Tryout

Tryout was an amateur press journal published from 1914-1946 by Charles W. Smith of Haverhill, Massachusetts. It was connected to the National Amateur Press Association.

Smith (1852-1948) was a friend and correspondent of H. P. Lovecraft; Tryout was the first outlet for the H. P. Lovecraft short stories "The Cats of Ulthar" (November 1920), "The Terrible Old Man" (July 1921), "The Tree" (October 1921), and "In the Vault" (November 1925). Smith provided the plot idea for "In the Vault".

Tryout also published non-fiction articles and several poems by Lovecraft. The publication was noted for its typographical errors, which Lovecraft referred to as "tryoutisms".

• S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia