Questions For Our Resident Experts

I thought I would start a thread where members could post questions without starting a new thread for each and every one.

I happen to have a question to get us started. The 'Great Illustrated Classics' brochure that I received many years ago includes text that indicates Poor Richard's Almanac illustrated by Norman Rockwell is part of this collection. However, it is the only book in the collection that is not pictured in the brochure. All of the other books from this collection have a gilded illustration of some sort on the cover. I do not recall having ever seen a copy of Poor Richard's Almanac that has what I would consider a companion volume to this set.

Can anyone here confirm if this book was, in fact, published with this collection and, if so, what edition was it? Did EP swipe the edition from the 'Masterpieces Of American Literature' or some other collection and include it with this set or is there an edition that is specific to this set?

This question has perplexed me for far too long.

Thanks folks!

EP published a number of PRAs over the years. I know they published the Rockwell edition, and I'm fairly certain it was part of the Famous Editions library. It may have also been reprinted as part of another library.

Wail, I'm afraid your answer will probably go unanswered, I think most everyone here thinks of you as the resident expert.

I have never heard of this set. Was it ever published? How many books were in the set? What are some of the titles? The only EP classics I have seen with a picture on the cover are from the Wyeth Adventure series.

>3 Wootle: I concure.

>2 astropi: The Rockwell illustrated Poor Richard's Almanac would have been a good candidate for the 'Famous Editions' collection but my best information indicates that it was published for the 'Masterpieces of American Literature' collection. It was also included in the 'Benjamin Franklin Collection' years later. The only other edition of Poor Richard's Almanac of which I am aware is the four volume edition, which was part of the 'Treasures Of The Library Of Congress' collection. The surplus was later offered for sale as a one-off offering. That said ...

>3 Wootle: I have actually learned quite a bit from this forum, have stood corrected more than once, and even had to eat my words one time. I realize that, while I know a lot, I don't know it all. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though. Perhaps I should have worded the subject line differently, since it often doesn't take an expert to know the answer to a particular Easton Press question. It just takes someone who happened to be in the know at the time. Really, it should read "Help For Our Resident Experts". That said ...

>4 Tom41: I'm sure you know the set, Tom41. Note that I indicated the illustration was gilded, different from the color applique illustrations that are on the Wyeth Adventure Classics. The other titles in the collection are Child’s Book Of Stories, A Child’s Garden Of Verses, Christmas Stories, Hans Brinker Or The Silver Skates, Hansel And Gretel And Other Stories By The Brothers Grimm, Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens, The Story Of King Arthur And His Knights, The Story Of Roland, and The Yearling. Each of these has a gilded line drawing indicative of the story on the cover. Oh! And just for you Tom41, #0255.

As I mentioned, Poor Richard's Almanac, illustrated by Norman Rockwell, is also described in the brochure text as being part of the collection, though it is not pictured. All of the others are pictured. Hopefully, someday, someone will run across this inquiry that actually purchased this set directly from EP and will be able to verify if, and if so, which, edition of Poor Richard's Almanac belongs with this set.

6> I actually own a copy of Poor Richard's Alamanac from the Masterpieces of American Literature series. It's a very large volume (even bigger than the Emerson essays from the 100G series).

You're not crazy, by the way -- I too have wondered about the edition included in the Great Illustrated Classics set. It is pictured neither in the brochure, nor in the pictures of this set that appeared in EP catalogs between 1997 and 1998. The cover designs used for this book in the MoAL series and the Benjamin Franklin collection don't really fit with those in the Great Illustrated Classics set, do they? Perhaps that's the reason why they didn't include it in the pictures...

BTW, I have decided that I am someday going to have to kill you for having brought the Great Illustrated Classics set to the attention of this group. For the last few years, I've been trying to pick up reasonably-priced copies of these book on ebay. Unfortunately, this is one of the more coveted series, so these books often demand a high-dollar starting bid. Now, as I purchase the remaining volumes, I'll have to worry about being outbid by zealous collectors from this group. Thanks a million wailo (and watch your back)!

Wait a second -- the book is indeed pictured in the brochure (at least the one I have), but as an open volume, without the cover showing. Although this doesn't answer our questions about the cover, it does tell us something about the edition.

I think I'm going to have to post scans to explain this -- dammit, I can just feel those eBay prices increasing as I speak...

(** In a sing-song tune, "Which brings us back to dough ... a dear ... a leather-bound dear ..."**)

Recall my post #16 in this thread, in which I wrote, "My main concern is divulging to sellers, and quite frankly other buyers, which books are considered desirable by collectors and why. In the good, old, early days of eBay, sellers were much less savvy and were inclined to start bidding low and let bidders establish the fair market value. Now days sellers set the opening bid prices much higher, typically just above fair market value, I suppose in hopes that we collectors will keep stretching just a little higher. By broadcasting for the whole world to see just which books we regard highly, and why, we are essentially telling sellers who may be researching their wares to price them higher than they otherwise might without this information. As a buyer, you never want the seller, or other buyers for that matter, to know how much you really want whatever it is on which you've set your heart."

As a fellow collector, this Library Thing group is truly a blessing and a curse. I've also found myself wincing at posts that bring to the floor for discussion editions in which I have an interest for the same reasons. We know sellers and fellow collectors are reading this and we don't want to show our hands or create competition. In fact, I happen to owe you one for you having done the same to me in another post, though I won't point out which. But to show you I mean no harm, just say the word and I'll delete post #6.

>6 wailofatail: Thank you for the added information, especially the number. I was unaware of this set, but have now added it to my file.

My copy of Poor Richard's Almanac is from the American Lit series. It contains an introduction by Van Wyck Brooks and illustrations by Rockwell. There is no gilded illustration on the cover.

Ok, here's a scan of the 1994 brochure (grrrr!!):



On the right side of the inner pages, the open volume lying beneath The Story of King Arthur and his Knights is Poor Richard's Almanac (the blacksmith picture is by Rockwell and appears in my copy of PRA).

Now, although we can learn nothing about the cover here, I can tell you that this edition differs in at least two ways from my copy from the Masterpieces of American Literature series.

First of all, the book has a smaller format that the MoAL edition, which had extremely generous top and bottom margins (for the displayed illustration, the margin extended one inch above and two inches below the picture).

Next, notice how there is text on the page facing the illustration. In the MoAL edition, all of the color illustrations were grouped together in a section following page 110 (although the black and white illustrations were dispersed throughout the text). In my MoAL copy, the page facing the blacksmith illustration sported a picture of old Ben surrounded by adoring powdered-wig beauties.

So, if nothing else, EP had either redesigned (or planned on redesigning) the book for this set. (There are so few books in this set, that I would be shocked if this edition hadn't been printed--in the same format pictured in the brochure.)

Anyway, hope this helps, wailo. We're left with the mystery of the cover, I'm afraid...as well as even more inflated prices for these beautiful books on eBay, no doubt...

I didn't know that! Thank you very much Silent. F.Y.I. - If you do kill me, you will have one less member in your fan club.

9>

No need to delete anything, of course. I'm actually all for full disclosure. If only we could guarantee that our comments would only be read by the worthy...

12>

Ok ... flattery will get you everywhere.

Are the Great Illustrated Classics the same as the Famous Editions? I see a lot of books listed in several different collections at the same time, and over time, (i.e. Famous Editions Beowulf is the Beowulf in the 100 greatest series) and it is hard to figure out if they are essentially the same book, slightly different or quite different.
Thanks!

14: some are, some are not. For instance, The Yearling with illustrations by Wyeth is the same in both editions. However I believe that quite a few of those books were never released in the Famous Editions nor any other library. Does anyone have a list of the Illustrated Classics?

I think they are all in message 6 above.

16: oops, didn't notice that, thanks :)

Does anyone know what series, if any, Advise and Consent by Allen Drury is from? The EP copyright date is 1987.

Not I, wailed the tail. I've never been able to pin this one to a collection. I always presumed it was offered as a one-off presentation, though I have nothing on which to base this other than a lack of any indication to the contrary. I have never seen it advertised. Do you happen to have an item number for it?

No, I don't have an item number. I was hoping you would have it. There is a copy for auction on ebay, listed today.

I found an EP book on ebay tonight called London by James Lundquist. It is a biography of Jack London. Upon further research I found it is from an Authors Series published by EP in 1995. Does anyone know anything about this series? It is a new one to me.

Sounds quite interesting. I would like hear more about this "Authors Series" too

The London book to which you refer is from a collection published by Easton Press in the '90's called 'The Library Of The Great American Authors'. They are not biographies per se but rather a collection of biographical portraits and critiques presented like an American Literature course.

Quoting the literature, "Each of the twelve books in this series is written by a leading university scholar who's also a great teacher able to communicate in a fun-filled, easy to understand manner.

Each book explains themes. Symbolism. Levels of meaning. Each book fills in the historical and cultural background to the great works of American literature, and each gives you all the relevant facts about the authors life -- without your having to wade through long, tedious biographies."

The authors included in the set were Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Twain, London, Hawthorne, Melville, Cather, Poe, Cooper, and Crane. Each book sports black leather with matching generic gilding on the covers and with the author's name on a red rectangle on the spine. Complete sets are difficult by which to come and even individual titles do not come around frequently. I have verified that all twelve were published.

#0318

>23 wailofatail: Many thanks.

Is anyone familiar with Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Trilogy consisting of Lake Wobegon Days, Wobegon Boy and Lake Wobegon Summer 1956? The set is listed on ebay, all three are signed and all three in matching bindings. I couldn't find any sets on Bookfinder, only single volumes. Since Lake Wobegon Summer came out in 2001 and my oldest catalog is Spring 2002, I would expect the set to be in the 2002 catalogs, but it's not.

The trilogy, if that is what it is, was never issued as a set. Each of the volumes was issued individually, either as a Signed Modern Classic, Signed Edition, or Signed First Edition. Often, Easton Press will issue books that might be considered companions with companion or matching covers.

Here's a question for you experts:

I recently won an auction on EBay for a copy of "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells. I was wondering if anyone could tell me which EP collection it comes from since the cover is different than the red cover on the EP website. The cover is dark blue and has images of different dates on the right hand side of the front cover, going from 1895 - 2500+. I found a picture of it in a Google image search below:

http://galleryplus.ebayimg.com/ws/web/140445481787_1_0_1.jpg

28: it might be an older version from the 100 Greatest. It might also be a MoSF, or a Famous Editions. I think it will be clear once it arrives, but if I had to guess I would guess an older cover from the 100 Greatest (and a nice cover at that)!

It doesn't match the cover of my older (2002) copy from the 100 Greatest (it's nicer).

My Famous Edition copy from 1998 is black with a round clock face in the center and Roman numerals, plus many small circles surrounding it. There is a picture in the ebay completed listings.

I own a copy of this edition that is from 'The Collector's Library Of Famous Editions'. I have also seen auction listings representing it as being from 'The Masterpieces Of Science Fiction' There is another edition published for 'The Masterpieces Of Science Fiction' that has a swirling, time tunnel design. The generic flourish edition is from 'The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written' collection.

If your copy happens to be from 'The Masterpieces Of Science Fiction', I would be grateful if you would circle back and let me know.

>32 wailofatail:

I'll post about which collection it's from as soon as I get it.

FWIW, here's the edition with the "swirling, time tunnel design" which, as wailofatail correctly indicates above, was issued as part of the MoSF collection.

>32 wailofatail:

Well, Wail, I received the book and it actually is from 'The Masterpieces of Science Fiction'! It contains the MoSF lining inside the cover and also has the MoSF Collector's Notes insert.

Thank you for getting back to me on that. Are you okay with that or were you hoping for the other?

>36 wailofatail:

I was fine with either edition. The only thing which would have been disappointing would have been the lack of the Collector's Notes, which were there, luckily.

Check out this auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Stephen-King-Dead-Zone-Easton-Press-Ltd-Ed-/320699888840?pt=...

you'll see that the price is high, but what's interesting is that the seller says:

"The spine lettering is in fact encased in a square's thus signifying a true first."

Is that true in general? Seems plausible.

With that volume, The Dead Zone, I read quite a few times that the earlier edition had a different number of spine hubs than the current printed one. Don't know how many printings the earlier version had though.

From Veryfinebooks:

EP first published The Dead Zone in 1993 in blackleather with a matching slipcase. The book was re-issued in 2004. Both are available from Veryfinebooks at different prices and both have 5 spine hubs.

To me the design of the spine and squares or lack thereof is totally irrelevant. The Dead Zone was first published in 1979.

>38 astropi:: This is not true, in general, though I believe it is true for this particular title. As I know you know, Easton Press' designs vary markedly; in some instances the title on the spine is vertical, some have color in-lays, etc. Many titles exist for which no edition has rectangles on the spine. There are too many exceptions to your hypothesis for it to stand as an accurate generalization.

The information regarding The Dead Zone is based on information published by 'The Collector' at stephenkingcollector.com. The most reliable information regarding various publications of Easton Press books is often gleaned from collectors and subscribers who have first hand knowledge of their purchases and collections. This collector seems to have gone to a lot of trouble to document his thesis and I am inclined to accept his statements.

Of course, even a persons first hand account is subject to question because what a person thinks they know and what is true are not necessarily the same thing. I recently received a book that contained a flyer for a collection that has long been out of print. A newbie might believe the set is currently available and might even believe that it is a newly published set. How would he know, if it was the first time he saw the flyer? Forums like this are good places for information like this because we can get a consensus.

I hope this is an appropriate place for my question. I thought about placing it in a photos thread, but they were all quite old. I was wondering if anyone had any photos of used EP books that show some wear? I have seen so many photos of lovely new and pristinely kept older books, but I would like a good idea of how they wear over time. I enjoy books with a nice patina on them as much as their near-perfect counterparts, and would love to see how Easton's fare with time and use (particularly actual use by someone who cares about them, but doesn't necessarily go to the trouble of gloves while reading or what not).

Even photos of used books you may have gotten from second-hand stores would be great. I have tried all I can think of in google and various other searches, but always find myself looking at the same gorgeous pictures of mint or near-mint books. I have heard so much talk about taking great care to protect books so that gilt does not come off or that the leather is not damaged, but have yet to find photos of books in such a condition. Thanks so much (this is such a wonderful group- I have learned so much simply by reading through it).

Someone on ebay is offering a Jack London set consisting of The Call of the Wild, White Fang, andThe Great Short Stories. Was this an EP set or is the seller putting together three books from different collections? The year is 1990 and the bindings are coordinated, yet slightly different.

Tom41, I cannot answer your question exactly, but please note these volumes are being sold as "less than perfect" due to some unexplained warping of the interior pages that apparently is NOT caused by water damage. I also noted in a close-up of the picture some corner rubbing and possibly even torn leather at the extremes of the corners. I can, however, endorse the seller as one of the better ones I've dealt with. On a previous auction, I questioned the condition of the gilt (both boards and page ends) and he/she responded within a few hours by posting additional pictures! I ended up winning that particular auction and the books were ever bit as fine as described, no unpleasant surprises (a rare occurrence unless you buy a wrapped copy) and were extremely well packed.

I do know that Call of the Wild was available as part of the Masterpieces of American Literature prior to being recycled in the Great Books of the 20th Century series. Based on what I've seen in the decline in EP quality over the years, I would personally elect to buy the older, MoAL version (there were several different cover designs and colors, so you have quite a choice). White Fang was also in the MoAL series. Now here is the twist: this particular auction is my first time being made aware of the existence of The Great Short Stories as an EP book. So perhaps they were sold together as a set. I am just as curious to know, but I will be passing on this auction, given the imperfections noted above.

>44 UK_History_Fan: I have the White Fang edition as shown in the ebay listing, but it doesn't say inside where it is from. It is a great looking book with many illustrations. The Great Short Stories is new to me also.

>43 Tom41:: I'm a little fuzzy on my facts with these as I think at one time I may have confused two separate Jack London Collections in the Archives, which I still need to sort out.

However, these three books were, indeed, part of a unique set, which I'm calling 'Collected Works Of Jack London'. It included:

Call Of The Wild, The
Great Short Stories, The
White Fang

As you can see in the auction photo, they are coordinated companion volumes. Call Of The Wild, in red, has a diamond pattern with a small paw print stamped in each diamond, White Fang, in blue, has diamonds with howling wolf heads, and The Great Short Stories, in black, has diamonds with campfires in each.

The Call Of The Wild design was also used for the 'The Great Books Of The Twentieth Century' edition as well as an edition for the 'Masterpieces Of American Literature' series. Perhaps as a consequence, these books are more substantial in size than many of the special sets tend to be. Each book is comparable to the larger size of many books from the 'Masterpieces Of American Literature' series. It is also available in a light toned gray or tan color.

The cover designs for the other two titles are unique to this set.

veryfinebooks currently has the same set available on eBay for $299, but shipping is FREE!

Sorry, I don't have a number for this one.

This is were my facts get a little fuzzy. There is another Jack London set with which I am familiar that I believe was called 'Jack London's Adventure Masterpieces'. These books too were companion volumes with each having a gilded outline drawing relevant to the content of the book. I am not sure if it was a three book set or four book set. I'm 100% certain that The Call Of The Wild and The Sea Wolf were included. I'm not sure if both White Fang and the Short Stories were also part of this set or just one of these, and if it was just one I'm not sure which it was.

Eventually I will get this straightened out as I am bound to run across one or the other or both in time. If you happen to know, however, please, enlighten me!

Yes, I remember seeing this set in EP's advertising back in the day (I may even still have a brochure/catalog that pictures it--I'll have to check).

46> ...these books are more substantial in size than many of the special sets tend to be

Yes...however the MoAL editions of Call of the Wild and White Fang had very different dimensions. It seems that, to include these books in a matching set, EP would have to either chop Wild's margins or extend Fang's (or both).

>47 SilentInAWay:: True that! The Call Of The Wild is essentially the same book, at least for the later edition from the 'Masterpieces Of American Literature' series, so it follows that White Fang must have gotten re-formatted a bit for the 'Collected Works' set. The illustrator is the same in both editions of White Fang, though my notes don't indicate an introduction in the 'Collected Works' edition. Not sure if that is an oversight on my part or if it was omitted. I see in your 'Reader's Choice' resource page that it is the same illustrator and introduction in the 'Reader's Choice' edition as the MoAL edition as well.

If you do have the flyer for this set, would you verify what the official title of the set was? I'm going to guess that the flyer pre-dates item #'s but if there is one that would be handy to know as well.

Do you happen to be familiar with the other Jack London set, the 'Jack London's Adventure Masterpieces'? I'm looking for verification on the titles includes in this set.

>48 wailofatail: My copy of White Fang has the same color leather and cover design as shown in the current ebay listing of the set. It has a 3-page Publishers Preface and an Introduction by Ray Gardner. The Illustrator is Lydia Dabcovich.

>49 Tom41:: Thanks Tom41. The omission must have just been an oversight on my part then when I catalogued the book.

I own two different copies of The Call of the Wild--both from the MoAL series. The two books--which are both reprints of the same LEC/HP edition--come from what I have long assumed to be two different 'generations' of the series.

The first book, whose cover resembles the book offered in that 'matching' 3-book set on eBay (although in pale green leather), is from the generation that I refer to as MoAL mark I. I currently own 15 of these mark I books.* There are several ways in which the mark I books differ from the books published by Easton Press today. For one thing, marbled paper is used for the endpapers, rather than the now standard moire fabric. Also, the spines of these books are cardboard-thin, yet the boards are nice and thick. Interestingly, some of these books indicate that they are bound in 'bonded leather fibers.' I currently own four of these 'bonded' mark i books* and each book has a completely different texture from the others (from rough and bubbly to patent leather smooth). The other eleven MoAL mark I books in my library are clearly bound in genuine leather.

My second copy of The Call of the Wild is from the set of MoAL books that I refer to as MoAL mark II. The cover of this book (which is bound in gray leather) has a different, yet related, design -- only four paw-prints appear on the front and back boards, each enclosed in a diamond. The MoAL mark II books share all of the features that we expect in a standard book from Easton Press--genuine leather, fabric endpapers, covers whose boards and spine have the same thickness, etc. I currently own 40 MoAL mark ii books*.

Now, I am reasonably sure of the following:

1. The mark i books were published until at least 1981 (the copyright date on my mark i copy of Looking Backward).

2. The mark i books were no longer produced in 1983 (when I subscribed to the series).

3. The mark i books were simultaneously offered in two different versions, the only differences being the leather used for the covers (genuine or bonded) and the MoAL logo on the title page (which stated that the covers of the bonded books were bound in 'bonded leather fibers'). Subscribers to the series could choose to receive either the less expensive 'bonded leather' books or the more expensive 'genuine leather' books.

4. By 1983 (when I subscribed to the MoAL series), the mark i books had been completely replaced by the mark ii books.

5. Some books were only offered as MoAL volumes during the mark i years, others only during the mark ii years. There were, of course, some titles that were offered during both. This means that some books were published with three different 'feature sets': mark i (bonded), mark i (genuine) and mark ii editions.

6. The list of books in the MoAL series changed at least twice--during the mark ii years alone! No title list distributed by EP during the mark ii period lists all books that were published as mark ii editions.

7. At some point before 1986 (I'm thinking it was in 1984), Easton Press either temporarily discontinued the MoAL series or revamped its title list. I know this because EP sent me, in a batch, the remaining books in the series that they would no longer be offering.

8. The MoAL series (mark ii) was available at least until some time in the early-to-mid 90s. I still have both a brochure and an EP-puiblished title list from this period. I fear that most of my EP advertising materials from the 1980s were thrown out during a move. Damn.

Here are some additional speculations:

On the one hand, my gut feeling is that the MoAL mark i books precede the publishing of the 100 Greatest series. I believe this because 1) the mark i books feel like a first try, which was later replaced by the mark ii and 100G-quality printings and 2) because the mark i series was replaced by the mark ii series fairly early in the lifetime of the 100G series (before, I believe, all 100 books had been printed--although I am not sure of this). If you've ever held one of the mark i books in your hands, you'll know what I mean -- they just feel like an early inferior attempt at the books that we now think of as standard EP fare.

On the other hand, most of the biggest titles in American Lit. are in the 100G series, not the MoAL series. Surely, if EP were planning a true series of American literary masterpieces, they would not intentionally exclude the biggest titles unless 1) EP initially procured the rights to a limited number of LEC/HP books to test the waters before jumping in or 2) there were already plans for the 100G series when the MoAL was published.

As you can see, my timeline on both the 100G and MoAL series is sketchy. Unfortunately, the people at EP today don't know their own history--certainly not back to the mid-70s when both of these series began. Or so I assume. There have been some indications that EP started publishing in the late 1960s; however the evidence for this is sketchy...

If any of you have some facts that reach back into the 70s (or some facts from the 80s that corroborate or challenge my assertions 1-8 above). please let me know. I am planning on developing a guide to the MoAL series that is similar to my current guide to the Reader's Choice books, but I'd like to get the history as straight as possible before I begin. Also, if any of you have 1980s vintage brochures or title lists for this series, I would love it if you would post them to this group (as I said above, I have both the brochure and list from the early 90s).

Thank you much!!

One final note (one that ties this in with the previous discussion): It is interesting that most printings of The Call of the Wild use the MoAL mark i cover, rather than the mark ii cover. Was this mark ii cover only a temporary replacement? Was this book offered in a mark ii edition (with moire silk endpapers) using the pawprint-in-many-diamonds cover design? I seem to remember so, but have no evidence to support this.

*You can view the different sets of MoAL books in my LT catalog by following one of these links and then clicking on the 'Covers' button at the top of the catalog:

MoAL mark i
MoAL mark i (bonded)
MoAL mark ii

I have a question for our experts... Im not sure if its already been answered. I just recieved a leatherbound book that has a bit of sticky residue on it from what seems to have been a sticker... Whats the best way to get rid of this?

>51 SilentInAWay: Here is a quote from MBI's website:

MBI launched the Easton Press in 1975. The first product offering was The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written, a series of exquisite, leather-bound editions of literary classics. We became an international marketer in 1976, inaugurating our European Division with the opening of MBI UK's London office, which developed extensive Danbury Mint product lines tailored for the British market.

Has Easton Press ever published Twain's "lesser" novels Tom Sawyer Abroad or Tom Sawyer, Detective? If so, anyone have them/pics of them?

>54 testadura: Yes, both titles are contained one volume from 12-volume Mark Twain classics set. The title on the spine is Tom Sawyer Abroad.

>54 testadura: Are those still available? Can the one volume be purchased separately? What is included in the contents? Any introductions/notes?

They are not available from EP any longer, but you can find them on-line book sellers. Originally the 12-volume set was as follows:

Mark Twain Classics (#0934)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Prince and the Pauper
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Life on the Mississippi
Tom Sawyer Abroad
Pudd'nhead Wilson
A Tramp Abroad
The Innocents Abroad
Roughing It
Notorious Jumping Frog and Other Stories
The 1000000 Bank-note and Other Stories

Later it was replaced with 6-volume set. The website says they are out of stock.

The volume you are interested in contains the two titles with a forward and notes by John C. Gerber. The text with illustrations is a photographic reproduction of the Univ. of Cal. 1980 editions. The illustrators are Daniel Carter Beard and A. B. Frost.

>57 Tom41: Thanks a ton, Tom!

53>

Thanks Tom. I didn't think of checking the MBI site (I figured that if the employees of EP didn't know the date, then there was no hope...)

At any rate, 1975 corresponds with what I remember (I mentioned mid-70s in my message above), although I have been occasionally tempted to consider an earlier date. I will take the MBI date as definitive.

That decided, the MoAL mark i books are a true oddity. Easton Press must have been still developing their identity. If the 100G books truly came first (in all respects), then EP developed the MoAL as a less expensive series (with marble endpapers and thin spines) and then offered the books in an even cheaper alternative version (using bonded leather fibers) for those who didn't want to shell out the money for the regular mark i books.

Of course, for all I know, the first runs of the 100G series may have had paper endpapers and thin spines, with only enough printed for the original subscribers to the 100G series. I've seen no evidence of this, mind you, but it makes more sense to me than the idea that the early 100G books somehow evolved into the mark i books before evolving back into the mark ii books.

Of course we are taking MBI's word for everything here...and it is certainly good marketing to state that a company's first offering was its flagship product...

Damn...I wish I had started collecting five years earlier; then I wouldn't have these questions...

Thanks again, Tom...

>51 SilentInAWay:

If EP started in the 1970's, then how do I have a copy of "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells from the Masterpieces of Science Fiction collection with an Easton Press copyright of 1964?

60: well duh! You went back in time... and, something, somehow. You know, as a physicist, I never could understand time travel novels. Always seemed to paradoxical to me (though I do love Wells' novel)!

That's probably an LEC/HP date...I'll check...

Yup -- its a reprint of half of a book originally published by both the Limited Editions Club and Heritage Press in 1964.

The original LEC/HP book contained both The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. EP has been known to break apart books is this manner (more recently, they split The Importance of Being Ernest from Lady Windermere's Fan for the Reader's Choice series).

BTW: all but one of the Masterpieces of American Literature mark i books that I mentioned above have copyright dates prior to 1975 (many of them in the sixties).

Easton Press is notoriously bad with their copyright pages -- not only in the 70s & 80s, but today as well.

There are books in the Reader's Choice series that list the original LEC date, the first HP printing date, the last HP printing date, the first EP printing date, a subsequent EP printing date or, finally, the actual Reader's choice date. Sometimes you get one date (any of the above), sometimes two, sometimes several...

Of course, for books with dates prior to 1975, eBay resellers just love to claim that they are first Easton Press printings (sometimes they'll even tell you that its a first edition). It's all laughable...you can only truly understand a date on an EP title page if you've either 1) received the book brand new from Easton Press and it lists the year you received it as the copyright date, or 2) researched the dates of all previous incarnations of that edition...

Ok, I'm exaggerating a little (just a little).

>59 SilentInAWay: My two cents' worth of speculation:

Based on the item numbers for the 100G (0001) and the MoAL (0284), EP must have published a lot of books between those two series.

As far as the 100G goes, MBI through The Danbury Mint acquired the Heritage Press publishing rights in the early 70s. In 1974 The Franklin Library began publishing their 100G series of leather bound books. When MBI saw this and saw that they were sitting on the rights to excellent editions of the same titles, they started up EP wth their own 100G series the following year.

Perhaps they were experimenting with the MoAL series, but I think that came later and was not connected with the 100G books. Incidentally, FL began publishing a 100 volume MoAL series in 1976 in conjuction with the Bicentennial Commission. Might this have prompted EP's MoAL series?

>60 Arknight: Since EP owns the HP copyrights, I think they used the HP dates and substituted their own name; hence EP copyrights prior to 1975.

>51 SilentInAWay:: Silent, that is a fascinating post. I am wondering now which versions of each book I have. It appears Tom41 has answered the question of which series came first, 'The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written' v. 'The Masterpieces Of American Literature'. I was going to post that it was my personal hunch that it was the '100 Greatest'.

1.) It makes more sense. If you are trying to appeal to the largest audience possible you put forth your best, i.e. greatest, offering first. The name of the collection alone seems to have been developed to appeal to the masses. If I were asked to choose between a collection of American Masterpieces or 'THE 100 GREATEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN', clearly I'm going for the one hundred greatest. By definition they are better than the masterpieces.

2.) I also remember seeing advertisements for 'The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written' in magazines back in the '70's. I don't recall having seen third-party advertising by Easton Press for any other collection. E/P's business model was developed as a direct mail book of the month subscription plan. Once E/P gets a potential customer's contact information they can effectively direct-market new products to that customer all day long. To find potential customers, however, E/P had to advertise through other mediums. Intuitively, it seems that if you're going to ask someone to subscribe to a collection you want to give them an idea of how much they are in for. Consequently the '100' in the '100 Greatest'.

The Best We Have To Offer - Limited Commitment: 'The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written'.

I just can't imagine E/P establishing themselves on the 'Masterpieces Of American Literature'.

3.) Easton Press' biggest competitor was the Franklin Library. It is reasonable to assume that as the two publishing giants competed with each other they would mimic each others tactics. I can't speak definitively on the chronological sequence of collections from the Franklin Library either but from what I have been able to gather, later on, as the Franklin Library attempted to appeal to a more price conscious customer base, they offered value classes of the same books from the same collection, sort of like the mark I and mark II that you describe for the 'Masterpieces Of American Literature'. For one collection there is an edition bound in genuine leather with a ribbon page marker and an identical book in faux leather without the ribbon. For another there is a full leather bound edition and a quarter-bound leather edition, i.e. cloth boards with a leather wrap on the spine. I don't know if they ran these offerings concurrently and you had your choice or if they ran the series first as a premium collection and later as a value collection, sort of like the hardcover edition followed later by the paperback edition. Either way, this was a development that came later in their history and I'm guessing that Easton Press experimented mimicking it in an attempt to be competitive.

It might be worth noting that the Franklin Library has a collection titled 'The 100 Greatest Books Of All Time', which is a full leather bound collection of books which is very similar to Easton Press', even down to the titles included. I presume this was their flag-ship collection as well and they never did tinker with the quality of these books. They were from the beginning, and always remained, full leather-bound books. Again, if you are selling your wares to new, potentially wary customers, you especially want to impress them in the beginning. Once they are stretched nearly as thin as they can possibly be, then they may consider sacrificing a little quality in order to maintain their habit. So I think it was too with Easton Press. They got you hooked as a new subscriber with the high quality, great value of the '100 Greatest', and then tried to sell you on additional collections such as the 'MoAL'. To make that leap a little easier they likely experimented with lower quality offerings.

Well, you two have just about disabused me of this idea. For twenty-seven years or so I firmly believed that the 100G series were the first books offered by Easton Press. It was only after I acquired my first 'mark i' book a couple of years back that I began to suspect otherwise. Do either of you own one? It certainly doesn't feel like an attemp to create a cheaper, lower-quality book (except, maybe, the bonded leather versions). It feels more like EP hadn't yet developed their standard approach. Oh well...one can't argue with the item numbers, eh Tom?

I am, of course, fully aware of the purchase history of the Heritage Press reprint rights -- god knows, I've mentioned it myself 30 or 40 times in this group (MBI bought the rights from Cardavon, who bought them from Ziff-Davis, who bought them from Boise Cascade, who bought them from the Macy family in 1970). I don't know when EP (MBI) actually obtained the rights (obviously sometime between 1970 and 1975). The idea that MBI was only prompted into action after seeing the success of the Franklin Library is intriguing--perhaps even true (on what authority do you repeat it?)--although it is precisely the type of story that fine book fanatics tell about rival presses.

It's funny -- I've developed an affection for these quirky mach i editions. They are kind of cute and feel less like bargain books than most of Easton Press's current editions (and after seeing how the moire fabric ages, I have a new appreciation for marbled endpapers!).

At any rate, I bow to the numbers...and the archives!

>68 SilentInAWay:: I have some of those. It hadn't occurred to me when I began buying second hand copies of the 'MoSF' collection that there were different editions. I remember my surprise the first time I received an E/P book with marbled end sheets, and my disappointment, believing I had received an older, inferior product. I didn't pay any attention to the text regarding the leather, thinking I knew it all already. I was just looking at my copy of The Complete Poems Of Edgar Allen Poe from the 'MoSF' collection, the edition with the pattern of solid filled ravens on the cover, (there is another edition with the same pattern of ravens but in outline only). The material on the boards (leather?) has the exact same texture as a basketball. It clearly is not naturally occurring; it appears to have been pressed. It is really sort of gross but since it is the only E/P book I can recall that is like that, I sort of like it too. (Perhaps appropriate for the poems of Poe? ... a queer attraction to the morbid and grotesque?)

> 67 The Franklin Library's The 100 Greatest Books of All Time was their first publication when the subsidiary was formed in 1974. I remember receiving the flyer in the spring of that year and immediately entered my subscription. The first volume, Moby Dick, arrived in October 1974. The series was not re-issued in the exact way. I may put more on this in this Franklin Library forum.

Wail, are you familiar with the "suture" cover of Frankenstein? One was listed on ebay this evening.

>68 SilentInAWay: I have Cooper's The Prairie from the MoAL with bonded leather and marbled endleaves. I didn't realize until I looked tonight that the spine is thin. I was very upset when I received it because I wanted the moire endleaves, and the seller wouldn't take it back. Thereafter, I made certain every MoAL book I bought had moire endleaves.

>70 Tom41:: Yes, Tom41, I am. It is an earlier version of the '100 Greatest' edition of Frankenstein. It is among my favorite designs. In fact, I think I noted as much in the 'What are your favorite Easton Press cover designs' post. Besides the novel cover design, it sports black moire endsheets and a black silk ribbon page marker, which I don't recall seeing in any other E/P book. It is quite stunning, in my opinion ... very dark, very apropos. The introduction and illustrations are the same as in all the other '100 Greatest' versions of Frankenstein.

Sorry, Tom -- I wasn't doubting your facts about Franklin Library. I was curious about the basis of your claim that it was "When MBI saw this" that they decided to introduce the 100G series. Did they admit this at one point or is this just based on circumstantial observations. Surely MBI had plans along these lines when they purchased the reprint rights to the HP catalogue.

The "Frankenstitch" cover is one of my favorites too. It was offered as a special selection (not part of a series) in 1984. I don't know if this was the first time the book was available from Easton Press. Unfortunately, the copyright date is that of the Heritage Press edition.

69> Hey wailo. Do me a favor. Take a look at the MoAL logo on the title page of your black basketball (it is black, right?) -- along the bottom of the logo, does is state that the book is bound in 'bonded leather fibers'?

>72 SilentInAWay: It is my personal observation and speculation. One could build a case in the other direction, too. Since Franklin Mint and Danbury Mint were competitiors in other busness areas, when Franklin learned of Danbury's acquisition of HP, they decided to establish a publishing subsidiary and were first to the market. The chronology of the two competitors seems to me to be more than mere coincidence.

I have been trying to find the exact year of Danbury's acquisition of HP, but have had no luck so far.

>74 SilentInAWay:: Certainly, Silent. I just checked ... it is not black. It is orange. OH MY GOD! I think I may have the only E/P bound bound in genuine rubber. It even says Wilson on the back. (LOL at my own jokes. =P )

Joking aside, it is not black. It is orange, or at least a rusty ochre color. It would be one of your mark II books. It does not have any indication whatsoever, along the bottom of the logo or otherwise, regarding the leather. It indicates a copyright date of 1971, for what that is worth, and it has moire fabric end-sheets. Upon closer examination, the 'inverted dimples' are not quite as regular as I remembered them. They do appear to be leather but of some creature not commonly used by Easton Press. Mind you that I am not an animal skin expert but it sort of reminds me of snake skin, or alligator, or some other reptilian creature's hide. Of course, I am probably not even close, but that's what comes to mind.

Out of curiosity I checked out the Danbury Mint UK website.

As I had imagined, it was full of horrible tat (royal memorabilia, cute animals, etc). But there is a section headed leather bound books -

http://www.danburymint.co.uk/index.php?act=browse&cat_id=13

Alongside a few candidates for the EP Crappy Collection is listed the LE Romance of King Arthur at £244.00.

Clicking under "Other" reveals a few more titles including the 100 Greatest Subscription at £35.00 per month (which is exactly what I pay direct from EP).

I don't know if this is any better for UK residents. Delivery would be quicker if they were shipped from the UK, but my guess is that they come from EP US in any event.

>75 Tom41:

Ah, the way I heard it was that the two rival CEOs engaged in a gentleman's bet (across the short wall separating their adjacent urinals) over which of them could first create and then control a market for luxury books for the "common man" (sorry ladies, these moguls were not only benignly sexist and racist, but also incontrovertibly and irretrievably anglocentric--as borne witness by their respective lists of the 100 greatest books ever written). Mr. Franklin won the bet, but Mr. Danbury has been trying to get his money back for a decade now.

>76 wailofatail:

plucked raven hide, perhaps?

>77 Quicksilver66:
Oh, you tempt me so! I wonder if they actually have stock or if they simply haven't realised that the Easton Press don't.

In any case, do you think if I called them up I could get the Kate Middleton commemorative doll thrown in for free?

>81 SpoonFed:

You mean you haven't yet received a flyer that there is one on hold in your name, now? All you have to do is reply to claim it!

>82 Arknight:

And they even have 24 hour phone lines to deal with just such a request!

I want the Pippa doll with the tight white dress!!

Give me your address and credit card details and I'll have it sent to you in no time!

>77 Quicksilver66::


"Alongside a few candidates for the EP Crappy Collection is listed the LE Romance of King Arthur at £244.00." - a rose among the thorns, certainly...does this indicate that it's still available on the U.K. side of the pond? (It's been sold out here for awhile) -But the limitation of 800 copies in their blurb might be from an older page on their site, since it was initially 800 but reduced to 400. (Oh, please don't tell us there are actually TWO different printings of this lovely DLE, by EP and Danbury, totalling 1,200 copies!!)

-and b.t.w., what the hell is a "mint" doing, publishing books?!!

> 51
Update on my very spare Masterpieces of American Literature collection. I own only nine books (these are easily my least favorite EP offerings...at least as far as a series goes, I have to agree with most of you that the coffee table books are even more useless). To my initial horror (more on that later), I do in fact own one of the dreadful bonded leather editions.

Mark I Books (Leather): The Jungle, The Wonderful Adventures of Paul Bunyan, and The Man Without A Country.

Mark I Books (Bonded): Life On The Mississippi

Mark II Books (Moire): History of New York, House of Mirth, Cape Code, Notorious Jumping Frog, and (possibly) Pudd'nhead Wilson. I'll explain the possibly shortly.

I was even more shocked to learn that my one bonded leather book was Life On The Mississippi. This has always been one of my favorites from this series. There is nothing about the boards or spine that would lead me to believe it was anything less than genuine leather. Perhaps it was just a misprint on the title page (either EP has discovered the finest bonded leather on the planet or I will continue to live in a state of denial that I can be so easily fooled).

Speaking of misprints, I have something that is quite the curiosity to me and will certainly intrigue you "experts" out there. I am actually hoping someone else owns my possible Pudd'nhead Wilson book to verify what I have.

I bought this on eBay (first mistake!) and while the overall quality is about what I have experienced for books in the MoAL series (except for some rather unexceptional gilt on the spine which appears rather faint...as distinct from faded because it is evenly faint everywhere...to the point where you can barely read it), the title page clearly shows the Collector's Library of Famous Editions wreath logo. And yes, I do realize that this title was published in that series as well.

But here is where it gets interesting: there were no Notes From The Archives and the Publisher's Preface on page iv clearly marks it as MoAL!!! Plus the added twist is that last copyright date is 1995, which I think would place it more in the Famous Editions era than the MoAL era. So which is it? What book do I have? From which series? I contacted the seller after getting this and she said that there were never any notes in the book and that she received it as a gift from a friend who worked at the BINDERY where it was manufactured (though she did not elaborate where that was and I was too focused on determining which collection my book was from to ask). So I decided to keep it, thinking it was an oddball publishing mistake.

The Publisher's Preface ends with this paragraph: "The Ribbon marker, decorated end sheets, gilded edges and finely executed binding with the raised hubs make this book another permanently beautiful volume in the Masterpieces of American Literature collection." Of course typing that (i.e. re-reading as I type) I just realized that "decorated end sheets" could in fact refer to a Mark I marble paper edition.

Any insights?

1) Why would Life On The Mississippi feel like such quality leather if indeed it is merely bonded crap?
2) Which version of Pudd'nhead Wilson do I own the CLFE or the MoAL?

Your help, as always experts, is appreciated.

>88 UK_History_Fan: My copy of Pudd'nhead Wilson is from the Famous Editions. It has the wreath logo on the title page and the Notes from the Archives; however, the Publisher's Preface has the same last paragraph you quoted. I guess they just didn't bother to revise the preface from the MoAL edition.

Based on your description I would say you have the Famous Editions copy. MoAL books have their own logo on the title page, not the wreath. Often books purchased on ebay or from other sellers lack the Notes from the Archives.

>88 UK_History_Fan:: ditto Tom41's remarks @89.

Great, so what we really have is a case of me being %^&*( over on this purchase. This might be my only CLFE without NFTA (out of 82 books in that series). That won't do! I'll just have to try to get a duplicate copy someday. In the meantime, I have a reading version :-) Lower priority given my other collection holes....

Thanks for the info. Do either of you know if the Pudd'nhead Wilson cover was the same for both the FE and the MoAL series?

>89 Tom41: Tom41: until I get around to buying a replacement, any chance you can scan or photocopy the Notes From The Archives for this book? If you can, I can send you a private message with my contact info. Thanks!

For what it's worth, here's the MoAL mark ii title page:



(and, yes, it has the same introduction)

91> you can see the MoAL mark ii cover on this page.

I'd be interested in seeing the FE cover, if someone would post it.

Thank you for the post. That is the same cover as mine. Curious to see if tom's is identical as well. I thought EP usually changed covers for the CLFE books even if they borrowed titles from elsewhere in their catalogue.

>91 UK_History_Fan:-95: The covers are the same for both collections. Your statement, "... E/P usually changed covers for the CLFE books even if they borrowed titles from elsewhere in their catalogue" is correct but you need to emphasize 'usually'. E/P has done nothing consistently. In most cases they did change the cover design but not in every case. There are at least several instances where they simply sucked a book from one collection directly into another. In the case of poor ol' Puddin' Head, the only difference was the change to the title page, substituting the wreath emblem for the arc insignia. They even forgot to edit the preface.

Back when, when I was under the impression that the 'Famous Editions' were all truly reproductions of, well ..., famous editions, a classification that does not include LEC/HP publications in my opinion because those were limited to too targeted an audience to have been truly famous, I returned my copy of The Pickwick Papers that I recognized as being from the 'The Complete Works Of Charles Dickens' collection, only with the inclusion of the wreath logo on the title page. (How's that for a run-on sentence, UK_History_Fan?) I included a testy note explaining my disappointment with this blatant attempt to pull one over on me.

Of course, I wish I had it back today.

I am not sure why you wish to have it back wail, nothing about those Charles Dickens collection covers appeals to me. They look cheap. Unfortunately, my Great Expectations and David Copperfield copies are this version cover. I fully intend to replace with the gorgeous vintage covers from the seventies. In fact, David Copperfield and Walden (the older version) are in my opinion two of the better EP covers from the 100 Greatest. God damn it, as if my book collecting wasn't already enough for my nomination to the OCD Hall of Fame now I have to worry about which version cover to acquire or replace!

>97 UK_History_Fan:: LOL! It only gets worse, or better, depending on your point of view. Suffice it to say that at some point down the road you probably won't have to worry about which version cover to acquire of replace, if you know what I mean?

I struggle with matching v. non-matching editions of author's works. In my youthful days of collecting E/P books I was adamant that the non-matching editions were preferable to the matching editions, if only in acknowledgement of the fact that the author wrote each piece as a stand-alone work. The world of Oliver Twist, for instance, is quite different from the world of Charles Darnay in A Tale Of Two Cities: different characters, different settings, different time periods, etc., so why shouldn't each book have a different look? And never expecting to have as many books as I do now, I preferred the appearance of diversity that the individual covers offer, despite including multiple works by a single author.

But the collected works contain editions that are not available in any other collection. In the case of the 'Complete Works Of Charles Dickens', Sketches By Boz, or Master Humphrey's Clock, to name two. If you want the complete works of Charles Dickens you either have to buy volumes from one of the two 'Complete Works Of Charles Dickens' sets to complete the works or opt for the matching set. Most people would be fine sprinkling the matching editions amongst the non-matching editions. Those with OCD, however, can never get fully comfortable with the partial, incomplete set they now own of 'The Complete Works'. Two or three of your Charles Dickens books match, all of the others don't. It just doesn't feel right. Given the choice between not owning every work or not owning the complete matching set, I think I might actually choose not to own every work. That would probably induce less anxiety than having two or three or four matching editions in an otherwise 21 volume non-matching collection.

Had I known then what I know now I would have opted to buy the 21 volume matching set from E/P and picked up the individual non-matching titles second hand, if only because the 21 volume matching editions, at least those that were not later adopted into the '100 Greatest' collection, have held their value better, with the titles that are exclusive to the matching set actually going up in value.

Depending to what extent your OCD has progressed, things can really get bad when there are two twenty-one volume matching editions. Thankfully, I'm not there, yet. Personally, I prefer the version with the initials on the cover. They seem more elegant to me than the version with the daguerreotype style bust on the cover. For some reason, perhaps the bust combined with the red leather, the later remind me of Vladimir Lenin.

>86 iluvbeckett:
I called the Danbury Mint (slightly against my better judgement, financially speaking) and yes, they DO have stock. When I called they had three left. Now they have two - sorry!

>77 Quicksilver66:
Thank you, thank you, thank you for pointing this out! I didn't dare to hope that they still had stock, but I'm a thoroughly happy camper now. I wavered and wavered when the book was actually for sale and never bought it (despite having made up my mind to do so several times) and regretted it when it went out of stock.

> 98
Vladimir Lenin...that made me laugh. It is sad that I own 15 titles by Charles Dickens and I have never even read him (at least not an entire book) to even know whether I like him or not!

>98 wailofatail:

That's it!!! I've been wondering what looked so strange to me about the cover of Great Expectations but I couldn't put my finger on it...Dickens looks like Lenin!!!!

>100 UK_History_Fan:: You should move them to the top of your list. They truly are deserving of their rank among the '100 Greatest Books Ever Written'. I especially enjoyed A Tale Of Two Cities and hope to have time to re-read it someday.

> 99

Congratulations Spponfed. It is a wonderful book and you will not be dissapointed.

Do they ship from the UK?

>102 wailofatail:

Yes, my understanding is they have stocks in their own UK warehouse. Which is good to note for future reference...

Of course, I'm trying hard not to get too excited about this one either; it's always possible that it's an error in their stock system. But 'Cautiously Optimistic' is my (rather unusual) middle name these days!

ETA: The postage on King Arthur costs £6.

>98 wailofatail: I struggle with matching v. non-matching editions of author's works. In my youthful days of collecting E/P books I was adamant that the non-matching editions were preferable to the matching editions

Wow, wailo, I've been struggling with the same issue for the longest time -- with the Dickens in particular. I own thirteen different EP Dickens volumes, none of which comes from a matching set (although two are the same book with different covers*; so there are actually twelve unique books). I've been wondering if there are any others...do you know?

You can view my EP Dickens volumes by clicking on this link and then selecting the Covers option at the top of the catalog window.

ETA: You can also increase the size of the displayed covers by clicking on the 'plus' icon at the top of the catalog window.

*The one duplicate that I own is David Copperfield. I too love this cover--both, in fact. I assume that the one that you like best, UK_History_Fan, is the lacier one??

>105 SilentInAWay:

I also struggle with this issue when trying to decide which cover of a book I should get. Personally, I like having different covers for each book if given the option, however, if EP offered a complete set of Dickens with the same cover today, I would probably get it.

> 105
Silent you have not only caught me red-handed (since we invoked Lenin earlier) but have publicly called me out as someone who is a sucker for ornamental detail in my book covers. Even if it is inappropriate to the story. The more ornamental, the better I like it. For example, to me there is no comparison between the plain red with diamonds (?) Dante Divine Comedy (100 Greatest) and the one that looks like it could have come from your grandmother's end table. I was in a particular dilemma with Fathers & Sons (100 Greatest) because there were so many DIFFERENT covers to choose from. I finally elected the one that has the father and son in silhouette, though there are others I find quite attractive. I had a similar issue with Crime & Punishment. I absolutely love the interior illustrations (I am a major woodcut fanatic) but initially leaned toward the more recent "generic flourishes" cover (same reason I ended up with this set of the Sherlock Holmes) but thankfully I saw the light and I am now a much bigger fan of the "interweave" cover (I am not good at describing artistic renderings, especially in the abstract) which I am now the proud owner of. See, I violate the laws of grammer with inpunity. Not only am I particularly susceptible to the run-on sentence, I even will end a sentence with a preposition!

>107 UK_History_Fan:

Ha! Ending a sentence with a preposition is not necessarily wrong (as Grammar Girl and others have often pointed out).

Moreover, not every long sentence is a run-on; on the contrary, provided that it is properly punctuated (and makes skillful use of subordinating conjunctions--something that, admittedly, requires a certain mastery of language), a single sentence can run on for pages without being a run-on (although, because of the relative effort needed to coordinate and subjugate the various clauses, sentences of this caliber often assume readers that are not only educated, but well-disciplined): voilà tout!!

And it is sometimes acceptable to start a sentence with a conjunction. But only for emphasis (since the sentence will inevitably draw focus).

And, yes, I agree with every one of the cover preferences you confessed in #107 (although I own the other 100G Comedia--Sorry grandma, I'm stealing that book from your end table).

>105 SilentInAWay:: "I own thirteen different EP Dickens volumes, none of which comes from a matching set (although two are the same book with different covers*; so there are actually twelve unique books). I've been wondering if there are any others...do you know?"

There is an alternate cover version of Great Expectations from the '100 Greatest'. You have what I call the coffer edition. I call the other the floral shield.

There is an alternate cover version of Short Stories from the '100 Greatest', which has a lenticular medallion rather than the needle-star.

There is the edition of Christmas Stories from the 'Great Illustrated Classics'.

There is the facsimile edition of the serialized first edition pamphlets, if you want to count those.

There is A Christmas Carol bound with Clement Moore's The Night Before Christmas if you want to count that.

There is an alternate cover version of Christmas Stories, unique from yours and the 'Great Illustrated Classics' edition. It has a central medallion with corner web filigree.

As I think you know, but others may not, the bust editions from the 'Complete Works Of Charles Dickens' of David Copperfield, Great Expectations, and A Tale Of Two Cities were adopted into the '100 Greatest'. I am aware of a spine variation on David Copperfield. One edition has the title and author together on the same black overlay. The other has two separate black overlays, one with the title, the other with the author.

Finally, there is that title from the initials version of the 'Complete Works Of Charles Dickens' that E/P slipped into the 'Famous Editions', the one I mentioned sending back. As I try to recall it now, I can't quite remember if it was The Pickwick Papers, as I mentioned previously, or The Old Curiosity Shop. The more I think of it the more I am convinced it was The Old Curiosity Shop. Does anyone else recall?

Awesome, wailo. I find it fascinating seeing all this information in one place. If you ever publish a printed version of the archives (at a reasonable price, that is), you'll definitely have one buyer!! Although I have no intention of collecting all the variant covers, I may pick up one or two at some point--again, if the price is right. Sounds like, other than a couple alternative editions of the Christmas Books (Dickens at Christmas--the gift that keeps on giving), I have all of the singletons. I wasn't sure. Thanks!!

That reminds me of Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables. Wouldn't be nuts if Easton published a collector's guide to Easton Press books?

> 111

Not really, Folio have done it. I would buy it in a flash.

>112 Quicksilver66:: But wouldn't it be nuts if Folio Society published a collector's guide to Easton Press books? = )

> 113

It would. I will add that to my list of fantasy books !!

>111 testadura: Yes

>113 wailofatail: No

When I first started collecting, I preferred matching sets, but you all had previously convinced me to prefer books with individuality. However, I'm in the process of collecting the Dickens books as they are putting them out as single editions now, so I have a matching set (partial set). Only my copies of The Pickwick Papers and A Christmas Carol are different.

I have noticed that my volume of Great Expectations (from 100 Greatest) does not exactly match the other volumes on the spine, even though they are all the portrait covers. Was there ever an edition of Great Expectations with the portrait cover that exactly matched the others?

>116 indigosky:: Yes, there was. Forgive my mistake in post #109. The spine variation that I mention should actually refer to Great Expectations, not David Copperfield as stated. And the title and author are not on black overlays. The black overlays are on the Initials version of the 'Complete Works'. The title and author are stamped directly on the spine on the Bust version of the 'Complete Works'. What I need someone to verify for me is, what spine version is used for the Bust version of the 'Complete Works'? Is it the version with the title and author in the same box or the version with the title and author in separate boxes, with hubs between them. My guess: that E/P originally used the same spine version from the Bust version of 'The Complete Works' when they adopted it into the '100 Greatest'. Then, possibly, in future print runs they changed the design slightly. Speculation, of course ...

This doesn't explain why they didn't modify the other titles they pulled from the 'Complete Works' into the '100 Greatest', unless they did, and I have simply never noticed. Could it be that the title and author in the same box is from the Bust edition of the 'Complete Works' and that all of the other copies that I have seen are '100 Greatest' copies, all of which were modified for the '100 Greatest' collection.

You can see, this is the type of sleuth work that goes into piecing together which books came from which collection. It may be more clear once we know what the spines of the Bust version of the 'Complete Works' looks like.

Help!

117: My copy of Great Expectations (bust version) from 100 Greatest has the author and title in one box. The author is above the title.

My copies of other Dickens books (bust versions) have the title in one box, a flourish in a box below, and the author in the box below that. Two of these books came in my 100 Greatest collection, and the others were recently purchased individually (I have 4 of those). I'm assuming they are identical to those sold in the Dickens Complete Works.

I just remembered I have an old flyer for the Complete Novels of Charles Dickens. It shows the volume of Great Expectations identical to the rest of the books. So I guess it was just the 100 Greatest Great Expectations that has a different spine.

>119 indigosky:: It seems that the edition with the title and author in the same box is the odd ball. I guess one of the designers was having a slow day and needed something to do.

Here is a question for the experts. I was browsing the list of titles in The Masterpieces of Fantasy series. I see that the three Tolkien books are listed there. Did EP release the three of them with the Fantasy endpapers for this series or just ship the regular ones with silk? Same goes for The Once and Future King, which I have in silk endpapers.

> 121
I cannot comment on the Tolkien as my set is still shrinkwrapped (please, put down the stones!), and I am almost certain it is the later printing in that it is a 5-book set rather than the 3-book version (which incidentally a close friend owns), but I do own the Masterpieces of Fantasy version of The Once and Future King with the paper endpages and the publisher note insert. While it has the same elaborate gilt cover as the $99 stand-alone title available recently (still?) from EP, and the same full color frontpiece (which serves as the basis for the gilt picture on the cover), it has no other interior illustrations. My understanding from other threads and various pictures posted is that the more recent version has specially commissioned artwork to illustrate the beginning of each new section. This, coupled with the fact that my copy has a previous owner's nameplate on the endpage just inside the front cover (which I now know considerably lowers the book value), makes me completely regret this purchase. Given these considerations, I rather overpaid for it (though at the time it seemed like a good deal since it was less than $99). The other potential design difference is that the Masterpieces of Fantasy version has a regal purple bookmarker (since it didn't have to color coordinate with moire endpages, perhaps they were more creative with color in these books). Hope that helps in part. What color are you endpapers?

Thank you UK, that answers one of my questions. Once and Future King does have the Fantasy endpapers unlike the more recent edition that I have. The purple ribbon sounds nice, I like seeing different colors, getting tired of the gold endpapers and markers. The current Future King version has the gold silk endpapers.

I also have the Tolkien 5 volume set, along with 7 other individual Tolkien volumes. I just don't recall for sure if they were issued with the Fantasy endpapers at some point to go along with the series.

Wootle - I too am completely tired of the gold end pages and ribbon. One of the things I love about most Franklin Library series is that they printed a variety of colors that always seem to complement the leather color or the book design somehow. Their silk moire end pages also seem to resist fade much better than EP's offerings from a similar vintage.

>121 Wootle:: The three volume 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy that was included in the 'Masterpieces Of Fantasy' collection was issued with the 'Masterpieces Of Fantasy' endpapers to match the other editions in this collection. I have seen them on Ebay. The 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy as well as The Once And Future King were both originally published by Easton Press for this collection. E/P later offered these as special presentations, at which point they substituted the moire fabric for the paper endsheets. For a time, at least until they ran out of stock, they continued to use the MoF bookplate with the individual offerings of The Once And Future King, based on my second hand copy. (Of course, the seller could always have slipped in the wrong bookplate, but not likely.)

> 125
Based on my research, though not first-hand observation, they did more than just slap moire papers into a MoF title. They also commissioned five or so new full page b&w illustrations for at least Once and Future King. I wonder if the Tolkien books from this series have the exact same interior as the later special sets after you get past the end pages

Thanks Wail, that makes the search a little tougher, especially since most sellers don't mention which endpapers are present in the ones they are selling.

The 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy as well as The Once And Future King were both originally published by Easton Press for this collection. E/P later offered these as special presentations, at which point they substituted the moire fabric for the paper endsheets.

Actually, the EP edition of the Lord of the Rings (with the Michael Hague frontispieces) predates the Masterpieces of Fantasy series by over a decade. The books were released as a trilogy (with moire silk endpapers) in 1984. The Hobbit was released separately (and was a slightly different size).

The Masterpieces of Fantasy series did not debut until, I believe, 1996. So the original books were repurposed into the series...and then back out again when the series was discontinued.

You are correct, of course, that the five-volume set (with both the Simarillion and a Hobbit the same size as the LotR) was not introduced until later...

I own both the 3-volume set (+ almost-matching Hobbit) and the 5-volume set. I've been thinking of one day bequesting the 3V+H set to my niece...if she continues to be the reader that she is today...

>128 SilentInAWay:: I stand corrected. Now that you mention it that does sound better. I do remember a Tolkien offering that did not include the Silmarillion.

>127 Wootle:: "bequesting" --> "bequeathing" (who taught this guy to write?!?!)

>130 SilentInAWay:: I just thought it was some BIG word that I never learned.

Here's a new one for our Resident Experts.

About a month ago I saw a copy of Jack London's The Sea Wolf on eBay going for something like $30.00. Nothing unusual, except, that I had never seen the cover before: it was blue with a picture of a gold ship on the front cover. It is no longer posted there so, unfortunately, I'm unable to link to a picture. From what I've normally seen, the cover is red with a repeating pattern on it.

Is anyone aware of the blue cover and where it came from?

>132 Arknight:: See post #46 above.

>132 Arknight: Here's the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jack-London-SEA-WOLF-Easton-Leather-/130505365213?pt=Ant...

>133 wailofatail:

Thanks Wail, I had read your original post before, but must have missed that part about the second set of Jack London books. I'd love to see what the other covers looked like if they were similar.

>134 Tom41:
That's the link, thanks! I never added it to my Watch List so I couldn't pull it back up.

In addition to the "repeating pattern" cover and the "gilded ship" cover, The Sea Wolf was also published with this cover:



Hey, wailo -- I love your cover names ("floral shield", "lenticular medallion", etc.). What do you call this one?

> 132
Arknight! I thought you were tattling on me for a minute, as I also found this unusual cover on eBay and won the auction! But that was months ago and the link to which Tom41 sent us is to a BIN listing, so that isn't the copy I bought. I do like it, but it is VERY SMALL compared to most other EP books. I also remember the illustrations being all B&W but quite nicely done (pencil etchings perhaps?). My original thought is I would rather have the ship cover (and still do!) but knowing my OCD, I'll probably also at some point feel compelled to buy the red leather one with colorful illustrations from the 100 Greatest series.

Ah, I failed to mention that the blue cover in #136 is from the 100G series as well...

>136 SilentInAWay:: I call that the 'scrollwork frame' edition. = )

Ah, I like that better than "barbed-wire fence with cast iron flourishes" (my working name for it)

Did I read on here recently that there is an EP version of Tom Sawyer with Thomas Hart Benton illustrations or am I hallucinating again? ;)

>141 testadura:: Django6924 wrote in a different thread, "They (Easton Press) also reprinted the LEC Thomas Hart Benton-illustrated Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn which were never HP editions. These I know because I have had copies in EP before replacing them with LEC.

I am curious to know which edition of Tom Sawyer published by E/P included Thomas Hart Benton illustrations, as I am not familiar with one myself.

Okay experts, did all copies of Sword of Shannara have Fantasy endpapers or did some have silk? I know all were signed by Brooks, but don't know if they were all produced for the fantasy series.

I know it was offered for sale individually, long after the Fantasy collection was retired, so I suspect it was upgraded to moire end-sheets similar to The Once And Future King and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, which also were included in this collection and later offered individually. Perhaps someone can confirm.

All the copies I have seen have the Fantasy endpapers, thats why I'm wondering if the later ones were just left overs or if EP actually reprinted it.

I don't think Easton Press reprinted them. I had heard they were simple moved from the Fantasy Series to individual sales. I did notice there are two versions. One with an EP logo which is newer and one without the EP logo which is probably their first print run.

>146 AgaEP:: You refer to the first print run v. the newer print run and yet you start off by saying that you don't think Easton Press re-printed them. I'm confused.

I would think the difference in the two bindings would suggest a different printing. The question remains, which end papers did they use?

All the ones currently on ebay have the logo, and at least one of them mention having fantasy endpapers.

What series is The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk part of? I have seen copies for sale with a 1979 and a 2007 date.

It was published by EP in 2007 as part of the 2006 Reader's Choice set.

The book was originally published in 1951 and the original copyright was renewed in 1979.

Here's the copyright page.

>149 Tom41:: Reader's Choice I is the only collection to which I can attribute it, which explains the 2007 date. Not sure to what the 1979 copyright pertains. I've never seen it as part of another collection.

Edit: Ahhh ... Silent posted while I was still thinking ... so there you go.

I am hoping one of the resident experts can help with this. I almost bid on a CLFE copy of the Short Stories of Oscar Wilde today but at the last minute I compared the title page and front piece to the OOP version I have from the 100 Greatest series. They appeared identical with the same illustrator. Now I am aware that often the CLFE books were lifted directly from a Heritage Press version with no changes other than a leather binding getting slapped on and an often observed degradation in the quality and color of the illustrations, but I was NOT aware they did this with duplicate titles in both the 100 Greatest and the CLFE.

Can someone please confirm or refute whether or not the two versions of Oscar Wilde's Short Stories are identical inside the covers between the 100 Greatest and the CLFE?

>152 UK_History_Fan:: This is, indeed, the case. In some instances the only difference is a change on the title page from the one series to the other, i.e. the wreath logo v. 'The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written' identifications, and in some cases a different cover design. There are a small handful of titles for which this is the case, The Short Stories Of Oscar Wilde being one of them.

> 153
Thanks for the quick response. I am glad I did not bid then since I don't actually care for the illustrations in the 100 Greatest copy I do have and it is in really good condition with no need for a duplicate or replacement.

Now I will just have to find someone with the CLFE version so I can read the Notes From The Archives. I seem to recall a topic with scanned notes but perhaps I am remembering a different forum.

Wail, do you know or remember of the top off your head which other books are part of the "small handful of titles" or can you link me to the appropriate post? I have never been terribly successful searching the topics for the post I want!

I haven't fact checked each of these but I believe the following are essentially the same publications between the '100 Greatest' and 'Famous Editions':

Billy Budd & Benito Cerino
Count Of Monte Cristo, The (consolidated into single volume for '100 Greatest')
Beowulf
Dracula
Les Miserables (consolidated into single volume for '100 Greatest')
Picture Of Dorian Gray
Pygmalion/Candida
Silas Marner
Tess Of The D’Urbervilles
Time Machine, The

Of course, the board designs were changed for most of these, Beowulf being an exception that comes to mind, the small dragon cover edition having been used for both collections. Also, frontispieces may have been added to those that were abducted by the '100 Greatest' from the 'Famous Editions' collection. The additional twenty-five '100 Greatest' books, conveniently for E/P, happen to be where much of the overlap occurs. The Short Stories Of Oscar Wilde is the only title that comes to mind that seems to have been originally printed for the '100 Greatest' and then added to the 'Famous Editions' collection.

Of course, the duplication of publications in the '100 Greatest' is not limited to the 'Famous Editions'. There are duplicates in 'The Great Books Of The Twentieth Century', Brave New World coming to mind, as well as 'Masterpieces Of Science Fiction', 'Masterpieces Of American Literature', as well as numerous collected works sets.

I think that Carlyle's French Revolution was originally produced for the 100 Greatest Series and then resurfaced in the Famous Editions Collection.

>156 Quicksilver66:: Really? Do you have any evidence to substantiate this? I have never seen anything that has given me that impression. In fact, I don't think The French Revolution is or has ever been part of the '100 Greatest'.

I read something in the introduction to my Famous Editions copy of the book. I will look it up over the weekend.

Thank you Wail that is a good list to have since I already own the CLFE versions of Billy Budd, Beowuf, Les Miserables, Count of Monte Cristo, and Pygmalion, as well as the 100 Greatest for Tess, Silas, and the Time Machine. So now I can edit my wish list accordingly.

As for Dracula, this one surprised me since the CLFE version always sells for nearly twice as much! Do you know if the same interior/illustrations were also recycled for the bat-covered version that was part of the 3 book horror collection (which I recently acquired)?

As for The French Revolution, I am nearly certain this was never part of the 100 Greatest (nor would it belong in that series) but since I don't own the CLFE version I will be curious what David read there. I do own the 3 volume set that was published a few years ago and sold as a separate set apart from any series. I've always wondered about that CLFE version: is it abridged, how do the illustrations compare to the 3 volume? It is not a particularly large book so I am not sure how 3 volumes get condensed to one (admittedly it was more a case of one volume expanding to three given the order of publication).

>159 UK_History_Fan:: Yes, UK_History_Fan, the introduction and the illustrations are the same for both the 'Famous Edition' edition and the 'Classics Of Horror' edition, the latter of which is the version with the little bats; part of the three volume companion volume set of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Phantom Of The Opera.

Of all the same E/P publications issued with different cover designs Dracula is among the most difficult for which to choose a favorite. There are three: the black edition with the coffin shaped diamond on the cover, which is the 'Horror Classics' edition as well as the '100 Greatest' edition, the red edition with filigree bat motifs that are puzzled together to make a seemingly nondescript flourish, which is from the 'Famous Editions' collection, and the black edition with the matrix of small bat icons, which, as noted above, is part of the 'Classics Of Horror' set.

Personally, my favorite is the 'Famous Edition' edition simply because the relevance of the design is so subtle. I had seen the book many times before I realized the flourish was actually a pattern of bats. Also, while black is certainly an apropos color for Dracula, the blood red color of the 'Famous Edition' version may be even more so. I presume others agree with me and that that is why this edition generally sells for more than the others, though the others are catching up in price. The 'Classics Of Horror' edition is not as subtle, but is part of a companion set and the three volumes look splendid together on the shelf. I would either have to have none of the 'Classics Of Horror' collection, which is possible as all three titles are available in other designs, or all of them, which I happily do. Finally, the '100 Greatest'/'Horror Classics' edition is very cool too, given the clever design of the simple diamond shape, which you might expect as a flourish on any other publication, stretched into the coffin shape of Dracula's diurnal abode. It is not as subtle as the 'Famous Edition' edition, but is still quite clever, in my humble opinion.

>160 wailofatail:

I believe there is one other small difference in the versions of Dracula. The current "Horror Classics" edition has a frontispiece which is only "supposed" to be included in that edition ( I don't know since I don't have any of the others). I'll try to post a picture one day, but it basically portrays Dracula with a bat-like Nosferatu look carrying a woman in his arms.

>161 Arknight:: I believe the Frankenstein edition of the '100 Greatest' that was abducted from the 'Horror Classics' edition includes the color frontispiece that was commissioned for the 'Horror Classics' collection, (can anyone confirm this?) so I wouldn't be surprised if the Dracula edition does as well. I suppose when E/P advertises artwork specially commissioned for such and such a set, it doesn't mean that it will forever be exclusive to that set.

As always, great info experts! While I agree with Wail that independently the Famous Editions Dracula is the most attractive and desirable to own, I will no longer pursue it now that I know the interior is the same as the 3 vol set I already own. At least Dracula in this set is my second favorite cover in the EP versions :-)

> 155
Wail, you mentioned also Brave New World as being a duplicate title (I have it as both a 100 Greatest and a Great Books of the 20th Century). Do you know if these are identical copies? I think I have only seen the one cover so if the interior is the same, then I would just as soon grab the 20th Century version to get the Collector's Notes. I have a weird obsessions for these even if they are not always uber-informative.

>164 UK_History_Fan:: I have the '100 Greatest' edition, not both, but I've never seen anything that would give me any impression that they are different.

> 157

I have had a chance to look at my Famous Editions French Revolution now. It does not say that it was ever a part of the 100 Greatest Series. I think what confused me is that the book was originally a EP book then reprinted as a “Famous Edition”, which seems a little strange. That’s how I read the Notes From The Archives which talks of “our 1956 edition”.

>166 Quicksilver66:: The 1956 edition probably is referring to the LEC edition. Many of the 'Famous Editions' were adopted from this club when E/P bought the rights to them. The E/P single-volume edition of The French Revolution, to the best of my knowledge, has always been a 'Famous Edition' title.

Actually, 1956 refers to the original publication of this book by the Limited Editions Club.

I've always considered it strange that, after having bought the reprint rights, EP sometimes refers to earlier editions as "ours" -- Is this a presumptious attempt to establish legitimacy by emphasizing continuity, or merely an example of what we might today refer to as a "copy and paste" error?

Ah, wailo...you posted while I proofed.

So, is there any way to get "real" publication dates for EP books, since some volumes have good copyright dates, some older LEC or HP dates and a few come with no dates at all?

Hemingway wrote about 100 poems. Does anyone know which, if any, of the books in the Hemingway set contain these poems?

>171 Tom41:: I haven't read them all, Tom41, but I don't think any of them do. (Now, after waiting two and a half days for someone more knowledgeable than I to respond, someone is sure to jump in and correct me.)

"That said, most of the books on the guilded one's list were indeed published in the MoAL series (although I own quite a few books from the series that don't appear on his list). There are a few on his list that I can't verify, however:

Gone With The Wind (2-volume edition)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Little Men
A Fable (Faulkner??)
From Here to Eternity

With the exception of A Fable (which I don't believe I've ever seen in any Easton Press Edition), I own older EP Collector's Editions (not from any series) of the others. Were any of these published as part of the MoAL series?"

SilentInAWay, I'm moving your post here simply because the thread in which you originally posted it takes too long to load on my computer, given all the photos. (Not complaining, just explaining.) I'm glad that you are here, if nothing else for someone with whom to share my struggles. I too have puzzled over which collection to assign a small handful of titles, the majority of which you have identified above.

I have never seen a MoAL edition of Gone With The Wind, i.e. with the 'Masterpieces of American Literature' arc emblem on the title page. As I mentioned elsewhere, I haven't really looked for it either, as I always presumed that it was a stand-alone, double volume set, which is how I purchased mine.

There is the edition of For Whom The Bell Tolls with the bell on the cover. I've concluded this was the edition intended to be the MoAL edition, though it is identified on the title page as a 'Collector's Edition', rather than with the MoAL emblem. I am skeptical that it was really issued as a MoAL.

There is also the non-matching edition of Little Men, blue, I believe, with ornate, flourish frames on the cover. It, too, is identified as a 'Collector's Edition', rather than a MoAL. Again, I've drawn my own conclusion that this would have been the MoAL, except that it is not.

The same holds true for the green edition of From Here To Eternity with the diamond-shaped center flourish inside a rectangular-flourish frame, which was in existence well before the title was re-introduced with the red cover with the more linear rectangular frames as a 'Reader's Choice' selection.

I've never been able to conclude with certainty how these titles were offered for sale. I have never seen any literature on them other than the guilded one's list. Were they issued as stand-alone titles? Were they issued to subscribers of the MoAL even though they didn't include the characteristic MoAL arc emblem? (I did receive titles as part of my 'Collector's Library of Famous Editions' that did not include the FE wreath emblem on the title page.) As far as the archives go, I keep these titles listed with the MoAL collection, despite my skepticism.

I have mentioned before two others that also fall within the purview of this puzzle: Ambrose Bierce's The Monk And The Hangman's Daughter and Ovid's The Art Of Love, pre 'Reader's Choice' edition. The former is also listed on the guilded one's list of the MoAL and the later on his list of the CLoFE, though neither bears their trademark emblems on the title page.

With regard to Faulkner's A Fable, I am certain that I had purchased a copy on Ebay but when I took inventory a year or so ago it was nowhere to be found. Interestingly, I do have a copy of A Fable from the Franklin Library. I think I must have purchased a Franklin copy misrepresented as Easton Press and never bothered to look closely enough at what I received; easy to do when you believe something exists and someone tells you, "here it is." Since realizing my mistake, however, I have never seen an E/P copy of A Fable nor believe that one exists.

So, my short answer to your question is, "I don't know."

"A Fable" was part of the 11-vol Faulkner set. Engineer-69 has the set on ebay now.

>174 Tom41:: Tom41, you are so right. I forgot about that. It was included in the matching Faulkner set, though I don't believe it was part of the multi-colored set. (Correct me if I am wrong.) Outside of that, however, I don't believe there is another edition of A Fable, i.e. a stand-alone 'Collector's Edition' or a MoAL edition.

Thank you for catching me on that. I knew that ... but I forgot that I knew that. =)

You are correct, the multi-colored set was ten volumes and did not include "A Fable". Engineer-69 has one of those on ebay also.

Here are my cover scans of the four books mentioned above (with the exception of A Fable)*:

   

None of these books are part of an EP series. The first two were purchased directly from EP in the early 80s; the second two were purchased second-hand much later, but do not indicate a series on their title-pages.

Is this (the third book) the edition of Little Men that you refer to above, wailofatail?

Also, Tom41, thanks for pointing out that A Fable was included in the 11-volume matching Faulkner set. I own the 10-volume multi-colored set and it never occurred to me to compare the volumes in the two sets (believe it or not, until your posting, I didn't realize that the two sets contained different books!!).

So, I will continue to assume that none of these books were ever issued with the MoAL emblem. Since our reasoning is inductive, however, we should continue to keep an eye out for counterexamples.

(*As I included these graphics in this thread, I was not deaf to your concerns about load time, wailo. I used the coverthing_dynamic feature of LT, rather than a reference to a stored image, so that LT renders a reduced image directly out of my catalog. This should happen very quickly. If I am mistaken, please let me know and I'll revise my message to indicate a smaller image size, or even remove the images altogether. I agree that this thread in particular should be able to be loaded quickly).

My lists of MoAL and 20th Cent. titles did not come from gilded-legacy, but from ebay sellers who purported to be selling the entire series and listed the titles. I have 57 titles in MoAL and 53 in 20th Cent, both containing "From Here to Eternity". I've never seen this one with the MoAL logo, but since the 20th Cent didn't have logo, the older green edition may be from that series.

I own 56 books from the MoAL series. If you subtract one copy of Call of the Wild (for which I own two MoAL copies--each with a different cover design), that makes 55. There are two books that were published in this series for which I own other EP editions: The Poems of Emily Dickenson and The Bridge of San Luis Rey.

So, with 57, my count equals yours, Tom41.

If you wish to compare lists, you can use the following link to view these books in my catalog: masterpieces of american literature. You will notice that I have not yet catalogued my copy of The Literary Works of Abraham Lincoln which is a recent purchase (although my copy from the Library of the Presidents can be found elsewhere in my catalog).

I am curious if our lists match.

The two books that I do not own in MoAL editions (the Dickensen and the Wilder) are listed on an official late-series list that I received directly from EP in the early 90s. The Dickenson has also appeared in earlier brochures that I received from EP. Although I have also seen these volumes described as being part of that series in descriptions of copies being sold on-line, I have not actually seen a picture of their title page with the MoAL emblem. I am extremely confident that the Dickenson was actually published in this series and reasonably confident that the Wilder was as well.

The more interesting questions, for me at least, is how many versions of this series were there and which books were included in each version? I know that there were at least three different line-ups. I have repeatedly chastised myself for not keeping my EP sales materials from the 80s -- for this would have helped a lot. Although quite a few of my books from this series were received from EP in the 80s, the earliest brochures and series lists that I still have date from the early 90s--shortly before the series was cancelled for good.

My list includes "From Here to Eternity"; otherwise, they are identical. I am going to take it off, since it fits better with the 20th Cent. series.

If I leave From Here To Eternity and For Whom The Bell Tolls off my list I come up with fifty-eight titles. Where is your copy of The Autocrat Of The Breakfast Table, Silent?

>177 SilentInAWay:: By the way, those are the editions to which I referred in my post and no worries about the pics. The page is loading just fine.

>181 wailofatail: The first book on page 2.

Silent and I have 56 titles and 57 books, counting "The Lewis and Clark Journals" as two. What additional ones do you have?

>183 Tom41:: I don't see 'Autocrat' in Silent's List. What am I missing? Anyway, have we concluded that The Monk And The Hangman's Daughter also is not from the MoAL. I think I counted that. If I exclude that I also come to fifty-seven books and fifty-six titles.

>179 SilentInAWay:: From which other collection is The Bridge Of San Luis Rey? I've only known it to be part of the MoAL.

>184 wailofatail: This is how Silent listed it:
Every Man His Own Boswell: The Autocrat of the Breakfast-table

"The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter" is an old German work which Bierce adapted and had published in the U. S. I have it with the Famous Editions, since it is on that infamous list from gilded-legacy. It has neither the FE nor the MoAL logo in it.

>186 Tom41:: Thanks. I see it now. Regarding 'The Monk', I have it listed as a 'MoAL', which I have sourced to Ebay, not very good credentials, but the best I had with which to work. I didn't realize it was on the infamous 'Famous Edition' list. It falls in that category with Ovid's The Art Of Love, which is also on that list, but also is identified as a 'Collector's Edition' v. 'Famous Edition'.

"The two books that I do not own in MoAL editions (the Dickensen and the Wilder) are listed on an official late-series list that I received directly from EP in the early 90s. The Dickenson has also appeared in earlier brochures that I received from EP. Although I have also seen these volumes described as being part of that series in descriptions of copies being sold on-line, I have not actually seen a picture of their title page with the MoAL emblem. I am extremely confident that the Dickenson was actually published in this series and reasonably confident that the Wilder was as well."

I can confirm these two titles are part of the MoAL collection as I have copies of them with the MoAL emblem.

188> Thanks, wailo. I was fairly confident that this was the case, but it's good to have the confirmation.

Is your Dickenson the one with the scallops & pinwheel frame, or the (I think) older one with Emily's portrait on the cover?

187> I have seen multiple copies of Hangman for sale that were described as being from the Famous Editions series (most recently this last August) -- yet I don't remember seeing this book on any of the lists or brochures supplied by EP while the series was in print (including when the series was introduced in 1983). The same goes with the MoAL series -- I don't remember ever seeing Hangman on any of EP's marketing materials for the MoAL.

185> My copy of the Wilder is one of those "Collector's Editions" that are not part of any series.

>189 SilentInAWay:: Scallops & pinwheel frame.

Can someone tell me who is the illustrator of the Famous Editions version of Black Beauty? (The black cover w/ running horse.)

>191 indigosky: The illustrator is Lucy Kemp-Welch.

192: Thanks, Tom! So, from what I can tell, all of the Black Beauty editions have the same illustrator then?

Okay, I know this has been discussed here before, but now I can't find it. What is the best thing to put between books to keep them from sticking together? I just had a horrifying moment when I realized that my two volumes of Crusades seemed virtually glued together. I was able to get them apart but a couple of spots of the cover pulled a bit. Argh!

>194 hamletscamaro:: This might be the link for which you were looking. As noted there, I would slip a piece of polyethylene or polypropylene plastic between the 'sticky' book and anything adjacent to it.

Well here goes several abridgement questions, since different members are experts in different things:

1) Is the EP version of The River War by Winston Churchill abridged? I am currently reading Volume I of the massive 12-volume biography of Churchill EP published in 1993. The first two volumes were completed by Randolph Churchill, his son, and the remaining volumes were finished by Sir Martin Gilbert. In Volume I, Randolph Chruchill comments on negative reactions to the length of The River War which evidently came out originally in 2 volumes and ran to over 1000 pages! The EP version of this book from any pictures I've seen looks quite thin. It was issued as part of the Library of Military History Series, I believe.

2) Democracy In America - I know the existence of a 2 volume red leather version published by EP. I have no info as to which series this appeared in, if any. My suspicion is that it was Books That Changed The World. I am not sure if there is also a single-volume edition, but I seem to recall one. Same question: which series did it appear, if it exists? Also, is the 1-volume edition abridged?

3) Doctor Zhivago - I know that a single volume edition was published as part of the Great Books of the 20th Century series, but I have also seen just as frequently a 2-volume version. Does anyone know which series the 2-volume version was published in or if the single volume edition has been abridged?

Any help to these questions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

>196 UK_History_Fan:: I think I can shed a little light on questions #2 & 3.

You are correct in your suspicion that the two volume Democracy In America was part of the 'Books That Changed The World' collection. I am not aware of a single volume edition. Often sellers unfamiliar with E/P books list just one book of the two volume edition, presumably ignorant of the fact that it is a two volume work. The Archives do indicate that E/P advertised a three title set referred to as 'Classics Of American Liberty', which included Democracy In America in the line-up, along with Common Sense and The Federalist. I'm not sure if this set was ever published, if it was a mini compilation of these three titles from 'The Books That Changed The World', or, if it was published, if Democracy In America was compacted into a single volume edition. My hunch is that they were the same editions as 'The Books That Changed The World', as I do not recall having seen any variants of these editions.

The two volume edition of Dr. Zhivago was part of the 'Great Books Of The Twentieth Century' collection as well. I don't believe that the single volume edition is abridged. Most likely, the print, margins, and paper thickness have been modified to fit it into a single volume.

FWIW, prior to the introduction of the 'Great Books of the Twentieth Century' series, the two-volume edition of Dr. Zhivago was at one time available from EP in a collector's edition (that is, not as part of a series).

>198 SilentInAWay:: I may stand corrected. I was not aware Dr. Zhivago was offered as a stand alone. The only collection in which I have ever seen it advertised is 'The Great Books Of The Twentieth Century', so I presumed the two volume edition came from there. More likely, in lieu of your post, the two volume edition was offered stand alone and then condensed into a single volume for the 'Great Books Of The Twentieth Century' collection, as was Gone With The Wind.

> 197 - 199
Thanks for the replies. Does anyone own The River War ?

>200 UK_History_Fan:: Yes. I just took a peek at my copy and there is nothing to suggest that it is abridged. It is not a terribly thick edition but the type is a bit on the wee side relative to most E/P publications.

> 201
Thanks wail, this has been on my wish list for a while but I don't want to own an abridged version. How many pages is it?

I pulled out my copies of Doctor Zhivago:

  

This is a 1986 "Collector's Edition" (purchased directly from EP in 1986), published by arrangement with Pantheon (it's not a LEC reprint!!). The book was translated by Max Hayward and Manya Harari. Included at the end of volume two are "The Poems of Yurii Zhivago" (about 40 pages, translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney).

Specially-commissioned full-page glossy frontispiece in volume I, and a two-page glossy illustration appears immediately before the title page in volume II. The Publisher's Preface indicates that the "frontispieces" are by Richard Sparks and that the cover design (by Jonathan Talbot) was "inspired by a 19th-century book cover in the Kremlin's collection."

For those of you who don't know, Sparks and Talbot are (in my mind, at least) EP's dynamic duo, supplying frontispieces and cover designs for countless books over the last 3+ decades. It would not surprise me if at least half of the first-time offerings in this years Reader's Choice set have either a Sparks frontispiece or Talbot cover (although Talbot has done both frontispieces and illustrations for EP as well).

> 203
Silent, that is very helpful info, thanks for sharing. Am I to assume by implication that there are no other illustrations in the 2-volume Doctor Zhivago other than these frontpieces?

How does that level of illustration compare to the Great Books of the 20th Century edition?

This has been on my wish list a while (with the possibility of purchasing either the Folio or Franklin Library edition instead) and I have always wondered whether I should get the 2-volume or 1-volume versions.

>195 wailofatail:, Thanks Wail. I'm a little embarrassed that you gave me my own thread. I'll try the mylar. I may also see if i can find some thin polypropylene foam sheets that have a little more substance and should be easier to handle and ensure that there is a small gap between the books so they don't stick.

>202 UK_History_Fan:: UK, the book is two-hundred-ninety-two pages plus a five page appendix.

> 206
Wow! I wonder how the original printing was 1,000 pages over 2 volumes if the EP version is only 292 pages? That would seem to indicate an abridgment. Most Edwardian-era books were not oversize print (font size) to my knowledge.

>207 UK_History_Fan: You ought to check out Abebooks starting with the highest priced The River War. In summary, the original was two volumes, about 1000 pages, published in 1899. Churchill revised and abridged it in 1902 to one volume of 381 pages. All subsequent editions have been based on the 1902 abridgement.

> 208
Mystery solved! Thank you Tom, as always you are a wealth of info! It sounds like Wail's copy is based on that 1902 abridgment then. Personally, I don't think the subject deserves 1,000 pages, possibly not even 200, but I have a thing about abridgments that are not the author's responsibility. For example, I have no objection to the one-volume abridgment of Sir Martin Gilbert magisterial 12-volume bio of Churchill. I indeed own both in EP versions.

I just picked up a copy of the EP edition of Hiawatha and must say that I agree with those who have raved about this book in other threads.

There is an interesting quirk to this volume, however, about which our resident experts might have something to say. The words "Bobbs Merrill" are gilt-stamped onto the lower region of the book's spine--just above the E/P logo. I have never known Easton Press to include the name of another publisher on the spine of one of their books (let alone in conjunction with the E/P logo). To add to the mystery, there is no mention of Bobbs Merrill anywhere in the interior of the book -- only Easton Press is mentioned on both the title and copyright pages. Has anyone ever seen anything like this on another EP-published volume?

>210 SilentInAWay: Phd's will be offered to write about this in the future :-)

> 210 Why don't you Google it?

>212 Tom41: Already did. The original publisher of this book (with Fisher's illustrations) was...surprise!!...Bobbs Merrill. Interestingly, the EP edition isn't advertised as a facsimile of the original edition -- at least not on their Web site, which only mentions that it contains the vintage illustrations. If this book was printed as part of an arrangement with the original publisher (which shouldn't be necessary for an edition originally published in 1906), you would think that it would have been mentioned on the copyright page, right?

Wait--wasn't there a brochure? I'll have to dig through my old mailings. At any rate, the cover is clearly based on that of the Bobbs Merrill edition (although there are enough tweaks that show that it wasn't being copied exactly).

So...this book is a facsimile...kind of...but not really?

At any rate, I still think it's odd that EP included the original publisher's name on the spine, especially since they haven't done this for the DLE facsimiles.

Obviously, I have too much time on my hands...

Does anyone know the item number for the EP audio tape set of the 100 Greatest?

I recently acquired "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells. I also have "The Island of Dr. Moreau", "The War of the Worlds", and "The Time Machine". I know I still need to get "The First Men in the Moon", but other than that, are there any other books by H.G. Wells published by EP?

>215 Arknight:: Easton Press published Tono-Bungay by H. G. Wells as part of the 'Collector's Library Of Famous Editions'. That is the only other H. G. Wells title of which I am aware.

This question is similar to the thread about Dante's Inferno, etc. Does anyone happen to have both copies of "Paradise Lost" published by EP, that could give a comparison?

The 2 versions that I know of are that in the 100 Greatest series, and the version illustrated by Dore. The Dore version is quite a bit more expensive, but if the illustrations are worth it, it would still pique my interest. I was also wondering if this might be one of the EP "republished" books from Chartwell, etc.

217: I don't have the Dore PL, but if I recall correctly it is a Chartwell book.

I'm pretty sure that John Milton's Paradise Lost (the title of EP's Dore-illustrated edition) was designed as a companion to Dante's Divine Comedy (again, EP's Dore-illustrated edition).

The Dante is, for sure, a Chartwell reprint. I can only assume the same for the Milton. As you can see, the two books are the same size and share a similar cover design...

Paradise Lost, the version published as a companion volume more or less to the Divine Comedy, is also Chartwell reprint. I own both. I actually have only objected to the Chartwell Poe's Raven. The others are not untypical of EP quality.

Forgive my ignorance but what makes the Chartwell reprints so undesirable? i would blindly assume EP with Dore illustrations would be a good thing .

The Chartwell reprints only have an EP cover. They are not reprinted by EP but are published by Chartwell and recovered by Easton.

>221 sscandyman: Cheaper paper, poorer quality prints. Not horrible books per se but not of the quality worth a fine binding. I have bought Chartwell books on their own as good bang for the buck (they can be found very cheaply - say less than $10).

One more than a couple of occasions I have seen an E/P edition of The Dead Zone available for sale with a slip case. It is the same edition of The Dead Zone issued as part of the 'Masterpieces of Science Fiction' collection. The slip case clearly was manufactured for a copy of The Dead Zone as it has the title in gilt stamped on it. Does anyone know any more about the origin/history of this book. Does the slip case belong to the E/P edition or has someone substituted an E/P book for another that originally came with a slip case? Or was this book offered for sale individually with a slip case? Or was this book offered for sale with a slip case to a particular group, such as the Stephen King fan club or something?

224: I've never seen a slipcase for this book, or any other book from the MoSF. I would be interested to hear about this, and see some pics.

I love Sir Walter Scott! I believe the only title I still need from EP is Kenilworth, which I know has been published in the past and is being republished in the new Reader's Choice series. I also have Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, and The Talisman. Are there any others I've missed that might have been published by EP in the past?

Hmm... That's all that come to mind. I know an edition of Waverley was published by the Limited Edition Club; yet, although EP owns the reprint rights to this edition, I don't recall having ever seen a copy actually printed by EP.

Ironically, Waverley is the only novel by Scott that I've actually read (although I own all four EP editions that you mentioned in message #226). I'll definitely have to do something about that one of these days...

Franklin Library published a full leather bound edition of Waverly, illustrated by Godefroy Durand.

Full leather? I have a quarter-bound leather edition from Franklin that is most unimpressive and that I clearly overpaid for (based on recent second hand sales). The illustrations are muddy, smudgy and blurry and overall it feels rather cheaply constructed (as compared to other Franklin Library full-leather books, though likely still superior to standard trade hardback). I thought I did extensive research on it before purchasing and never found a full-leather version by Franklin Library or Easton Press. So now I am left with a hodge-podge of 1 quarter-bound Franklin, 1 Folio Society, and 1 Heritage Press. Ugh.

Clearly my research should have involved a quick email to you Tom given your encyclopedic knowledge of Franklin publications, but I don't think I was a LT regular back then.

>230 UK_History_Fan: It is part of the 25-vol. extension to the 100 Greatest. The complete list can be found in the FL Group

>222 hamletscamaro: & 223

So does the EP reprint of the Chartwell Paradise Lost have a different paper-type than their usual books, such as those in the 100 Greatest? I would assume that even if they are rebinding something from another publisher, they would still use their own usual materials.

>232 Arknight: No, EP buys another publishers unbound book and slaps a leather cover on to it. No EP materials have to be involved except the Saderra pigskin leather binding. This situation is why most of us would like for EP to note whether a book is printed and bound by them or just bound.

In some cases -- such as some of the titles from Dorling Kindersley (DK) -- these EP-bound books that were printed by other publishers can be very nice (high quality paper and illustrations, etc.). In others (such as the Chartwell Raven), not so nice. Either way, EP's name will typically not appear anywhere inside the book (although the E/P logo may be stamped onto the spine), so even the nicer books may disappoint those who are specifically collecting EP editions. This practice is used for nearly all of those EP publications that members of this group refer to as "coffee table books."

EP also reprints (with permission) books whose copyright is held by other publishers. In this case, the book is actually printed by EP (not by the other publisher). For these books, the title page will typically list the publisher as Easton Press, with the necessary credit given to the other publisher on the copyright page. You'll find this practice used mostly for books that EP offers as part of a series (such as the annual Reader's Choice selections). Although these books can be officially considered Easton Press editions, they rarely include illustrations or introductions that were not included in the other publisher's editions (although a specially-commissioned frontispiece is often added).

>234 SilentInAWay: Yes, I have some very nice EP editions on high quality paper that EP only bound. I don't have a problem with EP choosing any of the listed methods, I just think they should tell us on the website and in the literature they send out so we can make an informed decision and not be disappointed.

>235 kdweber:

I couldn't agree more.

Not so much a question as an observation.

Tonight I was looking at some of my Mast of Fantasy titles. I was checking out the frontpieces and copyright pages. I opened Sheepfarmers Daughter by Elizabeth Moon, which I just read last year. Curious thing. The copyright page shows information from a different book, no mention of Elizabeth Moon, but instead, the copyright is by Peter Beagle. I am assuming it is from The Last Unicorn, however the other side of the page is the title page to Sheepfarmers Daughter. Very odd. Am wondering if anyone has ever noticed another example of something like this.

>237 Wootle:: Can't say that I have, though, quite frankly, I don't think I've ever paid any attention to the copyright page. Do you suppose it is a printing error?

237>

Interesting... My copy has the same issue (I suspect that, shortlived as the MoF was, all copies of this title had this problem). I never noticed...

There have been times when the copyright page of an EP reprint of one of the old LEC/HP editions lists a date that predates the existence of EP, yet corresponds to neither the dates of the previous editions, nor the date when those copyrights would legally would had to have been renewed. I've occasionally thought that the wrong copyright page might have been printed...

Silent, do you have a comprehensive list of titles and numbers for MoF? I've got Legacys, but it is lacking. I've emailed EP to get the flyer of titles, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. I don't have any of the info from when I was subscribed long ago.

There is an auction going for 3 vol LOTR and The Hobbit. It looked odd to me because the copy of Hobbit is larger than the other three volumes. Anyone ever seen this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220995731963?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984....

I emailed the seller and asked about the endpapers, but they ended up being silk. I thought they might be the Fantasy papers because the set looks to be much older than the ones I see all the time. I think I am going to have a big problem locating copies with the Fantasy endpapers to go with my series.

Sorry, W. I don't have a list, but I may still have some early brochures. I'll check tonight.

EP originally published The LOTR as a 3-volume special edition (not part of a series) in the 1980s -- well before the MoF series was introduced. The same goes for The Hobbit (which, although it was clearly designed to be a companion volume, had a slightly larger cover and was not part of the LOTR set).

I still own my copies from the 80s, as well as the more recent 5-book set (which postdates the MoF series) in which The Hobbit is the same size as the other books.

The LEC edition of The Invisible Man was published in 1967, so the EP Famous Edition was merely reprinting the original copyright.

The case of Beowulf is a little more obscure. The 1952 LEC edition of this book was (according to The Limited Editions Club & Heritage Press Imagery web site) actually a reprint of a much earlier "Heritage Press exclusive" (from 1939?). If this is true, then the 1967 date in the EP Famous Edition marks the date when the original copyright for that edition was renewed (28 years after initial publication).

So, both of these kinda make sense according to EP's pick-one-or-two-of-these-dates-and-print-them approach to copyright pages.

I remember seeing a few instances, however, where EP listed old copyright dates that don't seem to map to any of the previous publications of that book (at least not dates that I was able to trace). These are what I was referring to in #239 above. If I stumble across any of these again, I will list them here.

I have recently noticed the Folio Society's 4 volume edition of Plutarch's Lives on sale and decided to see if EP had ever published these. I have found a few references to a 2 volume edition released by EP at one point. Does anyone know if the EP edition contains the complete work of Plutarch? I am assuming that it does and was just published by in 2 volumes as opposed to the 4 from FS.

>244 Arknight: Hard to believe it's not abridged. If the EP version is based upon the 8 volume LEC version that would make two very fat volumes.

>245 kdweber:

Ken, I suspect it's based on the Heritage Press version of North's translation of Plutarch, which was, in fact, a selection of the complete LEC edition ("Containing the most popular of the biographies") in two rather chunky volumes. I actually like the Heritage edition a lot and generally consult it rather than the LEC edition, unless I'm only interested in one biography.

>246 Django6924:: For what it is worth, I can confirm that the E/P editions, part of the 'Collector's Library of Famous Editions', are indeed based on translations by James Amyot & Thomas North.

>245 kdweber:: For what it is worth, I can confirm that the E/P editions, part of the 'Collector's Library of Famous Editions', are indeed "very fat" (or, if you prefer Django's lingo, "rather chunky").

So, fat and abridged. Is the EP edition illustrated? What are peoples thought on the Amyot/North translation? I've got an old (1859) five volume set translated by Dryden/Clough which I find quite dull.

>249 kdweber:

Ken, if the EP is a reprint of the HP edition, which I think it must be, there are portraits of the various Greek and Roman notables which were borrowed by the HP from the Nonesuch edition of Plutarch. Also, there are W.A. Dwiggins' (who designed the LEC edition) characteristic ornamental flourishes at the chapter heads--in the LEC these are multi-colored but B&W in the Heritage version.

The North translation is the Plutarch of Shakespeare, and if you read North's Plutarch you will, if you are familiar with Shakespeare's Greek and Roman plays, hear many echoes of North's prose. I know there are many who consider reading Elizabethan English anathema--or at least too much work to be worth the effort--but I personally love the sonority of the language, and being constrained by Plutarch's somewhat flat style (by flat I mean it is very sparse in its use of literary devices and figurative language), North's prose requires much less effort for the modern reader than does Florio's Montaige or Golding's Ovid.

The two volumes from the Collector's Library of Famous Editions do indeed contain the (black and white) portraits and "ornamental flourishes" from the Heritage Press edition. The page numbering is continuous between the two volumes -- there are 1926 pages in arabic numerals, preceded by an introduction of 49 pages (numbered separately using roman numerals).

This is (as kdweber and Django6924 surmised above) a leather-bound reprint of the Heritage Press abridgment of the complete edition commissioned by George Macy in 1939 (and published by the LEC in 1941). The whole story is told in the "Notes from the Archives" included with the EP edition:

The resulting 1941 edition contained all forty-eight biographies, occupying nearly 4,000 pages of text in eight volumes. In 1954 we again called on Roland Baughman, who in the meantime had become Head of Special Collections at the Columbia University Library. This time his task was to select "the subjects which represent not only supreme historical interest in the subject, but also Plutarch and North at their very best." The happy outcome was a set of two volumes, running to about 2,000 pages and comprising twenty-eight lives (with their fourteen respective comparisons) that give the modern reader the most interesting of all the biographies that Plutarch composed.

I suspect that I am not alone in wanting excellent notes such as these for EP's more recent publications...too often nowadays, EP leaves us to our own devices, providing very little documentation of a venerable edition's provenance.

Here are my scans of the covers. Actually, it's the same cover displayed twice -- it seemed odd to me to display only one cover when there are two volumes (this silliness on my part is not without precedent).

 

If you'd like to see a larger version of this cover, click one of the images to go to the Book details page for that volume. Mouse-over the picture in the upper-left corner of that page and then click on the magnifying glass when it appears.

Thanks to all of you that provided this information. I have decided to get the EP edition and will be purchasing it within the next few days.

Reading Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire just makes me want to go further down the rabbit hole!

I recently picked up a copy of Faulkner's A Fable in an Easton Press edition. This volume, however, does not have the same cover as the books in the 11-volume set offered by engineer-69 on ebay. I'm guessing that my book is from a different generation of that same set. Can anyone verify this?

Here is my cover (I don't have a photo of the spine, but it's different from those shown in engineer-69's picture):

>253 SilentInAWay:: We had a conversation previously in which we discussed whether this book was available as a stand alone edition. I seemed to recall that I had purchased one at one time but then couldn't find it later. This is it. I have it attributed to the 'Masterpieces of American Literature' collection, based on a list borrowed from another seemingly knowledgeable collector who had it catalogued as such, even though I know it does not include the 'MoAL' emblem on the title page. While I am not 100% certain of the origin of this edition, i.e. 'MoAL', stand alone offering, or some other combination offering, I am certain it is not part of any other 'William Faulkner Collection'. I've seen this book at least a few times in this format and never any of the others.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the list from which I borrowed their provenance. Others he had similarly catalogued that do not include the 'MoAL' emblem where For Whom the Bell Tolls with the bell on the cover, The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter, and The Bridges at Toko-Ri. I think you had mentioned that E/P advertised For Whom the Bell Tolls as an individual offering, so perhaps these were sold similarly so. It is also plausible that E/P sold these to subscribers of the 'MoAL' series towards the end of their subscriptions even though they weren't specifically published for that series, as they sold me books as part of my 'Famous Editions' collection that did not include the 'Famous Edition' emblem toward the end of my run on that series. This might explain why this other collector had them catalogued as 'MoAL'.

Anyway, thank you for finding my lost book. Please send it to me at your earliest convenience.

...thank you for finding my lost book.

I hope it doesn't bother you that I removed the shrink-wrap...

>255 SilentInAWay:: I suppose you attached the bookplate and signed your name on it too, after you applied your embossing seal to the FFP? Curse you!

>256 wailofatail:

Nope. I just signed my name...in ink...on the upper-right hand corner of the half-title. Unfortunately, I mispelled it -- so I scratched it out and wrote it again underneath.

It's kinda cute, though. Reminds me of those tattoos where the guy puts his girlfriend's name under a heart and arrow; then, after he gets a new girlfriend, he has her name tattoed right under the old one...

That's how much I love my books...

>257 SilentInAWay:: If any of those pages stick together when I get my hands on it I'm going to be really mad!

>255 SilentInAWay:-258: Aw, cut it out, you two scallywags!!

>258 wailofatail:: No, no -- not the Faulkner, at any rate.

>259 iluvbeckett:: Sorry, luv. I'll behave. ...wailo?

>259 iluvbeckett:,260: Sorry, luv. I'll behave 2.

Can anyone confirm whether or not the following titles from the 'Books That Changed the World' series have the special introduction that books unique to the collection have, which end with a statement indicating that the introduction was written specially for the 'Books That Changed the World' collection?

Art of War by Sun Tzu
Dhammapada
Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences by Galileo Galilei
Elements Of Geometry by Euclid
Federalist Papers, The by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
Influence Of Sea Power Upon History, The: 1660-1783 by Captain A. T. Mahan
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
On The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin
Prince, The by Machiavelli
Principia by Isaac Newton
Republic, The by Plato
Travels Of Marco Polo, The by Marco Polo
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
Walden: Life In The Woods by Henry David Thoreau

These books were all published under other series/collections, primarily the '100 Greatest' and 'Science Classics', but also the 'Library of Military History' and the 'Library of Nautical Classics'. I want to know if E/P simply sold books created for other collections to subscribers of the 'Books That Changed the World' series or if they are different from the others in that they include the special introduction common to the other books that are unique to the set.

I would be grateful for any help those of you who own these titles from the 'Books That Changed the World' collection can provide.

Please note that having purchased one of these titles second hand that does not have the special introduction, even though the book may have been represented as being from the 'Books That Changed the World' collection, is not definitive proof, as the seller could well have been mistaken.

Thanks all.

I received five of these titles from EP as part of a subscription to the 'Books That Changed the World' series (although I own older EP editions of most of the others).

Interestingly, of the five, only one of them -- Newton's Principia -- has the especially written introduction.

The other four -- The Art of War, the Dhammapada, Euclid's Elements, and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius -- all have introductions as well, but these introductions do not end with the statement that they were especially written for this series.

Does this help?

It does. It tells me that E/P did not include a special introduction for every book issued for the 'Books That Changed the World' series and it tells me four that were not, at least for a period of time, if ever. It also tells me that copies of Newton's Principia exist that do have it.

By the way, I am familiar with only one cover design for E/P's editions of Principia, so the cover of yours must be the same as that for the 'Science Classics' collection. Is this your understanding as well, or are you aware of a difference in the binding between the two by which one could distinguish one from the other without looking inside. (This also raises the question, does the 'Science Classics' edition of Principia include the notation regarding the introduction being specially written for the 'Books That Changed the World' collection? Anyone own a copy of Principia that does not include the notation?)

It would be good to know if anyone else has any of the others from my list that do have the special introduction, or if anyone can state definitively that they have other 'Books That Changed the World' issues from my list that do not have the special introduction.

Some time back a complete set of 'Books That Changed the World' came up for auction on eBay and my recollection was that the winner of the auction had the same user_id as one of our LT Easton Press Collectors group members. If they were indeed the same person, it would be great if he/she could shed some light on the matter.

Thanks Silent.

P.S. Your sardonic sarcasm was not lost on me. Nor is the irony of the readiness of he who declared, "I AM SPARTACUS," to pit me time and again against the lion merely for his sheer amusement. = )