Arkham House, the oldest and most prestigious fantasy publishing house, was founded in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to perpetuate the fiction and other writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft, who had died less than two years before, had had virtually none of his writing published in book form prior to his death. Arkham House later published other fantasy and science fiction authors, including the first novels of many of these writers. Arkham House writers include, along with others, Ray Bradbury, L. Sprague de Camp, Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith and A.E. Van Vogt. Mr. Jaffery, an avid collector of Arkham House editions, has given us a thorough, scholarly and humorous anecdotal bibliography and price guide.