Last week a Kickstarter campaign was launched to help fund a bust of eerie author and poet Edgar Allan Poe to be put on apt display in the Boston Public Library. Having raised $17,399 of the project’s $30,000 goal, it just so happens that one of the financial backers is Academy Award nominated writer/director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pacific Rim).
News came of del Toro’s donation – how much he threw down exactly, we don’t know – on Friday, and BostInno reached out to project team member Izzy Lee for confirmation. It turns out del Toro is a friend of sculptor Bryan Moore, and will be receiving a bust replica of his own at his Los Angeles home later this year.
“I am humbled by the generosity of my pal Guillermo del Toro,” Moore said in a statement. “Not only did he support the H.P. Lovecraft Bronze Bust Project, but he came back and graciously gave to help put the bust of Poe in the Boston Public Library for generations to come. I’m a lucky guy to call this incredibly kind gentleman and visionary my friend.”
The money raised will be put towards the actual materials, casting process costs, and shipping fees. For Moore’s bust of Lovecraft, which now sits in Rhode Island’s Providence Community Library, he also took to Kickstarter, where he was able to secure $58,023 from 667 backers with the same $30,000 goal.
The bust is slated to be unveiled in the BPL’s Abbey Room of the McKim Building. Adorned with historic portraits, statues and various works of art, the room is certainly befitting of a Poe bust – and even more so considering the target date is October 30.
The bust project is separate from the upcoming Edgar Allan Poe statue being built for aptly named Edgar Allan Poe Square. But these two initiatives both exemplify the literary renaissance Boston is currently enjoying, and part of the reasoning behind the proposed Literary Cultural District that could be designated here in The Hub – the first of its kind in the entire country.
The Kickstarter campaign still has 22 days to raise its $30,000 goal and you can pitch in right here.
