Arkham House Publishers

On March 15th, 1937, August Derleth received a letter from Donald Wandrei informing him of Lovecraft’s death. Derleth wrote back “that something should be done to keep Lovecraft’s work in print”. The two of them began to compile Lovecraft’s stories and present them to Derleth’s current publisher, Charles Scribner’s Sons, who rejected the idea. August and Donald then decided to start their own publishing house, and Arkham House was born.

The first book Arkham House published was “The Outsider and Others” by Lovecraft in 1939. While sales were low originally, the fans of Lovecraft would continue to grow over the years. In 1941 Derleth put together a collection of his own short stories, “Someone in the Dark”, to be published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, who recommended he publish them under Arkham House as well, since it would fit it much better in the specialized market. Clark Ashton Smith’s “Out of Space” would also soon find its way into Arkham House in 1942, the same year the second Lovecraft book was published, “Beyond the Wall of Sleep”.

In the years after, more authors were accepted into Arkham House, and other small publishing companies began to give more attention to science fiction and horror. Now in 2004, after over 200 books, Arkham House contines to publish work by Lovecraft, as well as work by Derleth, and other authors of the genre. New authors continue to emerge, and the spirit stays the same. Those who are familiar with Lovecraft’s work will recognize Arkham as Lovecraft’s name for Salem Massachusetts in his writings.

“Though it was not immediately foreseen, Arkham House had its inception in the death of Howard Phillips Lovecraft on March 15, 1937” – August Derleth, 20 years after the creation of Arkham House

The information above is from the official Arkham House website. Visit them to learn more, or to order books by Lovecraft, Derleth, and others!