Conversation so far:
what happened to HP Lovecraft in 1908?
In 1908 HP Lovecraft had a nervous breakdown and his family's finances started to decline steadily due to a failed business venture.
what was the failed business venture which put the Lovecraft family into financial decline?
It was a failed business venture of H. P. Lovecraft's uncle that cost Susie a large portion of their dwindling wealth.
was HP Lovecraft able to get out of the financial decline?
H. P. Lovecraft was never able to support himself from earnings as an author and editor, and he subsisted in progressively strained circumstances in his last years.

Question: what was his earliest recognition?
Self-contained rewrite: what was HP Lovecraft's earliest recognition?