Easton Press

I am interested in these books. Particularly the 100 greatest books written list.

Can anyone give their thoughts on these books: quality, size etc?

Are all of these books unabridged? - This last point is very important to me: I would never buy an abridged book if I could help it.

I think the quality is great! They do use a different paper than FS, but all their books are of archival quality and naturally acid free, etc...
while FS often publishes a series that have the same dimensions, the 100 greatest books from EP do not all have the same size. As for abridgment, in a few rare instances, some of the books are abridged. For instance, Les Miserables is abridged (I figured I should mention that off the bat to you :)
However, most of their books are not abridged. They're typically beautifully illustrated (many have color plates), and I enjoy them just as much as FS books.

cheers,

-astropi

They are nice books and I've bought several second-hand. Moby Dick and Huckleberry Finn are often cheap because they have been the introductory offers. However Easton Press are leather-bound. Is that a concern for you LesMis?

> 3

That is a pertinent question buckram.

I have anguished many times over this and other dilemmas. It is often impossible to avoid purchasing commodities that are completely animal cruelty free. Even fairtrade coffee will have been produced with an underfed mule and an exploited minor.

All my clothes etc and my food and household purchases are animal free, however even cloth or paper books have glue from animals often in the binding.
Where do you stop?

# 2, Astropi, which edition of EP Les Miserables is abridged? I have the 2004 EP 100 greatest books edition, and I don't believe it is abridged. (At least, it doesn't say it is abridged. Mine is 9.5" tall, 2.5" thick, and it contains 1,450 pages excluding the introduction and preface.) Has EP abridged more recent versions of the book?

5: I'd need to double check, but I was fairly certain my copy of LM was abridged, however I could be mistaken. Although one thing I did notice, is that they definitely short script the names. So if someone was called LesMiserables they would say "L---" which I guess is a way of saving space. Not sure what the literary term for this is, but they do that in my copy of LM. So maybe my copy is not abridged after all.

cheers,

-astropi

The use of the first letter of a name followed by a dash was a popular nineteenth century convention to indicate that the story is not about a real person or place. It is a way of emphasising that the work is fiction. Less common was the practice of masking dates (18--) with the same intent.

I would like to know the name of this convention.

>6 astropi: and 7
The same convention was used in non-fiction as a courtesy to people still alive.

Os.

>7 TheoClarke: "I would like to know the name of this convention."

Defamation. ;)

Love them. Don't have that many but they are works of art.

Many of the Easton Press books are beautifully done---I love them----but there are a plenty of titles done by Franklin Library, for instance Dos Passos "1919", "Henry James' Stories", Thomas Wolfe's "Look Homeward Angel" , "All The King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren, or "Stories" by Thomas Mann which are almost unbeatable in the quality of the leather, bindings, and paper. Worth an excursion to ebay---beware, though, the imitation "leatherette" editions also by Franklin Library. The one execption to that caveat would be the Franklin Mystery series, which is pretty cool.

beware, though, the imitation "leatherette" editions also by Franklin Library.

Interesting--I'd actually be interested in the leatherette editions, as I don't do leather. Do the sellers on ebay generally advertise a book as being leatherette, or do you have to figure it out yourself using publishing information?

More subtly, the masking convention is used to lend a work of fiction an air of truth, suggesting the character does indeed exist, but cannot be named, the circumstances being too terrible; scandalous; horrific etc

>12 Medellia: Franklin books are made in three forms: full leather, partial leather (just the spine is leather), and imitation leather. Oftentimes, sellers on ebay have no idea which they have. There's an easy way to tell, though. Only the full and partial leather books have attached silk bookmarkers. Ask the seller if this marker is present. If it isn't, then you have a leatherette book.

>11 gsadler: As for the Mystery Masterpiece set, gsadler, I have the entire set in the full leather version. They are pretty rare, but they're definitely out there, and light years better (in my opinion) in quality to the imitation set.

#14: Thank you very much for the info! That is tremendously useful.

Completely off topic, but one of the main reasons why I read this group is due to the fact that its members will use words like "oftentimes". Thankyou maisonvivante, for raising a small smile on a dreary December morning.

HTC

P.S. I don't know if it's the same elsewhere in the world but is anyone else driven to distraction by the insidious use of the word "of" instead of "have"?

Sorry for the aside - please feel free to ignore and return to the intended topic.

> 16

Actually I think "of" substitutes for the abbreviation "'ve", rather than the full "have", which is an interesting example of how language develops from the spoken rather than the written.

It used to bother me more, but I accept now that the best I can hope for is to feel superior until the inevitable time that the phrase becomes naturalised into the English language (like "fulsome", which is now used much more often to mean very full, rather than the traditional and useful meaning of ingratiating or over-the-top praise).

P.S.: to really hijack this topic, I wonder how many of us have a feline as an avatar. There must be at least three or four - and I haven't noticed any dogs. Does that say something about us?

I will also speak in favour of the early Franklin Library books. The quality of the early full leather editions is certainly equal to Easton Press.

>18 vat1sem: Well, mine is a monkey and I have 5 dogs so I guess I can't comment.

>18 vat1sem: As I'm sure you've all guessed from my screen name, my avatar is feline. Yes, there really was (she is sorely missed) a Fiona cat.

I wondered if any of you own or have seen the Easton Press Jane Austen books, and how they compare to the Folio Society editions. It looks like the Easton Press volumes have some very nice illustrations, but I have not seen them in person, just the glossy flyer from Easton. Thanks!

There are different flavors of Easton Press Jane Austen novels: there are the reprints of the LEC/Heritage Press editions, such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, both illustrated in monochrome by Helen Sewell, and there are volumes from the Complete Jane Austen from Easton with full-color illustrations by C.E. & H.M. Brock, reprints of the 1906 J.M. Dent edition of the complete works, a benchmark for complete illustrated editions.

Both are nice: the Brock illustrations are somewhat like the illustrations Niroot Puttapipat did in the recent Austen novels-- Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion--Folio has published. The older Folio Austens have wood engravings by Joan Hassall, who, despite her eminence in her field (she also did Folio's Cranford, which was in fact a reprint of the illustrations she did originally for the Cranford Harrap published in the 40s), has never struck me as very insightful.

I have the LEC Austens, and would like to get a set with Brock illustrations--unless Folio carries on with a complete Austen illustrated by Puttapipat, which I think I would have to take in preference to the older set.

Thanks so much Django,
I have been looking at the set with the Brock illustrations. It sounds like the illustrations are very nice and plentiful. I would also love the Puttapipat, illustrations, but some are already out of print at Folio. Maybe they will reprint and release as a set some day. Thanks again!

Elmaynard, I really love the Easton Press Austen set.

First of all, it's one of the few Easton Press sets currently in production that uses more than one color on the spine. The gilt letters are set off with black on red leather--beautiful! This process is very rare on Easton Press sets, as it adds significantly to production costs.

Secondly, the pictures by the Brock brothers are not only charming, but historically very important as well. These illustrations represent the first time the Austen novels were illustrated as a set in color. For that reason, Easton Press has done a great historical service in reprinting these original and significant illustrations.

Finally, the leather used on the set (at least on the one I have, which is admittedly several years old) is Easton Press at its best. The books feel great in your hands and they are the perfect size.

All in all, the Austen sets is one of Easton Press' better endeavors. I wholeheartedly endorse it.

Time for a Christmas Quiz.

I have an Easton Press publication which is untypical on two counts - first, it has a slipcase, and second, only the slipcase has any leather in the binding.

Can anyone guess what this is?

>28 boldface: Could it be one of Easton Press' rare audio offerings? I recall that they did a couple of cassette sets.

Nope!

>30 boldface:
Is it currently being offered or is this publication out-of-print? I'm realy racking my brain here.

Out of print.

In fact, I should like to know when it was published - probably in the 90s?

The Easton Press first edition library were cloth bound facsimiles with slipcases, but I didn't think the slipcases were leather.

Actually, it's part of a set called "Museum Editions of Easton Press". An enclosed slipcase/box contains a set of 19 facsimile paperbound booklets, comprising the 20 monthly instalments of Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers as originally published in 1836-7. (Part 19, as became usual, is a double number, containing instalments 19 & 20.) I got it from Abebooks in 2006. I don't know how many copies were printed but it has a "Certificate of Registration" with the name of the original subscriber on it, and serial no. 000381. (I suspect that at least two of the three leading zeros was bravado on Easton's part.) There is also an accompanying duplicated letter from Andrew Bein, Publishing Director, with a couple of paragraphs about the original serialization.

If anyone can tell me exactly when this was published, I'd be very interested to know.

>34 boldface: - no idea when they published it but if you ever decide to sell it, drop me a note... (or if someone sees one of those for sell). That's my favourite of the Dickens' novels and Dickens is one of my favourite writers...