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1sludgetrough
Just found an interesting auction on ebay.
His English is not very good, but the gist of the article is that this set is from the early '80's, and only contained 19 of the Hemingway books. This was because the series was discontinued before the final book "True at First Light" was published. (The book was published posthumously in 1999, the year he would have turned 100. Hemingway committed suicide while writing it in 1961) The next embossed two-tone cover series included all 20 books. Of course this one is now discontinued as well, and is replaced by the gold-stamped-only set of 20 that is on EP's website right now for 65 dollars a book.
I think this is an important auction, because I have seen these older covers floating around, but never knew there was a complete set offered before the embossed one, plus knowing that one book doesn't exist from the set could save a collector a lot of headache trying to hunt it down. If we are really going to start photo-documenting and cataloging things like this, it would be a good idea to grab the info and pictures before ebay takes down the auction.
His English is not very good, but the gist of the article is that this set is from the early '80's, and only contained 19 of the Hemingway books. This was because the series was discontinued before the final book "True at First Light" was published. (The book was published posthumously in 1999, the year he would have turned 100. Hemingway committed suicide while writing it in 1961) The next embossed two-tone cover series included all 20 books. Of course this one is now discontinued as well, and is replaced by the gold-stamped-only set of 20 that is on EP's website right now for 65 dollars a book.
I think this is an important auction, because I have seen these older covers floating around, but never knew there was a complete set offered before the embossed one, plus knowing that one book doesn't exist from the set could save a collector a lot of headache trying to hunt it down. If we are really going to start photo-documenting and cataloging things like this, it would be a good idea to grab the info and pictures before ebay takes down the auction.
2Django6924
I have this older set (plus the later True at First Light and think the cover designs, keyed to the content of each book, is something Easton Press should have continued on their other complete author collections.
3wailofatail
I have these two collections archived as 'The Complete Works of Ernest Hemingway' (multi-color editions) and 'The Complete Works of Ernest Hemingway' (matching editions).
Of all the compiled-works-of collections Easton Press has published, the multi-color Hemingway editions are my favorite. In my early days of collecting Easton Press books I favored the look of the different colored leathers and varying sizes of the books in collections such as the '100 Greatest' or 'Famous Editions'. I was not keen on all of the works by a single author having the same binding, such as 'The Complete Works of Charles Dickens', because I believed books written as individual works deserved their own identity. I was sure that the authors themselves would have wanted it this way.
Easton Press accomplished this with the multi-color editions of 'The Complete Works of Ernest Hemingway'. They are companion volumes in the sense that they are all the same size and all incorporate multiple colors on the covers. However, each book has its own unique design. The designs all have what I would describe as a fanciful, art deco flair, so they are clearly companions, but no two designs are similar. To my knowledge, this was one of the earlier sets in which Easton Press incorporated multiple colors on their bindings. 'The Classics of F. Scott Fitzgerald' came to my attention about the same time and also used multiple colors, but not nearly as creatively as the Hemingway set. This is the only companion volume set in which the binding designs are so markedly different.
The individual volumes of the matching set are interesting too, however. While they match in color and size, they are not, in fact, all matching. The embossed design on the cover of each of these volumes is unique to each book, relating to the subject matter of the book.
My opinion regarding matched sets v. non-matched editions has matured over the years. I do still have a preference for the non-matched editions when the only connection happens to be the author, but even so I have less distaste for the matched editions than I did previously. And I tend to lean in the opposite direction if the books are part of a series, in which case I especially appreciate the matching volumes, as in the case of the Norman Rockwell illustrated Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer companion editions or 'The Little House On The Prairie' series. And then some of the complete-works editions are so well done that I have to admire their superiority over the individually released editions, the 'Greatest Shakespeare Library Ever Published' being a good example. You can find most, if not all, of Shakespeare's works in the '100 Greatest' in the three volumes Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies and you can find Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest in the 'Famous Editions' but they just don't have as distinguished a look as the 'Greatest Shakespeare Library' editions.
And finally, what to do about all of those other works that are only available in the-complete-works collections? If you want to have all of the works you ultimately end up with all the minor works of a particular author in matching editions with the major works absent. In a sense you end of with the-complete-works-of-except-for-the-best-works-of collection in matching editions, which just doesn't seem to make sense.
And so ... even though for the most part you prefer the individually bound volumes and are inclined to keep them you also want to own the matching editions of the same works from the matching edition so that the great works aren't absent from your complete-works-of collection from which you purchased the obscure titles so that you could indeed have the complete works.
And it is this on which Easton Press is counting and when you truly know what I just said, that is when you know that you are done for.
Of all the compiled-works-of collections Easton Press has published, the multi-color Hemingway editions are my favorite. In my early days of collecting Easton Press books I favored the look of the different colored leathers and varying sizes of the books in collections such as the '100 Greatest' or 'Famous Editions'. I was not keen on all of the works by a single author having the same binding, such as 'The Complete Works of Charles Dickens', because I believed books written as individual works deserved their own identity. I was sure that the authors themselves would have wanted it this way.
Easton Press accomplished this with the multi-color editions of 'The Complete Works of Ernest Hemingway'. They are companion volumes in the sense that they are all the same size and all incorporate multiple colors on the covers. However, each book has its own unique design. The designs all have what I would describe as a fanciful, art deco flair, so they are clearly companions, but no two designs are similar. To my knowledge, this was one of the earlier sets in which Easton Press incorporated multiple colors on their bindings. 'The Classics of F. Scott Fitzgerald' came to my attention about the same time and also used multiple colors, but not nearly as creatively as the Hemingway set. This is the only companion volume set in which the binding designs are so markedly different.
The individual volumes of the matching set are interesting too, however. While they match in color and size, they are not, in fact, all matching. The embossed design on the cover of each of these volumes is unique to each book, relating to the subject matter of the book.
My opinion regarding matched sets v. non-matched editions has matured over the years. I do still have a preference for the non-matched editions when the only connection happens to be the author, but even so I have less distaste for the matched editions than I did previously. And I tend to lean in the opposite direction if the books are part of a series, in which case I especially appreciate the matching volumes, as in the case of the Norman Rockwell illustrated Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer companion editions or 'The Little House On The Prairie' series. And then some of the complete-works editions are so well done that I have to admire their superiority over the individually released editions, the 'Greatest Shakespeare Library Ever Published' being a good example. You can find most, if not all, of Shakespeare's works in the '100 Greatest' in the three volumes Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies and you can find Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest in the 'Famous Editions' but they just don't have as distinguished a look as the 'Greatest Shakespeare Library' editions.
And finally, what to do about all of those other works that are only available in the-complete-works collections? If you want to have all of the works you ultimately end up with all the minor works of a particular author in matching editions with the major works absent. In a sense you end of with the-complete-works-of-except-for-the-best-works-of collection in matching editions, which just doesn't seem to make sense.
And so ... even though for the most part you prefer the individually bound volumes and are inclined to keep them you also want to own the matching editions of the same works from the matching edition so that the great works aren't absent from your complete-works-of collection from which you purchased the obscure titles so that you could indeed have the complete works.
And it is this on which Easton Press is counting and when you truly know what I just said, that is when you know that you are done for.
4SilentInAWay
I'm done for.
5leccol
I had the nineteen-volume Hemingway and the Scott Fitzgerald collection, both in multicolored designs. When I decided to sell them, both set were sold within a day. I don't think the matching sets would have sold so fast, although I don't think the Scott Fitzgerald books were available as matched volumes. The 14-volume Adventure Series with illlustrations by N. C. Wyeth also sold within a day. These prove that sometimes Easton does something right. My Easton complete Shakespeare set (reprint of 1939-1940 LEC Shakespeare) hasn't sold yet although I've lowered the price. I think this has to do with the reproduction of the illustrations which are not in color as was the original LECs.
6UK_History_Fan
> 5
I thought the pictures of the EP Shakespeare LEC reprint I've seen online have in fact been in color? Or is it just a color frontpiece? I know for a fact that Anthony and Cleopatra at least has a color frontpiece.
I thought the pictures of the EP Shakespeare LEC reprint I've seen online have in fact been in color? Or is it just a color frontpiece? I know for a fact that Anthony and Cleopatra at least has a color frontpiece.
7Django6924
>6 UK_History_Fan:
leccol is mis-remembering: the EP reprint of the LEC Shakespeare reproduces all illustrations originally in color in full color--and actually pretty good color. I can't see much difference in the saturation and color accuracy--the biggest difference is the glossy photo paper in the EP set--which Macy refused to use, as you can read in the Commentary volume for A Midsummer Night's Dream. If you'd like to compare, I'll be posting my set on eBay again soon, and I include numerous color pictures of the illustrations
leccol is mis-remembering: the EP reprint of the LEC Shakespeare reproduces all illustrations originally in color in full color--and actually pretty good color. I can't see much difference in the saturation and color accuracy--the biggest difference is the glossy photo paper in the EP set--which Macy refused to use, as you can read in the Commentary volume for A Midsummer Night's Dream. If you'd like to compare, I'll be posting my set on eBay again soon, and I include numerous color pictures of the illustrations
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