Dust Jackets - Yea or Nay?

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Dust Jackets - Yea or Nay?

1astropi
Modifié : Mar 24, 2021, 7:32 pm

A recent post got me thinking about this subject - dust jackets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_jacket
What are your thoughts? Do you like to have them as part of your limited edition book? I specifically mention "limited edition" because I assume most of us purchase limited edition books be they Centipede Press, Arion Press, Suntup, Folio Society, etc. Anyway, didn't want to get too much into semantics, rather curious as to people's thoughts on them :)

Vote : Do you like dust jackets with your limited edition books?

Pointage actuel: Oui 7, Non 29, Sans opinion 6

2wcarter
Mar 24, 2021, 8:17 pm

I prefer slipcases or Solander boxes. Dust jackets are not important to me on fine editions, but I keep them if they are present.

3jroger1
Mar 24, 2021, 8:28 pm

I voted yes but the jacket art has to be something special. Jackets like those that come on trade editions wouldn’t do it for me.

4jveezer
Mar 24, 2021, 10:03 pm

I like any and all protection for books. If I soil something I would prefer it to be the box, the slipcase, or the the dust jacket. Doesn't matter whether it is private press or trade. If I buy a trade hardback, it better have a dust jacket. And I slap on a dust jacket protector before I read it. If it has a slipcase AND a dust jacket, I hope the slipcase isn't so tight that I can't put a protector on it. If it is, I'll put the protector on while I read it and take it off to reshelve it in the slipcase.

5JuliusC
Mar 24, 2021, 10:41 pm

Hate it, if you're the type of collector that try and maintain your books value it becomes another thing to worry about. I dont want to think about if it will tear or crease. I love the looks of a naked books especially the spine so I will take a slipcase anyday if i want protection.

6kdweber
Mar 25, 2021, 12:17 am

The problem with a dust jacket on a nice edition is that it then requires a mylar dust jacket to protect the paper dust jacket even it comes in a slipcase or solander box.

7Schlermie
Mar 25, 2021, 4:16 pm

I prefer the Suntup AE's for their dustjacket and overall look more than their numbered editions.

8ubiquitousuk
Mar 25, 2021, 4:24 pm

I out Mylar dust jackets on all my books, but I actually prefer books without dust jackets because I find the jackets get in the way when reading. If the only time you ever handle the book is when you take the DJ off, what's the point?

9punkrocker924
Mar 25, 2021, 5:24 pm

I am pretty new to collecting, but I've never seen a fine press book that comes with a dust jacket? Sorry if I'm just ignorant :) Are there any examples that anyone could point to?

10astropi
Modifié : Mar 25, 2021, 5:49 pm

>9 punkrocker924: typically letterpress books do not come with a dustjacket, but non-letterpress and "high quality" (what colloquially you call "fine" press although not technically) publishers such as Centipede Press absolutely come with dust jackets. In fact, I believe basically every single Centipede, Suntup Artist edition, and Subterranean Press books comes with a dust jacket. Easton and Folio never have dust jackets. Here is one example (note the pictures are not mine, I found them on the web)




11kdweber
Mar 25, 2021, 5:48 pm

>9 punkrocker924: It's rare but does happen. The Officina Bodoni LECs came in plain dustjackets. Also the Oxford University Press LECs which had dust jackets that matched the slipcase. The odd Arion Press; e.g. Williwaw. A Modest Proposal from the Officina Athelstane. Herakles by the Foolscap Press. These are a few examples that come quickly to mind.

12kdweber
Mar 25, 2021, 5:55 pm

>10 astropi: Older FS titles came with dust jackets but no slipcase. Not all CP titles have dust jackets; e.g. Kafka on the Shore. Didn't a few of the non-leather EP titles come with dust jackets that combined together to form a larger picture for the set?

13astropi
Mar 25, 2021, 6:00 pm

>12 kdweber: True, and the older CP titles did not come with dust jackets. However, nearly everything from CP these days does come with a dust jacket. Also true that the non-leather EP titles came with a dust jacket, but those are 10-sigma outliers :)

14wcarter
Mar 25, 2021, 6:46 pm

Some early LEC books came with decorative dustjackets (eg. Vanity fair) and matching slipcases.

15jveezer
Mar 25, 2021, 7:11 pm

All but one of my Letterpress deluxe limited edition books from Gaspereau Press and Larkspur Press have come with a thick letterpress printed dustjacket or wrapper. My Black Sun Press Les liaisons dangereuses did as well. Also the paper-wrapped Thornwillow editions, as the name implies. I immediately cover them with a dustjacket protector.

16abysswalker
Mar 25, 2021, 8:58 pm

>9 punkrocker924: the Libanus Press edition of Plato’s Symposium has a dust jacket, for another example.

17astropi
Mar 25, 2021, 11:50 pm

18punkrocker924
Mar 27, 2021, 3:09 am

>10 astropi: >11 kdweber: >16 abysswalker: Thanks! I guess I've been missing the dustjackets because I only get books that are letterpress (you've got to draw the line somewhere).

I've been wanting to get something from Foolscap, and now I want to find something with a dustjacket, so maybe I'll get Herakles and get two for one.

>15 jveezer: Good point on the Thornwillow paper wrappers, I hadn't thought of them that way, but duh.

19Glacierman
Mar 29, 2021, 1:47 pm

Well, I don't consider Centipede and Subterranean to be fine presses. They are specialty presses like their predecessors (Donald M. Grant, White Wolf, Underwood/Miller, etc.), so a dust jacket is par for the course and it is what it is.

True fine presses rarely use a d/j, and if they do, they are likely to be quite special. I take 'em as they come.

20averagegatsby
Mar 30, 2021, 10:07 am

>19 Glacierman: Although I personally agree with not considering Centipede and Subterranean Press fine presses, what are your thoughts on SP's lettered editions?

21Glacierman
Mar 30, 2021, 7:08 pm

>19 Glacierman: Before I answer your question directly, let me preface it with a few comments regarding similar productions. I have a copy of a wonderful Conan book, ... And Their Memory Was a Bitter Tree, published by Black Bart in 2008, in the limited, numbered & signed edition of 500, with illustrations by Brom, Frazetta and George Barr. There was also an edition of 100 leather bound copies and a regular "trade" run of 1750 copies. It is a wonderful book, lovely to behold. It is enclosed in a cloth-covered, heavy slipcase. The case ("binding") is the same heavy black buckram used for the slipcase. It has a full-color d/j. The text block is the same as the regular trade edition -- offset printed on a nice, sturdy machine made paper. I really like this book, but it is, obviously, not fine press.

Now, moving on to your question. As I do not own any SP books, I can only go by what I read on their website. If the description of the limited edition of Kushiel's Chosen is to be taken as what can be regularly expected, then what we have is a very expensive, limited, numbered/lettered, slipcased or tray-cased trade book, with a dust jacket. It is printed offset, it has a smythe-sewn (machine sewn) "binding," etc. The presentation is irrelevant, as you can dress up a pig and call it a race horse, but that doesn't change the pig. Fancy cover, tray case, slip case -- frippery that does not make a fine press. Not that the result is not worth owning, no less than my Conan book mentioned above, but fine press they are not.

22kermaier
Avr 1, 2021, 10:46 pm

>11 kdweber:
The dust jacket on Athelstane’s A Modest Proposal is really annoying to me — too nice to discard, but hides the truly lovely marbled boards!

23kdweber
Avr 2, 2021, 12:02 am

>22 kermaier: I so agree with you!

24unclebob53703
Mai 18, 2021, 1:55 pm

>4 jveezer: Agreed.