468 PGS? LESS THAN 800 PGS?

Noticed the newest Roth volume "Nemeses" has only 468 pages. If I remember correctly, LOA advertised that all volumes were 800 or more pages--in the first few years when Hawthorne and Melville were published. It was metioned on the back cover, right?

I have no problem with less-than-800 pages. Just wondering if this will continue. Some volumes have been around 600 or 700 pages in the last few years. Does less-than-800 pages - a recent change, right? - mean that more authors with less output will be published?

What authors have written a few works, definitely less than 800 pages or best works under 800 pages, that you think deserve LOA royal treatment?

Mary Wilkins Freeman?
Tille Olson?

If LOA is publishing Nemeses why not publish John Kennedy Toole's two books?

I have noticed more introductions...

Asher

According to Amazon, the volume is 598 pages. Quite clearly close enough to the 600 page mark to qualify.

>2 randomengine:
Are you saying close enough to the 600 page mark to to qualify for the 800 or more pages discussed in the OP? If not, qualify for what?

Os.

I'm sure David can offer official word, but I just assume this small volume is just the result of special circumstance. LOA made a commitment to publishing all of Roth's novels, and this last, small volume was needed to complete the project. Personally, I think Roth should have given us at least two more novels before selfishly deciding to retire.

Let me start off with some background, which by necessity I’m simplifying somewhat.

Asher is correct: when the LOA was founded, the plan (hope?) was to publish volumes of between 800 and 1600 pages—and this plan was advertised on the back covers for a number of years. That idea initially worked well: the first printings of LOA books were (and still are) sufficiently large to keep down the costs of printing each “unit,” so that the organization could sustain itself. The problem, which seems not to have been seriously anticipated at the time, was reprinting those same books after the first or second printing. The annual sales of many LOA titles after the initial printing are so small that it left us with two choices: reprint enough copies to last us for up to 30 (or more!) years or print in such small quantities that we would be losing significant amounts of money with every book we sold. A further technological complication: as printing needs changed during the last couple of decades, most binderies are no longer designed to manufacture books over 1,200 to 1,300 pages. (For several years, the signatures for larger LOA volumes had to assembled and collated by hand!) Longtime subscribers will recall that the two Benjamin Franklin volumes used to be one volume, and we actually found ourselves in a situation where it had become untenable to reprint that 1,600-plus-page edition.

In sum: in the short term, the plan worked well. In the long term, it was a recipe for disaster.

The LOA had in fact published volumes slightly under the 800-page threshold early on: the first was #46—the second Lincoln volume—in 1989, and there have been others since. But by the end of the 1990s, it was becoming apparent that the ideal page counts for LOA books, if we truly planned to keep them in print “forever,” were lower than the original concept.

Nevertheless, the average page count of LOA volumes published during the last five years (since #180) is still a remarkable 897 (912, if you include unpaginated pages and photo inserts).

Mattsya is also correct: the final Roth volume (which is, in fact, 468 pages—Amazon is wrong) is a special case, published both to complete the Roth edition and, more important, because Roth himself really wanted those four books to be published together—and separately from his other works.

All that said: Asher raises a good question/idea that has been frequently contemplated by the editors and advisors. Are there potential LOA volumes that could/should be published that might be “complete” with only 500 or 600 pages? Similarly, are there volumes whose costs (such as royalties) might be unfeasible at 1,300 pages, but might be plausible as two volumes?

We are still pondering this question. As far as I know, virtually all series volumes currently in production are in the 750- to 1,100-page range, so for the foreseeable future things will stay pretty much the same as they have been for the last five to ten years. But we’d certainly be interested in hearing your thoughts and suggestions for potential “shorter” LOA volumes.

DCloyceSmith and friends,

Here's my list of potential volumes that could/should be published that can be considered "complete" or just COLLECTED with 600 pages or less (I think):

((Of course, I haven't read all the works by these writers. I am just guesstimating that some of these authors haven't written a whole lot.))

I have included what would obviously be special volumes.

John Kennedy Toole - Two Novels (heard Neon Bible is not so good, so maybe no Toole volume)
Dime Novels & Penny Dreadfuls
Tillie Olson - Stories & Other Writings
American Writing on Music
American Writing on Art Movements (includes a picture of a painting, sculpture, etc.)
Ameen Rihani - Writings
Christopher Isherwood: American Writings
Walter M. Miller - Complete Sci-Fi Writings
Early American Novels (maybe three or four)
Susanna Rowson - Novels & Other Works
Zitkala-Sa - Stories & Other Writings
Brete Harte - Stories & Other Writings
Djuna Barnes - Writings
Walter Abish - Novels & Stories
Mary Wilkins Freeman - Stories & Other Writings
John Burroughs - Collected Writings on Nature
George Washington Cable - Collected Writings
Paul Monette - Memoirs (less tha 600?)
American Writing on AIDS
D'Arcy McNickle - Writings
Lorrainne Hansberry - Plays & Other Writings OR:
African-American Plays from the Harlem Renaissace to Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Mary Austin - Writings
Catherine Sedgewick - Novels & Other Works
American Writers Abroad: In Mexico & Central America
American Writers Abroad: In Africa
American Writers Abroad: In Asia
American Writers Abroad: In Europe
American Writers Abroad: In England
American Writers Abroad: In Canada
American Writers Abroad: In Australia & the Pacific
American Writers Abroad: In the Carribean
American Writers Abroad: In South America

That's from the top of my head. What are you suggestions???

This is fun.

Asher

I can't say any of those suggestions would tempt me with the exception of Early American Novels (if included W.G. Simms The Yemassee). I would like to see the following works in LOA editions, whether as individual "shorter" volumes or perhaps combined in a single volume of Civil War era fiction: De Forest's Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty and Albion Tourgée's A Fool's Errand.

> 5

Thank you for this fascinating explanation! I never cease to marvel at the intricacies (and dedication) involved in keeping the LoA going! And we are the lucky beneficiaries. Thank you!

One obvious candidate for a shorter LoA volume of complete works would be J.D. Salinger - I can't imagine his three books would fill more than 500-600 LoA pages. But I suspect there would be problems with rights in his case. And since you have two James siblings well represented, why not continue with a (slimmer) volume of Alice James's Diary, filled out with some letters?

> 6

I support a volume of Djuna Barnes.

Unfortunately, there probably isn't enough of Nella Larsen to justify even a short volume, LoA has already published Quicksand in the "Harlem Renaissance" edition, and there's already a Norton Critical of Passing. But if anyone could ever come up with that unpublished novel (the one written after the plagiarism scandal), it would be nice to get it published and to have a complete set of Larsen in one hard-cover volume, including all of the short stories as well as (for purpose of comparison) the Sheila Kaye-Smith story "Mrs. Adis" that was the subject of the alleged plagiarization.

> 6

I don't know all these authors, but I second your call for at least the following:

American Writing on Music
American Writing on Art Movements (includes a picture of a painting, sculpture, etc.)
Christopher Isherwood: American Writings
Walter M. Miller - Complete Sci-Fi Writings
Early American Novels (maybe three or four)
Zitkala-Sa - Stories & Other Writings
Brete Harte - Stories & Other Writings
Djuna Barnes - Writings
John Burroughs - Collected Writings on Nature
George Washington Cable - Collected Writings
D'Arcy McNickle - Writings
Lorrainne Hansberry - Plays & Other Writings OR:
African-American Plays from the Harlem Renaissace to Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Mary Austin - Writings

>5 DCloyceSmith:
I'd go for shorter volumes if it helps reel in Hemingway.