When, in the mid-fifties, Arkham House began to resume a publishing schedule, production costs were so high that the price range could no longer be held. The entry of competitive publishers in the genre had had one other unhappy effect which directly influenced the decision in regard to prices--whereas, heretofore, between 400 and 600 patrons of Arkham House sent in prepaid orders for each announced title, thus enabling Arkham House to meet printer’s bills within a reasonable time and assure the continuance of a publishing program, such advance-order patrons had now been reduced to between 100 and 200, not enough to give permanence to any program. A disproportionate share of sales was now being made through the trade which, however welcome, meant the introduction of middlemen--wholesalers and retailers--into what had been primarily a publisher-reader mail order operation. This resulted in a vital slashing of potential income in the face of a very high and increasing production cost, so that the old $3.00 price could be held only for collections of verse or very slender collections of stories, while other books had to go to $3.50 and $4.00, and even, in some cases, to $5.00, though the $4.00 price was to become the average. All Arkham House books--together with those under the Mycroft & Moran and Stanton & Lee imprints--have been printed and bound by the George Banta Company, with the exception of _The Arkham Sampler_, which was produced by the Howe Printing Company of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and _Night’s Yawning Peal_ and _Tales from Underwood_, which were published jointly with Pellegrini & Cudahy of New York, an arrangement which did not work out satisfactorily and was soon terminated. All Arkham House books were printed from type set and broken down after but one printing, except for _The Memoirs of Solar Pons_, which was plated, for use as a selection of The Unicorn Mystery Book Club. For Arkham House jackets, various artists have been called upon, chiefly, however, Ronald Clyne of New York, and Frank Utpatel of Wisconsin. Among other artists who designed jackets for Arkham House were Frank Wakefield, Howard Wandrei, Virgil Finley, Robert F. Hubbell, George Barrows, Hannes Bok, Audrey Johnson, R. Taylor, and Gary Gore.