An Arkham House Shadow History

Arkham House was founded in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish a memorial volume of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Soon afterwards Wandrei's participation diminished, and Arkham House was ruled by Derleth until his death in 1971. Afterwards, others stepped in, and the publisher morphed a number of times. After Derleth's daughter, April Derleth, died in 2011, the firm published no new titles, though the backlist was sold via its website, but the website disappeared around 2022. Whether the firm will ever rise again is anyone's guess. But Arkham House has had a gloried history, particularly through the Derleth years.

Just released is a new oversized book, some 186 pages (i-xii in front matter, 1-174 in the main torso) which covers not so much the books that the firm published (other books have already done this), but how Arkham House sold their books --those just being published, and forthcoming-- to their customer base through the ephemera that they regularly sent out. This includes not only the catalogues, but also announcements, and various other aspects of Arkham House's dealings with the book trade. 

The title is grandiose: Arkham House Ephemera: The Classic Years 1937-1973: A Pictorial History & Guide for Collectors. The authors are Don Herron and John D. Haefele, both of whom have collected such ephemera for decades, and both have published earlier checklists of Arkham ephemera in the magazine Firsts. The book is in full color throughout, and admirably published by The Cimmerian Press. 

I give below a handful of phone-photos of the front and back covers (do read the copy on the rear cover which gives an excellent overview; clicking on the photos will make them larger), as well as the beginnings of a few of the essays interspersed within the 137 numbered entries. I also include the page by Roderic Meng (item 122) telling Arkham House patrons of Derleth's death, and the note about the famous October 1972 catalog (item 130), created by Donald Wandrei, which announced a number of books by Donald Wandrei and his brother Howard as forthcoming, much to the surprise of Arkham House fans.

A fine production overall, and highly recommended. 

Recent Publications

 Some recent publications are worth noting here at Wormwoodiana.  First is issue no. 17 of Chris Mikul's long-running Bizarrism.  It contains some six articles, of varying lengths, and three book reviews. The longest article, on "The Ghost of Harry Price", clocks in at twelve pages is is highly interesting, giving a good chapter-sized perspective on the famous ghost-hunter, and it includes coverage of Robert Aickman's interactions with Price. One of books reviewed is Edward Parnell's Ghostland.  Information and orders go to Chris Mikul:  chris.mikul88 <at> gmail <dot> com. 

Kevin Dodd has published a long-in-the-works book on the pre-Dracula evolution of the vampire in the nineteenth century. The title is a bit general, The Tale of the Living Vampyre: New Directions in Vampire Studies. The book contains eleven chapters, including one each covering male homosexual vampires (as found in Count Stenbock), and lesbian vampires (like Le Fanu's Carmilla).  Dodd has also recently published part 1 (of 2) of "Plot Variations in the Nineteenth-Century Story of Lord Ruthven"--in the new Journal of Vampire Studies, edited by Anthony Hogg, which includes a number of other highly interesting articles (including two on Montague Summers). 

And there is John D. Haefele's tome (at 762 pages), another long-in-process study which I'm still working my way through: Lovecraft: The Great Tales. Haefele in turn works his way through Lovecraft's oeuvre, giving new ideas about influences and interpretations. This is all the more welcome as the Lovecraft field has been dominated for too long by a small number of critical voices. Haefele offers different ways of looking at familiar texts, and some are quite illuminating.

Finally, a note on the passing of Alistair Durie (1944-2021), who published only one book himself--the omnibus of cover art in the eponymously-named Weird Tales (1979), but who was widely-known to pulp and fanzine collectors, both for his legendary collection and for his generous assistance given to many researchers in the field (myself included). He will be missed.