Arkham House: The First 20 Years; 1939-1959

This is the definitive history of how a small press in Wisconsin became the guardian of American weird fiction. When H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937, his literary executor August Derleth made a vow: his friend's unpublished manuscripts would not disappear into obscurity. With barely any capital but fierce dedication, Derleth and fellow writer Donald Wandrei founded Arkham House in 1939 to publish work mainstream publishers had rejected. This book, written by Derleth himself, chronicles the first two decades of that remarkable enterprise. The narrative traces the press's scrappy beginnings financed through advance orders, the landmark success of the first Lovecraft omnibus, and the gradual expansion into horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Derleth details the practical realities of running a specialty press: print runs, pricing, wartime paper shortages, distribution challenges, and the creation of allied imprints. The second half comprises a meticulous bibliography cataloging each title's contents, print runs, and pricing. For collectors, scholars, and anyone fascinated by the machinery of literary preservation, this book reveals how one man's devotion to a dead friend's legacy shaped an entire genre.