Last year, Jack White’s Third Man Records and reissue specialists Revenant Records released The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records Vol. 1, a doozy of a box set that included 800 tracks from the early days of the Wisconsin label that launched the careers of everyone from father of the Delta blues Charley Patton to a pre-bandleader Louis Armstrong. It was housed in a lovingly constructed oak “cabinet of wonder,” based on the iconic Victrola VV-50, and took cues from the Arts and Crafts design aesthetic prevalent during the label’s beginnings. It included two books, six 180-gram LP records, a thumb drive containing all the music, and all manner of ancillary material. It was the kind of box set that isn’t easily matched, let along outmatched.

But that doesn’t mean Third Man couldn’t try.

It was never a mystery that there would be a second volume. But we weren’t expecting it to be so impressive in such different ways. The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records Volume 2, 1928-1932, which arrives November 18, focuses more narrowly on the label’s later years, when the label’s “race records” skewed more distinctly toward blues, and the set eschews wood for aluminum.

From the outside, The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records Volume 2, 1928-1932 looks like a vintage portable phonograph—and that's the point.

Opened, the set exposes a main cabinet for the two books—one hardcover, one softcover—and a record sleeve that stores the six LPs.

The grille and detailing evokes RCA Victor's Special Model K portable electric phonograph, which John Vassos designed.

The books: a hardcover volume containing original art and a history of the label, and a softcover "field manual" housing artist biographies and portraits.

All 800 tracks and companion newspaper ads live on a sculpted metal USB drive.

Some of the archival art included with the box set.

Stamping on the lid is homage to the Wisconsin Chair Company, the furniture design concern that launched Paramount Records in the 1910s.

The bio entry on Delta blues musician Son House, whose "Walking Blues" was lost for decades until it was recovered in 1985.

An advertisement featuring Charley Patton, the father of the Delta blues.