Bitmap Books has been publishing books about older video games for some time. Unfortunately, until now, they didn't have an official US distributor, and so ordering from the UK-based company meant paying a hefty shipping fee. Mondo has stepped in to change that. As of today (September 20) at noon, you'll be able to pre-order six of Bitmap's extraordinary books from Mondo's store. If you're reading this early, check out Mondo's blog post on the matter.

The books: 1) NES/Famicom: A Visual Compendium, 2) SNES/Super Famicom: A Visual Compendium, 3) The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games, 4) The Art of Point-And-Click Adventure Games, 5) NEOGEO: A Visual History, 6) Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection. They each cost $39.99, and they are expected to ship in Octorber.

If you're into the roots and history of video games, any one of these books would make a great addition to your coffee table. They are all hardback and heavy--more than 400 pages a piece--and they feature a ton of art. If you pick up the Visual Compendium to the Super Nintendo, for instance, you'll find material from every one of your favorite SNES games. You name it, you'll find it.

The Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games is also comprehensive, but it focuses on a genre rather than a platform. As such, you'll find some important newer games featured in it, like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Dark Souls. Additionally, while this book does contain a lot of great and relevant art, it also presents full-fledged reviews of each game. According to Bitmaps, these reviews have been "completely written" by journalists, fans, developers, and industry personalities. It's extremely cool, and it'd provide you with a bit of a deeper reading experience than a visual compendium.

Bitmap also sells several books that Mondo is not yet bringing stateside, so if you're interested in their work on the SEGA Master System, the Commodore 64, the Commodore Amiga, or the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, you've still got to import. They have also opened pre-orders for a book called Metal Slug: The Ultimate History. Mondo has not yet confirmed whether they will be selling these other books in the future.