Cloudland before it was demolished, King George Square with a street running through it and the Gold Coast's Broadbeach without a building over two storeys high all feature in the pages of Lost Brisbane 2.

The book was made by the Royal Historical Society of Queensland following the success of the first Lost Brisbane book.

Six librarians and researchers worked countless hours to compile the book within the convict-carved stone walls of the oldest occupied building in Queensland

About 450 photos dating from the 1940s to 1990s cover the pages of the weighty coffee table book.

The Historical Society president Dean Prangley said on top of the work of the society, many from the public, libraries and museums contributed to the book to compile hundreds of pictures and stories.

"It would have taken thousands of hours to make the book, researching each photo and then adding the captions," Mr Prangley said.

"It includes Expo 88 for instance, the Commonwealth Games in 1982, the '74 flood, the destruction of Paddington tram depot and a whole range of issues across social, sport and war.

"The front cover itself relates to King George Square as it was, when Albert Street went right through in the early '50s.

"It's a very wonderful photograph of that era."

The first book traced back to the beginning of Queensland as a self governing colony and the second one completes the history up until the late 1990s.

"You've got to have a pictorial record of the history of the city as it grew," he said.

"Now we've established the record effectively from when Queensland became a self governing colony in December 1859 when we had a population of 5000 people.

"To present day, the two books cover up to 1990 where we would have had a population of one and a half million.

"It's a good memory shaker for the older people and it teaches history to the young."

The books can be found at QBD bookstores or from the Commissariat Store itself, where the society also maintains a museum of Queensland history

"The popularity of Lost Brisbane number one sold over 20,000 copies and it's in its third printing, we're now looking for a similar result with this one.

"They have proven to be wonderful Christmas presents for families and friends, we're selling many right now for Christmas."