Question on LEC Moby Dick

I purchased a copy of the 1943 LEC Moby Dick that had a poor exterior condition, particularly the spine, which I understand from reading many posts on this site, is fairly typical. The insides were described as fine. My copy arived today and the insides are nearly perfect with one glaring exception. The illustrations have left a stain (same size and shape as the illustation) on many, but not all, of the pages opposite from them and stains through the page they are on. That didn't happen with every page either. If that description doesn't make sense, I can try to attach some photos.

My queston is this- Does ayone who owns this work have the same issue? Was this caused by the glue used to attach the illustrations or maybe the ink? It's bizarre because it isn't consistent. If anyone has answers, please let me know.

I had intended to rebind this one but not sure about doing that now with this issue. I don't think I will return it though because I don't see many copies available.

This is called offsetting, and it occurs frequently on 30s and 40s LECs, especially when the illustrations have been hand collored. You have a right to return the book, which I would do. The illustrations are not tipped in or glued to an illustrations page. What you are seeing is a clear varnish overcoat used to protect the illustrations. The bleed through you are seeing is caused by the varnish.

This book is usually found in poor shape and, it must be rebound if possible. The deterioration of the spines and boards is caused by the dye used to color these.

I wouldn't give up, just keep looking. Later on, offsetting problems were eliminated by printers using a drier in their ink. So there are two distinct problems - offsetting or deterioration of the sheepskin used to bind the book.

I rebound my copy as shown on my member's page. Both spines were missing and the boards had considerable flaking.

Rebinding in 1/2 leather (goatskin) will cost upwards of $500, which you don't wish to do on a copy which has offsetted. My advice is to return the book since it was not Fine as the seller listed it. Look for another copy after returning the book. They can be found if you keep searching. My copy was badly deteriorated, but there was no offsetting. To buy the book only cost $175.

Thanks fo the explanation. I've been slowly purchasing LECs for the past couple of years. My very modest collection includes a couple from the 30s, which I think are fabulous, but they are sans illustrations. I'd never seen this before.

I wonder what causes this to happen with some copies and not others. Your rebound copy is fantastic!

The copies not suffering from offsetting could have been because they were slipsheeted, but now the slipsheeting has been removed. The Ricart Quixote was printed a full ten years before Moby Dick and. it was slipsheeted. The School for Scandal is notorious for offsetting of the illustration onto the text pages because the illustrations were hand colored. I imagine that when a collector got an LEC copy, it was slipsheeted, but he didn't know what to do with it and, he removed the tissues. Another bad one for offsetting was the first Villon. When I bought my copy, I immediately notified the seller that offsetting had occured on all pages. He wouldn't take back the copy so I NEVER BOUGHT ANOTHER BOOK FROM HIM. This cost him a lot of sales since I have been a big buyer of LECs for 40 years.

I finally got a copy of the School for Scandal which only had one illustrtion which had offsetted. I have inspected a dozen or more which had offsetting and, I refused them all. Macy must have been aware of the offsetting problem or he wouln't have slipsheeted so many books. Even as late as the 1970s, while working printing advertising brchures, I encountered offsetting. It usually occured because of the ink used by the printer. I remember one book of about 12 pages which had bleed through on the back of every page where an illustration appeared. The printer maintained it was the fault of the paper I selected. I refused to pay for the job and, the printer did do it over. The second printing worked ok, so he must have solved his own problem.

SDB2012, I'd like to second leccol's advice. Patience is a necessary virtue when it comes to collecting older, rare LECs, and you should beware getting a copy with flaws such as the ones in your Moby-Dick--I have found that many times I have bought a copy with serious issues thinking, well, it's probably the best I can do, only to have a Fine copy show up later, and not being able to bid high enough to acquire it because I already had a flawed copy I would never get my money back on if I tried to sell it.

Sooner or later, a copy suitable for rebinding without the offsetting will show up; what's your hurry?