This is an updating of August Derleth's THIRTY YEARS OF ARKHAM HOUSE. It is described, in sub-title, as "A History and Bibliography," and it fulfills each of those assignments exceptionally well. The accompanying notes author S. T. Joshi tell not only the history of Arkham House, but relate bits of information about the history of the publishing of H. P. Lovecraft's works, &c. These notes are fascinating and entertaining. As S. T. writes in his preface, "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 of a reference work than a catalogue--a work that might be of use to a wide 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." His notes are so fascinating and revealing that I have been including them in many of my reviews here at Amazon.
This book also reprints August Derleth's original preface, "Arkham House: 1939-1969." One really charming and beautiful feature of the book are the fabulous illustrations by Allen Koszowski, shewing the Arkham House roster of writers, which includes Derleth himself, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Henry S. Whitehead, Robert E. Howard, Mary Elizabeth Counselman (a lovely portrait!), Fritz Leiber, a very youthful Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, &c &c. This is such a great book. Highly recommended!