[2] When the first edition was published, both Burke and Howe were on staff at Charles Scribner's Sons.

[2] Booklist likewise compared the 1943 American Authors to the Companion, describing it as a "quick reference tool".

[5] A second edition, updated by Irving Weiss, was released by Crown Publishers in 1962.

[6] Crown published the third edition, titled American Authors and Books: 1640 to the Present Day, in 1972.

[7] This edition contained around 17,000 entries about authors, publications, and publishers, among other topics,[8] and had 719 pages.