Customer Reviews

Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide

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Books published by Arkham House are especially desirable with science-fiction and fantasy book collectors. The books have exceptional value not only for their scarcity, but because of the publisher's historical significance in this genre. Arkham House was started in 1937 by the writer August Derleth to publish the works of his friend H. P. Lovecraft who had recently died. With the success of this first venture, the House took on other authors, among them Lord Dunsany and Robert Howard. In 1947, it published Ray Bradbury's first book, "Dark Carnival." After introductory general material on the collecting, buying, and selling of Arkham House books, there are annotated bibliographies of every book published by Arkham as well as its two imprints, Mycroft & Moran, and Stanton & Lee. The detailed annotations identify the contents of the respective book and point out bits of information important to collectors; and they end with current prices for first printings of first editions of the book in its best condition with a jacket and without a jacket. But that's not all--following the three comprehensive bibliographies are sections on the 35 most valuable Arkham House books; its books ranked by scarcity; and a listing of the publisher's catalogs, which are also of interest to collectors, though not nearly so valuable as the books, the most desirable of which can cost a couple of thousand dollars. Nielsen is himself a collector of Arkham House books. This up-to-date, comprehensive, and easy-to-use handbook is plainly of interest to any collectors or dealers of Arkham House books and of books in the science-fiction and supernatural/fantasy genres.

This volume lacks many bibliographic notes and even manages many errors. The two best books are still Jaffreys - Arkham House Companion and The Science-Fantasy publishers by Chalker & Owings (third revised and enlarged edition). The price guide is really inflated on many common titles also. If your going to release a book which should have been priced at $20-25 (no color photos so what is going on McFarland? and no discount to the trade???) you need to do your homework. Besides the aforementioned reference books the author definitely needs to reference Roy Squires or L.W. Currey catalogues. Maybe this is the time for a me to do a proper bibliography on Arkham House?

Arkham House books have been some of the most highly sought after books by collectors for decades. This tiny publishing house that made its name by collecting the works of writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and many others, is still going strong today and introducing new writers of weird horror and fantasy fiction. This book provides a much needed guide to the nearly 70 years of Arkham titles and while it seems to be geared mainly to newcomers to Arkham House, even the most seasoned collectors will find the information valuable.

The author, Barry Abrahams begins the guide with a brief history of Arhkam House and its founding by writer August Derleth to collect and publish the works of the late H.P. Lovecraft in 1939. Abrahams also provides a biographical study on Lovecraft. Following this there is information on collecting Arkham House books including book condition and grading, the value of dust jackets, repairs and restorations, signed copies, and general tips on the care of rare books. The value of Arkham House books are especially tied into the availability and condition of the dust jacket which can amount to 75% of the book's value in some cases due to the scarcity of the jackets. Abrahams also provides collectors with advice on buying & selling Arkham books, pricing, dealers, and buying on internet auctions and even looks at collecting Arkham House titles as investments.

Chapter four begins the real meat of the book-a complete bibliography of every Arkham House title published through to the present day, beginning with "The Outsiders and others" in 1939 with a mere 1268 copies up to "A Rendezvous with Averoigne" in 2003. The bibliography provides the title and author, the date of publication, page count, original price and print run, brief synopsis, and finally a current value of each title. In addition to the Arkham House titles, Abrahams provides a bibliography of the Arkham imprints Mycroft & Moran, and Stanon & Lee. Finally, there is a list of Arkham titles ranked by scarcity for the treasure hunters.

Even if you are not a collector of Arkham House titles, and I am not, the book is still an invaluable resource for those who are fans of the many authors that Arkham has published over its long and storied history. And while many titles are very rare and very expensive, others are far more affordable than you may have thought. Leave it to McFarland Publishing to put out such an eclectic, yet indispensable title.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

The best book about Arkham House is S. T. Joshi's SIXTY YEARS OF ARKHAM HOUSE, published by Arkham House in 1999. In his preface, S. T. writes:

In this expanded and updated edition of August Derleth's THIRTY YEARS OF ARKHAM HOUSE (1970) I have striven to make this volume much more than of a reference work than a catalogue--a work that might be of use to a variety of individuals, from collectors to librarians to scholars to general readers. To that end, I have supplied not merely tables of contents of each volume published by Arkham House, but also brief accounts of some of the more significant features of those volumes, notes on reprints (in whole or in part), and an exhaustive index of names and titles. The index of names lists every author, editor, cover artist, or other names found in the table of contents of each title or in my notes. The title index lists every single work--story, essay, poem, introduction, etc.--contained in an Arkham House production."

The book is amazing and contains many delightful illustrations of Arkham House authors by Allen Koszowski.