Ephemera — newspapers, political posters, tickets. Printed material meant only for the moment, to be put into service and then discarded. Including even advertising brochures and stock lists from a press such as Arkham House, intended just to sell the newest books and nudge along the lingering backlist.
Ephemera, usually forgotten — except when the Items attract the attention and dollars of the avid collector.
Arkham House emerged as one of the most famous of American specialty presses. Begun for the sole purpose of collecting the writings of H. P. Lovecraft in the permanence of hardcovers, they soon expanded into other corners of the fantastic and the macabre. Dark Carnival, the very first book from Ray Bradbury, saw print under their logo. Skull-Face and Others gathered fiction by Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan of Cimmeria, for the first time in a huge omnibus volume. Writers such as Lovecraft, famed for runs of stories in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, became a staple. Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch, August Derleth and many more filled out the catalogs.
Assembling a complete set of Arkham House books became a Grail Quest for many collectors. And eventually they noticed the compelling advertising ephemera that helped make the press a legend.
In Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years 1937–1973 you’ll find the most comprehensive list ever offered on the hotly collected promotional material. From initial letters outlining the project to get Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others into print — before the press even had a name — to an array of fascinating stock lists, peppered with intriguing inserts on all things Arkham.
The story of Arkham House told in the ephemera is no less than the personal autobiography of the press. Year by year and sometimes month by month, see plans unfold — always to publish more books to keep readers and collectors coming back.
In this Pictorial History and Guide for Collectors each individually numbered Item spotlights a shot of the cover or distinguishing interior feature. In full color. With additional selected information, so that any Item can be recognized easily from any other.
A new and much needed cornerstone reference for all fans of Arkham House and Lovecraft.
