"The Fire of Asshurbanipal" by Robert E. Howard
"The Fire of Asshurbanipal" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by American author, Robert E. Howard, first published in the December 1936 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. In a lost city in the deserts of the Middle East, two unlikely adventurers hunt for a rare gem.
The Fire of Asshurbanipal
by Robert E. Howard
(Weird Tales, Dec 1936)
If you prefer reading to listening, here is the short story presented in written form, click on the link below.
HP,
I'm pretty sure that Howard and Lovecraft, who were contemporaries, corresponded.