lovecraft enters Jane Brown Memorial Hospital.
*March 15: H. P. Lovecraft dies at the age of 46 in Providence, Rhode Island.
*March 18: Lovecraft buried at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.
== 1938 ==
* A History of the Necronomicon published in 1938 by The Rebel Press.
* February: "The Diary of Alonzo Typer" appears in Weird Tales under William Lumley's name.
== 1939 ==
* August 25: Arkham House publishes The Outsider and Others, the first collection of Lovecraft's writings.
== 1940 ==
* November: "The Mound" appears in Weird Tales under Zealia Bishop's name.
== 1941 ==
* May: Weird Tales begins publishing The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
== 1943 ==
* The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath published for the first time in Arkham House's Beyond the Wall of Sleep.
== Sources ==
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz (Hippocampus Press, 2004)
The H. P. Lovecraft Archive:
* "Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The Life of a Gentleman of Providence," by S. T. Joshi 
* "Lovecraft's Fiction (Chronological Order)"
* "Lovecraft's Fiction (Publication Order)"
== References ==
Category:Real World