OT - Treasures, or possibly interesting items in our collections - new thread
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1housefulofpaper
Tales, Mysteries & Contrivances by Edgar Allan Poe. Introduction by Jill Lepore and illustrations by Brooklyn tattooist John Reardon. Thornwillow Press, 2020.
This is a book I learned about from the Fine Press Forum group. Thornwillow is a US press that produces letterpress books.
The book was offered in various bindings. I went for a more extravagant one - full leather.
I learned - after ordering - that the press has the aim of reintroducing the arts of bookmaking and bookbinding and the work is in essence done by apprentices. You can see the gilding is a bit rough.
This is a book I learned about from the Fine Press Forum group. Thornwillow is a US press that produces letterpress books.
The book was offered in various bindings. I went for a more extravagant one - full leather.
I learned - after ordering - that the press has the aim of reintroducing the arts of bookmaking and bookbinding and the work is in essence done by apprentices. You can see the gilding is a bit rough.
2housefulofpaper
Taking pictures of the inside of the book - the important stuff, really - is a bit tricky because this book's new, quite tightly bound, and doesn't open easily. It certainly doesn't want to stay open.
But with some help from Edward Gorey, here's a look at the decorated endpapers:
Here's the title page with a facing illustration by John Reardon. I think they suit Poe. They've got a rough-and-ready or impolite edge to them which isn't absent from Poe himself (for all his intelligence and erudition - but then the very fact that he doesn't hide these gifts marked him as "not quite a gentlemen").
Here's a close up of the title page. Showing off the letter press...
The opening of "Metzengerstein". To give you an idea of the size of the page and the size of the text block, the point size is actually rather small. I realised it was as if Penguin Books, in the 1960s or '70s, had offered a "large paper" edition of their standard A-format* paperbacks - if they were a pre Great War fine press outfit -on larger, better, paper stock and the concomitant huge margins.
* Penguins were slightly taller and slimmer than A-format, I think. Only by a millimetre or two.
But with some help from Edward Gorey, here's a look at the decorated endpapers:
Here's the title page with a facing illustration by John Reardon. I think they suit Poe. They've got a rough-and-ready or impolite edge to them which isn't absent from Poe himself (for all his intelligence and erudition - but then the very fact that he doesn't hide these gifts marked him as "not quite a gentlemen").
Here's a close up of the title page. Showing off the letter press...
The opening of "Metzengerstein". To give you an idea of the size of the page and the size of the text block, the point size is actually rather small. I realised it was as if Penguin Books, in the 1960s or '70s, had offered a "large paper" edition of their standard A-format* paperbacks - if they were a pre Great War fine press outfit -on larger, better, paper stock and the concomitant huge margins.
* Penguins were slightly taller and slimmer than A-format, I think. Only by a millimetre or two.
4alaudacorax
Very nice, even with the rough gilding.
I think that or the half-leather version—really don't know which I prefer—is my ideal format. A variety of them would be the quintessential shelf of books in the quintessential, old-fashioned, leather-armchaired study I've always hankered after—think M. R. James's private retreat.
Not so sure about that cover, though. Am I right in thinking it's a box rather than a slipcase? Don't know what I'd do with that.
ETA - Actually, for me the rough gilding adds an air of 'authenticity', somehow. I know that doesn't make any sense; but I can't explain it any better.
ETA, again - Perhaps it adds an air of uniqueness—like they've been custom-bound for you.
I think that or the half-leather version—really don't know which I prefer—is my ideal format. A variety of them would be the quintessential shelf of books in the quintessential, old-fashioned, leather-armchaired study I've always hankered after—think M. R. James's private retreat.
Not so sure about that cover, though. Am I right in thinking it's a box rather than a slipcase? Don't know what I'd do with that.
ETA - Actually, for me the rough gilding adds an air of 'authenticity', somehow. I know that doesn't make any sense; but I can't explain it any better.
ETA, again - Perhaps it adds an air of uniqueness—like they've been custom-bound for you.
5pgmcc
>4 alaudacorax: ETA - Actually, for me the rough gilding adds an air of 'authenticity',...
I felt the rough gilding could have been deliberate to give it a distressed and aged look; what some refer to as, "shabbby chic". I have always enjoyed the idea of setting up an antique manufacturing factory. "Genuine antiques, manufactured by our very own craftsmen. Tour the factory where our skilled workers add years to furniture before your very eyes."
As Groucho Marx said, "Sincerity is the key. If you can fake that you've got it made."
E.T.A. I just thought of a strap line for the antique manufacturing enterprise: "Aged without time."
I felt the rough gilding could have been deliberate to give it a distressed and aged look; what some refer to as, "shabbby chic". I have always enjoyed the idea of setting up an antique manufacturing factory. "Genuine antiques, manufactured by our very own craftsmen. Tour the factory where our skilled workers add years to furniture before your very eyes."
As Groucho Marx said, "Sincerity is the key. If you can fake that you've got it made."
E.T.A. I just thought of a strap line for the antique manufacturing enterprise: "Aged without time."
6housefulofpaper
>4 alaudacorax:
One of the drawbacks of paper sides - and here I'm thinking of my Shakespeare set from the Folio Society, which must be over 25 years old now (so I can plead youth rather than innate stupidity, I hope) - is that any oils from your skin can leave greasy marks forever. Full leather ought to be more robust in that regard, unless there's gilding or other decoration on the cover (Fabriano Ingres paper printed with a strap work design in metallic ink. It doesn't quite look as if someone's been eating chips off of it, but it still makes me wince).
Yes, the book (in this edition, anyway) comes in a protective "Solander" or Clamshell box. The Folio Society usually issue their limited edition books in these boxes. Upside - they do provide protection form UV light, dust, dirt and insects, and often include a separate commentary volume. Downside - they hide the book as they're protecting it, they take up even more precious shelf space than buying expensive books instead of paperbacks(!), and they can't help but look more like office box files than library treasures.
The uniqueness of the hand-bound volume, and whether imperfections add to it...the contrast between the inhuman perfection of mass production methods versus the obviously hand-crafted is something I've been aware of since childhood, without consciously being aware of it. Clearly I was a weird kid, but looking back
- I sometimes found printed type too off-puttingly rigid, and i think the fact that the speech bubbles in Marvel comics were hand-lettered really helped me "keep at it" when I learned to read.
- That the printing process erased all the signs of their human origins in the art - brushstrokes and different densities in the areas of solid black, corrections with "process white", pasted on caption and so on, I would have considered a good thing, and something I tried to emulate (without knowing how) when I did art in school.
- And yet sometimes the signs of imperfection in a book or comic were things I liked, even cherished, rather than got upset about: a comic whose cover must have been rained on before it got to the newsagent and crinkled as it dried, a Christmas annual with a crease in the cover (writing this, I realise there are instances where I didn't see the damage occurred only knew the thing in this fallen state. Interesting. And weird).
>5 pgmcc:
From what I see on the Folio and Fine Press forums here, not to mention AbeBooks prices, condition is everything and the book world doesn't want "distressed" books (it might be different if they're being used as set dressing though. Anyone else recently get an email from Penhaligon's, advertising some new perfumes, sorry scents, with a photo of tester packs with green books in the background that looked to be scavenged from local charity shops?).
Furniture though, hmm, sounds a bit Lovejoy to me... :)
One of the drawbacks of paper sides - and here I'm thinking of my Shakespeare set from the Folio Society, which must be over 25 years old now (so I can plead youth rather than innate stupidity, I hope) - is that any oils from your skin can leave greasy marks forever. Full leather ought to be more robust in that regard, unless there's gilding or other decoration on the cover (Fabriano Ingres paper printed with a strap work design in metallic ink. It doesn't quite look as if someone's been eating chips off of it, but it still makes me wince).
Yes, the book (in this edition, anyway) comes in a protective "Solander" or Clamshell box. The Folio Society usually issue their limited edition books in these boxes. Upside - they do provide protection form UV light, dust, dirt and insects, and often include a separate commentary volume. Downside - they hide the book as they're protecting it, they take up even more precious shelf space than buying expensive books instead of paperbacks(!), and they can't help but look more like office box files than library treasures.
The uniqueness of the hand-bound volume, and whether imperfections add to it...the contrast between the inhuman perfection of mass production methods versus the obviously hand-crafted is something I've been aware of since childhood, without consciously being aware of it. Clearly I was a weird kid, but looking back
- I sometimes found printed type too off-puttingly rigid, and i think the fact that the speech bubbles in Marvel comics were hand-lettered really helped me "keep at it" when I learned to read.
- That the printing process erased all the signs of their human origins in the art - brushstrokes and different densities in the areas of solid black, corrections with "process white", pasted on caption and so on, I would have considered a good thing, and something I tried to emulate (without knowing how) when I did art in school.
- And yet sometimes the signs of imperfection in a book or comic were things I liked, even cherished, rather than got upset about: a comic whose cover must have been rained on before it got to the newsagent and crinkled as it dried, a Christmas annual with a crease in the cover (writing this, I realise there are instances where I didn't see the damage occurred only knew the thing in this fallen state. Interesting. And weird).
>5 pgmcc:
From what I see on the Folio and Fine Press forums here, not to mention AbeBooks prices, condition is everything and the book world doesn't want "distressed" books (it might be different if they're being used as set dressing though. Anyone else recently get an email from Penhaligon's, advertising some new perfumes, sorry scents, with a photo of tester packs with green books in the background that looked to be scavenged from local charity shops?).
Furniture though, hmm, sounds a bit Lovejoy to me... :)
7alaudacorax
>6 housefulofpaper:
Solander ... I've learned something new today.
I'm ashamed to say the dirty fingerprints business hadn't occurred to me—good point.
The thing that really has me scratching my head is distressed electric guitars. Hah—having written that, I went to look for some to link and they seem to have quite disappeared from the market. Forget I mentioned it.
Solander ... I've learned something new today.
I'm ashamed to say the dirty fingerprints business hadn't occurred to me—good point.
The thing that really has me scratching my head is distressed electric guitars. Hah—having written that, I went to look for some to link and they seem to have quite disappeared from the market. Forget I mentioned it.
8WeeTurtle
This came up the other day among friends, but I'm reminded here as well that there used to be a process for opening new, hardcover books. My mom showed me as a kid. You start by opening the book in the middle and press the pages a little, and then you work your way back in small sections until the book opens more smoothly. I think it's meant to keep the spine intact and not have it go crooked or lose pages when a book is repeatedly opened only at the front.
My mom learned it from her mother. Her family was quite well off, and could afford to buy fancy books and such, or get photographs done. (We have heaps of old tin types and such around the place.) I'm going through our old books now, because we need to downsize. So far nothing is leaping out at me, but I did find a Daphne de Maurier hardcover copy of The Flight of the Falcon from 1965. Not that old, but it has the dust jacket still. I don't think I'll hang onto it at this point as I'm still listening my way through Rebecca.
My mom learned it from her mother. Her family was quite well off, and could afford to buy fancy books and such, or get photographs done. (We have heaps of old tin types and such around the place.) I'm going through our old books now, because we need to downsize. So far nothing is leaping out at me, but I did find a Daphne de Maurier hardcover copy of The Flight of the Falcon from 1965. Not that old, but it has the dust jacket still. I don't think I'll hang onto it at this point as I'm still listening my way through Rebecca.
9pgmcc
>8 WeeTurtle: 1965 was the publication year of The Flight of the Falcon. Your copy could be a first edition. If it still has the dust jacket and is in good condition you could be surprised at its value. There is one for sale on ABEBOOKS (UK) for £259.55.
10alaudacorax
>8 WeeTurtle:
Whatever you do, don't go near those online companies that buy second-hand books off you (I'm assuming they're as bad on your side as they are in the UK). I tried a couple, just for curiosity, with a book I know is worth over £100. They were offering me around 75p, if I remember correctly—less than £1, anyway.
Whatever you do, don't go near those online companies that buy second-hand books off you (I'm assuming they're as bad on your side as they are in the UK). I tried a couple, just for curiosity, with a book I know is worth over £100. They were offering me around 75p, if I remember correctly—less than £1, anyway.
11housefulofpaper
>10 alaudacorax:
When we (i.e. Reading, Berkshire) still had a commercially-run second-hand bookshop and not just charity shops, the owner would buy stock for 1/3 of what he'd sell it for.
Even so, £33 is a lot more than 75p!
When we (i.e. Reading, Berkshire) still had a commercially-run second-hand bookshop and not just charity shops, the owner would buy stock for 1/3 of what he'd sell it for.
Even so, £33 is a lot more than 75p!
12housefulofpaper
>8 WeeTurtle:
I found a different method online for opening newly bound books. I start with the covers, opening them just a little way, then a bit further, then a bit further, and so on, until (in theory) they open freely. The I move onto the book block. I didn't try to force the Poe book to lie flat, and that's why it wanted to close when I photographed it. I think I did enough to avoid cracking the spine, nevertheless.
I found a different method online for opening newly bound books. I start with the covers, opening them just a little way, then a bit further, then a bit further, and so on, until (in theory) they open freely. The I move onto the book block. I didn't try to force the Poe book to lie flat, and that's why it wanted to close when I photographed it. I think I did enough to avoid cracking the spine, nevertheless.
13WeeTurtle
>9 pgmcc: I've been looking these old books up on Abe. I don't think this is a first edition, going by the detail on the inside of the front jacket that reads "Book club edition" but I can double check it. It might be that I read the copyright date rather than the print date.
14WeeTurtle
>10 alaudacorax: Good to know! I've heard of such things for board games, etc., but haven't seriously looked into any of them. I think I'm going to make up a list of things that stand out and talk to a couple local bookstores that I've found.
15alaudacorax
>14 WeeTurtle:
AbeBooks is good for giving you a rough idea of what your books are going for, given that you get the editions right.
AbeBooks is good for giving you a rough idea of what your books are going for, given that you get the editions right.
16housefulofpaper
There's a supplement to the Thornwillow Press Poe. There was some upset that The Black Cat was omitted from the stories chosen to exemplify Poe's "tales, mysteries, and contrivances" (some of that upset was here, in the Fine Press Forum group). As a result, the press decided to print it as a standalone booklet.
Stupidly I decided NOT to add it to my order (the book was funded via a Kickstarter and I ordered it pre-publication). Of course I ended caving in, and ordering from the publisher just recently (so having to pay the full postage from the US).
Like the main book, this was available in different bindings*, but this time I went for the cheapest option, which was loose paper wrappers.
* in fact, according to the website the text was printed on different papers, so it isn't just the binding that's different.
Here's the front cover:
and the back:
The front endpapers ('scuse fingers):
The opening page of the story and full page illustration (again, by the tattooist John Reardon):
Slipping the cover off, and here's what the stiching looks like:
The press is also generous with popping some other small publications and printed ephemera in with your order: I also received a broadside about Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, a calendar for this month with a sphinx as an illustration or head-piece (hand stamped from a copper engraving) and a mandala design stamped on a piece of card.
Stupidly I decided NOT to add it to my order (the book was funded via a Kickstarter and I ordered it pre-publication). Of course I ended caving in, and ordering from the publisher just recently (so having to pay the full postage from the US).
Like the main book, this was available in different bindings*, but this time I went for the cheapest option, which was loose paper wrappers.
* in fact, according to the website the text was printed on different papers, so it isn't just the binding that's different.
Here's the front cover:
and the back:
The front endpapers ('scuse fingers):
The opening page of the story and full page illustration (again, by the tattooist John Reardon):
Slipping the cover off, and here's what the stiching looks like:
The press is also generous with popping some other small publications and printed ephemera in with your order: I also received a broadside about Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, a calendar for this month with a sphinx as an illustration or head-piece (hand stamped from a copper engraving) and a mandala design stamped on a piece of card.
17WeeTurtle
>16 housefulofpaper: That's pretty neat. :). I've never seriously thought about getting fancy book editions but as I'm trimming my personal collection, I'm thinking about getting the ones I really like at least in hardcover, or in formats longer lasting than paperback. I'd like a nicer copy of Frankenstein than my college copy scrawled with notes.
18housefulofpaper
>17 WeeTurtle:
You might find that the it comes down to it, your old paperbacks have too many memories, or just evoke a wave of nostalgia, for you to give up. I was trying to thin old just a small part of my collection recently and realised that for me, the late 1970's UK paperback of The War of the Worlds (the one with the "Jeff Wayne's musical version" tie-in cover!) is the definitive one for me.
On the other hand, for some authors, having their work in paperback didn't seem enough, somehow, and in at least two ways: is that all there is to collect/search for/acquire; but also put together on the shelf it seems to meagre given the importance of the author.
Of course it partly depends on that author's career longevity and production rate - a complete set of Philip K. Dick's fiction would be a substantial monument even if it only consisted of paperbacks, ditto Simenon, or Balzac. But representing Rimbaud, or Homer, with just a one or two books?
I'm full aware this isn't a 100% rational approach to the question!
(oh, and if you go down the small-press route you can console yourself with the thought that you're supporting small businesses and endangered crafts (from typecasting to paper making, etc.)
You might find that the it comes down to it, your old paperbacks have too many memories, or just evoke a wave of nostalgia, for you to give up. I was trying to thin old just a small part of my collection recently and realised that for me, the late 1970's UK paperback of The War of the Worlds (the one with the "Jeff Wayne's musical version" tie-in cover!) is the definitive one for me.
On the other hand, for some authors, having their work in paperback didn't seem enough, somehow, and in at least two ways: is that all there is to collect/search for/acquire; but also put together on the shelf it seems to meagre given the importance of the author.
Of course it partly depends on that author's career longevity and production rate - a complete set of Philip K. Dick's fiction would be a substantial monument even if it only consisted of paperbacks, ditto Simenon, or Balzac. But representing Rimbaud, or Homer, with just a one or two books?
I'm full aware this isn't a 100% rational approach to the question!
(oh, and if you go down the small-press route you can console yourself with the thought that you're supporting small businesses and endangered crafts (from typecasting to paper making, etc.)
19WeeTurtle
>18 housefulofpaper: I love supporting small press! But my budget is limited. I'm one of those people that hangs onto every purchased book ever until I've read it and I'm deciding that is not the way to go, especially when the only reason I'm hanging onto some books is so that I can finish them and say I did. I've also decided that, in many cases, a library is good enough!
But yes, there's a reason my Lovecraft collection is hardcover. Books that big in soft cover drive me nuts! And he's got a lot of stuff. I'm on the hunt now for Robert Bloch.
Thankfully I'm in a town with a great used book store, (and others I haven't bothered to check out yet. I should really do so), and a new little independent book shop opened up last year and it taking in some used stuff to sell so I'm happy to throw stuff at them as well.
I love the idea of book binding and refurbishing. I have two books that I want to keep but are missing dust jackets. I'm going to make one for one, and I'm deciding what to do with the other. It's my dad's hardcover copy of The Silmarillion. It's not a fancy edition, but it's boring as it is. I was thinking of painting it but maybe a new dust jacket or cover would be the way to go.
But yes, there's a reason my Lovecraft collection is hardcover. Books that big in soft cover drive me nuts! And he's got a lot of stuff. I'm on the hunt now for Robert Bloch.
Thankfully I'm in a town with a great used book store, (and others I haven't bothered to check out yet. I should really do so), and a new little independent book shop opened up last year and it taking in some used stuff to sell so I'm happy to throw stuff at them as well.
I love the idea of book binding and refurbishing. I have two books that I want to keep but are missing dust jackets. I'm going to make one for one, and I'm deciding what to do with the other. It's my dad's hardcover copy of The Silmarillion. It's not a fancy edition, but it's boring as it is. I was thinking of painting it but maybe a new dust jacket or cover would be the way to go.
20pgmcc
>18 housefulofpaper: (oh, and if you go down the small-press route you can console yourself with the thought that you're supporting small businesses and endangered crafts (from typecasting to paper making, etc.)
Thank you! I must remember that justification when I am talking to my wife about my collection of Swan River Press books. :-)
E.T.A. ...and my Tartarus Press editions of Aickman's works. My collection of Iain Banks and Iain M. Banks is not a problem as she saw me acquire and read them as they came out, and she was aware of my knowing Iain and being devastated when he died.
My John Buchan collections could be a problem. However, my George A. Birmingham books are safe because she introduced me to his work and I started collecting his books on her behalf. (That's my story and I am sticking to it.)
Thank you! I must remember that justification when I am talking to my wife about my collection of Swan River Press books. :-)
E.T.A. ...and my Tartarus Press editions of Aickman's works. My collection of Iain Banks and Iain M. Banks is not a problem as she saw me acquire and read them as they came out, and she was aware of my knowing Iain and being devastated when he died.
My John Buchan collections could be a problem. However, my George A. Birmingham books are safe because she introduced me to his work and I started collecting his books on her behalf. (That's my story and I am sticking to it.)
21alaudacorax
>20 pgmcc:
Ah! Reminded me of another 'meaning to'. I've been meaning to explore Buchan for ... well, decades, probably. I think I read John McNab long, long ago, and meant to go further, and there was one short story which might or might not be classed as Gothic, which I think we discussed here, somewhere.
Hah! Now I check, I've an ebook of his short stories which I'd quite forgotten. Read it in 2013, in two days. Now I'm baffled. The fact that I've forgotten suggests they were not very good; the fact that I read them in two days suggest they were great (or a very short collection).
And I can't find it ...
And how am I getting sidetracked by LibraryThing when I have jobs to get done?
Ah! Reminded me of another 'meaning to'. I've been meaning to explore Buchan for ... well, decades, probably. I think I read John McNab long, long ago, and meant to go further, and there was one short story which might or might not be classed as Gothic, which I think we discussed here, somewhere.
Hah! Now I check, I've an ebook of his short stories which I'd quite forgotten. Read it in 2013, in two days. Now I'm baffled. The fact that I've forgotten suggests they were not very good; the fact that I read them in two days suggest they were great (or a very short collection).
And I can't find it ...
And how am I getting sidetracked by LibraryThing when I have jobs to get done?
22RaquelAHoskin 
Cet utilisateur a été supprimé en tant que polluposteur.
23housefulofpaper
>21 alaudacorax:
"The Grove of Ashtaroth". It was discussed here and in The Weird Tradition group. 2013 and 2014!
"The Grove of Ashtaroth". It was discussed here and in The Weird Tradition group. 2013 and 2014!
24WeeTurtle
Well I've got a bit of a curiosity here, and Abe Books didn't have it. Nothing special, I don't think, it's an old "Scholastic Book Services" copy of Frankenstein. If that's an older name for Scholastic than I imagine it's an affordable printing for schools etc, dated November 1969. No ISBN, no date of text but I assume the 1818 version as the preface is dated 1817 by a "Marlow." It's oddly sized, but apart from being well aged, it's not a bad little book. Kind of a creepy cover image by Margarett Howlett.
25alaudacorax
>23 housefulofpaper:
That's the one!
And I'd completely forgotten that he was the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps; which I own and have read, not too long ago; but which is completely jumbled up in my mind with Robert Donat, Kenneth More and so forth.
I've spotted a quite Gothic-sounding novel which I'd never heard of, although widely regarded as his masterpiece, according to Wikipedia, Witch Wood. I must read that one some time.
That's the one!
And I'd completely forgotten that he was the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps; which I own and have read, not too long ago; but which is completely jumbled up in my mind with Robert Donat, Kenneth More and so forth.
I've spotted a quite Gothic-sounding novel which I'd never heard of, although widely regarded as his masterpiece, according to Wikipedia, Witch Wood. I must read that one some time.
26housefulofpaper
>24 WeeTurtle:
I've had a look at the copy of Frankenstein I can access easily, which reprints the 1831 text. It includes the Preface from 1818, and I would presume it was carried over from the first edition to all later ones.
Marlow isn't a person but a place. It's a a town on the Thames, about 35 miles north west of Central London (the Thames loops north after Reading, which is why I'm 40 miles from London but also 20 miles from Marlow). Authors inscribing where they wrote something, usually letters but also prefaces and so on, and sometimes even stories, was a "thing" and it's something I picked up on a long time ago. I presume one or more science fiction authors adopted (or resurrected) the practice - I say this because it's all I was reading back then! I do remember that it came up in a text we were studying in school, and my English teacher was unaware of the practice, which surprised me.
If your book includes Mary Shelley's 1831 introduction then it almost certainly reprints the 1831 version. And that introduction does say who did actually write the preface. It was Percy Shelley.
I've had a look at the copy of Frankenstein I can access easily, which reprints the 1831 text. It includes the Preface from 1818, and I would presume it was carried over from the first edition to all later ones.
Marlow isn't a person but a place. It's a a town on the Thames, about 35 miles north west of Central London (the Thames loops north after Reading, which is why I'm 40 miles from London but also 20 miles from Marlow). Authors inscribing where they wrote something, usually letters but also prefaces and so on, and sometimes even stories, was a "thing" and it's something I picked up on a long time ago. I presume one or more science fiction authors adopted (or resurrected) the practice - I say this because it's all I was reading back then! I do remember that it came up in a text we were studying in school, and my English teacher was unaware of the practice, which surprised me.
If your book includes Mary Shelley's 1831 introduction then it almost certainly reprints the 1831 version. And that introduction does say who did actually write the preface. It was Percy Shelley.
28housefulofpaper
>24 WeeTurtle:
>27 alaudacorax:
But a lot, lot less money here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-FRANKENSTEIN-Mary-Shelley-Margaret-Howlett-Cover-S...
>27 alaudacorax:
But a lot, lot less money here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-FRANKENSTEIN-Mary-Shelley-Margaret-Howlett-Cover-S...
30alaudacorax
Hah! You beat me to it.
31alaudacorax
I suspect either the USA seller on UK Amazon or the UK seller is simply trying it on and the other one has simply jumped on the bandwagon. As the US one has a couple of copies on the US Abebooks at ordinary prices why don't they offer the three-figure one there, as well? Unless they're trying a bit of sharp practice 'safely away from home' as it were.
32alaudacorax
... and LibraryThing is distracting me from getting my jobs done again ...
33WeeTurtle
>28 housefulofpaper: That's my book! I skimmed over the preface but it didn't seem like the one I read in college, which was the 1831 text, but I could be mixing my literary works since. I do recall thinking that the preface was a lot more arduous to read than the actual book, and wasn't surprised that it was Percy Shelley that wrote it.
That price does seem somewhat absurd, maybe because the individual isn't familiar with scholastic books? I think they fall under the same category as 'book club editions' which I've recently encountered a lot of while going through the book boxes (6 left!).
Alas, there doesn't seem to have been any fans of Gothic lit contributing to the library, minus the little things I've picked out of the romance pile that I'm pretty sure came from spontaneously purchased used book store stock. There seems to be a cover formula: take broody castle (or imposing mansion), add heroine in white gossamer clothing (extra points if it's windblown), decorate with rocks, a moor, or ocean spray until dark and stormy. Round 1 sorting was entirely done by cover art.
What I am finding interesting with all this, are the little things inside the books, like used bookstore stamps or receipts, inscriptions, or things people used as bookmarks. I found some old college notes in my Dad's old Norton Lit Anthologies. I'm curious to compare them to my Longman notes. ;)
That price does seem somewhat absurd, maybe because the individual isn't familiar with scholastic books? I think they fall under the same category as 'book club editions' which I've recently encountered a lot of while going through the book boxes (6 left!).
Alas, there doesn't seem to have been any fans of Gothic lit contributing to the library, minus the little things I've picked out of the romance pile that I'm pretty sure came from spontaneously purchased used book store stock. There seems to be a cover formula: take broody castle (or imposing mansion), add heroine in white gossamer clothing (extra points if it's windblown), decorate with rocks, a moor, or ocean spray until dark and stormy. Round 1 sorting was entirely done by cover art.
What I am finding interesting with all this, are the little things inside the books, like used bookstore stamps or receipts, inscriptions, or things people used as bookmarks. I found some old college notes in my Dad's old Norton Lit Anthologies. I'm curious to compare them to my Longman notes. ;)
34housefulofpaper
>33 WeeTurtle:
Book pricing (I am not an expert!)
As a rule of thumb, you can assume that "serious" book collectors won't be interested in any edition that isn't a first edition. There would be exceptions, things like signed/inscribed copies, "association copies", and suchlike. Historically that has meant some types of book have historically been under-appreciated and underpriced. But this is changing, chiefly I think because the common production methods of the past have become artisanal and moving towards a sort of inaccessible elitism.
As an example, I've noticed from the chatter in the George Macy devotees group that books from the Limited Editions Club (originally issued by subscription, all letterpress, illustrated) are going up in price; a similar thing is happening with Folio Society books on the second-hand market.
Some books have always commanded a high price but it's because of the manual effort and skill involved in making them. The high-end private press books.
On the other hand, some scrappily-made books are incredibly valuable because of their rarity (and who the author is of course). If you had a first edition of Arthur Machen's juvenile poem Elusinia, produced by a local printer somewhere in Herefordshire in the 1881, or the edition of The Shadow Over Innsmouth produced in H. P. Lovecraft's lifetime, or (not by any stretch of the imagination a scrappily produced volume) the Arkham House first edition of Ray Bradbury's Dark Carnival - well, The Guide to First Edition Prices for 2008/9 (yeah, old book) gives prices of £25,000, £2,250, and £1,000 respectively. Oh, and condition is important. Dust jacket present and correct of course, but also "unread" seems to be the Grail: like comic book collectors keeping their treasures double-bagged in Mylar and untouched by human hand.
That's not to say someone won't try it on with an eBay listing (or slightly more charitably to them, that a pricing algorithm won't have a perverse outcome).
Book pricing (I am not an expert!)
As a rule of thumb, you can assume that "serious" book collectors won't be interested in any edition that isn't a first edition. There would be exceptions, things like signed/inscribed copies, "association copies", and suchlike. Historically that has meant some types of book have historically been under-appreciated and underpriced. But this is changing, chiefly I think because the common production methods of the past have become artisanal and moving towards a sort of inaccessible elitism.
As an example, I've noticed from the chatter in the George Macy devotees group that books from the Limited Editions Club (originally issued by subscription, all letterpress, illustrated) are going up in price; a similar thing is happening with Folio Society books on the second-hand market.
Some books have always commanded a high price but it's because of the manual effort and skill involved in making them. The high-end private press books.
On the other hand, some scrappily-made books are incredibly valuable because of their rarity (and who the author is of course). If you had a first edition of Arthur Machen's juvenile poem Elusinia, produced by a local printer somewhere in Herefordshire in the 1881, or the edition of The Shadow Over Innsmouth produced in H. P. Lovecraft's lifetime, or (not by any stretch of the imagination a scrappily produced volume) the Arkham House first edition of Ray Bradbury's Dark Carnival - well, The Guide to First Edition Prices for 2008/9 (yeah, old book) gives prices of £25,000, £2,250, and £1,000 respectively. Oh, and condition is important. Dust jacket present and correct of course, but also "unread" seems to be the Grail: like comic book collectors keeping their treasures double-bagged in Mylar and untouched by human hand.
That's not to say someone won't try it on with an eBay listing (or slightly more charitably to them, that a pricing algorithm won't have a perverse outcome).
35housefulofpaper
>33 WeeTurtle:
Gothic Romance covers
Funnily enough, a user on Twitter called Pulp Librarian posted one hundred Gothic Romance covers, most of them following the "lady with good hair and voluminous nightclothes fleeing sinister castle or grand house at night" template, just a couple of days ago.
And I have seen these before but I think - I can't be sure - I think only online because my assumption is this was a North American thing. Just based on what my grandmother used to read, and what I've seen in charity bookshops, I think the equivalent reading in the UK 40-50 years ago would have been Hospital romances, Regency romances (are these more Feminist than the Gothic Romance? More of a battle of wits between the heroine and a swaggering but redeemable rake? Just guessing, based on half a century of cultural osmosis), Barbara Cartland, and Catherine Cookson.
Gothic Romance covers
Funnily enough, a user on Twitter called Pulp Librarian posted one hundred Gothic Romance covers, most of them following the "lady with good hair and voluminous nightclothes fleeing sinister castle or grand house at night" template, just a couple of days ago.
And I have seen these before but I think - I can't be sure - I think only online because my assumption is this was a North American thing. Just based on what my grandmother used to read, and what I've seen in charity bookshops, I think the equivalent reading in the UK 40-50 years ago would have been Hospital romances, Regency romances (are these more Feminist than the Gothic Romance? More of a battle of wits between the heroine and a swaggering but redeemable rake? Just guessing, based on half a century of cultural osmosis), Barbara Cartland, and Catherine Cookson.
36housefulofpaper
Clark Ashton Smith
Died 14 August 1961
Died 14 August 1961
37housefulofpaper
>36 housefulofpaper:
I just looked on AbeBooks and the prices being asked for those 1970s UK paperbacks sort of makes a mockery of my assertions in >34 housefulofpaper:.
Reprints, paperback, wrong country, and I believe all the stories are currently in print...all this ought to keep the prices of these books low, I would have thought.
I just looked on AbeBooks and the prices being asked for those 1970s UK paperbacks sort of makes a mockery of my assertions in >34 housefulofpaper:.
Reprints, paperback, wrong country, and I believe all the stories are currently in print...all this ought to keep the prices of these books low, I would have thought.
38housefulofpaper
>33 WeeTurtle:
White Spines by Nicholas Royle is a conversational book about visiting second-hand bookshops (mostly charity bookshops, these days) with some bookish memoir element mixed in. It's structured around his mildly obsessive collecting of Picador books from the 1970s to the 1990s. These were a range of UK paperbacks in the larger "B" format with an elegant standard design; well, there was some variation in the covers, but the back and spines were usually black type on plain white background, and a bookcase full of nothing but vintage Picadors is a striking thing (Royle has put pictures of his bookshelves up on social media).
The Picador "list" was very literary: Bruce Chatwin, Ian McEwan, Brian Moore (the Irish novelist not the presenter of The Big Match!). It's still going, but the eponymous white spines are no more.
But the reason I've mentioned the book is that Royle is also interested in what he calls "inclusions" - the bus tickets, picture postcards, playing cards and what-have-you that get left behind in old books for browsers and new owners to find.
I've found very few inclusions over the years. There was a 1960s tram ticket in a Len Deighton spy novel, and (bewilderingly) in Horror Movies by Alan G. Frank, a cutting from a magazine, consisting of a photo of four women and the caption "The Beatles wives took up Flower Power in 1967. Left to Right: Pattie Harrison, Cynthia Lennon and Maureen Starr; in front: Pattie's sister Jenny."
White Spines by Nicholas Royle is a conversational book about visiting second-hand bookshops (mostly charity bookshops, these days) with some bookish memoir element mixed in. It's structured around his mildly obsessive collecting of Picador books from the 1970s to the 1990s. These were a range of UK paperbacks in the larger "B" format with an elegant standard design; well, there was some variation in the covers, but the back and spines were usually black type on plain white background, and a bookcase full of nothing but vintage Picadors is a striking thing (Royle has put pictures of his bookshelves up on social media).
The Picador "list" was very literary: Bruce Chatwin, Ian McEwan, Brian Moore (the Irish novelist not the presenter of The Big Match!). It's still going, but the eponymous white spines are no more.
But the reason I've mentioned the book is that Royle is also interested in what he calls "inclusions" - the bus tickets, picture postcards, playing cards and what-have-you that get left behind in old books for browsers and new owners to find.
I've found very few inclusions over the years. There was a 1960s tram ticket in a Len Deighton spy novel, and (bewilderingly) in Horror Movies by Alan G. Frank, a cutting from a magazine, consisting of a photo of four women and the caption "The Beatles wives took up Flower Power in 1967. Left to Right: Pattie Harrison, Cynthia Lennon and Maureen Starr; in front: Pattie's sister Jenny."
39WeeTurtle
>38 housefulofpaper: On the note of inclusions, in my copy of The Thief of Always I found the original purchase receipt from a bookstore that I know is defunct (it was absorbed by Ingigo). What amused me is that I bought this book second hand already so that receipt was left there by the second hand bookseller as well. I'm passing the book on, and yes, I tucked the receipt back into it. ;)
I've got two boxes left and one book has stood out. It's an old Scholastic copy of The Red Car. There were a couple on Abe books, both around the $90 mark. I mentioned it and my friend did say that in the 50s/60s etc. Scholastic made higher quality books for classrooms and these were the ones that would last forever. My Frankenstein copy is the same era, so I wonder if that's why the book is still in pretty good condition for it's age and for a softcover. Either way, The Red Car is little enough to add to my bin of vintage toys, for maybe later individuals to unearth and decide what to do with.
I've got two boxes left and one book has stood out. It's an old Scholastic copy of The Red Car. There were a couple on Abe books, both around the $90 mark. I mentioned it and my friend did say that in the 50s/60s etc. Scholastic made higher quality books for classrooms and these were the ones that would last forever. My Frankenstein copy is the same era, so I wonder if that's why the book is still in pretty good condition for it's age and for a softcover. Either way, The Red Car is little enough to add to my bin of vintage toys, for maybe later individuals to unearth and decide what to do with.
40WeeTurtle
Took three boxes of books to the local used bookstores, including one I hadn't been to before, and picked up a lovely hardcover, illustrated copy of Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. The previous owner left a bookplate inside, so I think I'll just add my name underneath it. Found a basic copy of In a Glass Darkly, (no matter how many times I listen to "Green Tea" it never sticks). And -because I was splurging- another illustrated Poe, this one much larger and with short stories included as well.
They are easy on the eyes (I can still read itty bitty print but I'd rather not), and while the second book is big, it reminded me of reading Brom's The Plucker: sitting in bed with hot cocoa and a big book (which I think is how he suggests reading it.)
People familiar with fantasy art might recognize the name Brom, but he has made some "illustrated novels" as well. The Plucker is probably not necessarily Gothic but is dark, and gets into African spirits and voodoo, told through a child's toy. I've yet to read it, but I did pick up The Child Thief which is something of a retelling of Peter Pan.
They are easy on the eyes (I can still read itty bitty print but I'd rather not), and while the second book is big, it reminded me of reading Brom's The Plucker: sitting in bed with hot cocoa and a big book (which I think is how he suggests reading it.)
People familiar with fantasy art might recognize the name Brom, but he has made some "illustrated novels" as well. The Plucker is probably not necessarily Gothic but is dark, and gets into African spirits and voodoo, told through a child's toy. I've yet to read it, but I did pick up The Child Thief which is something of a retelling of Peter Pan.
41housefulofpaper
>38 housefulofpaper:
I wonder if whoever slipped that picture of the "Beatle wives" into Horror Movies (in floaty "Flower Power" silk suits, I think) did it because they look a bit - just a tiny bit - like Dracula's wives?
>39 WeeTurtle:
My eyesight has deteriorated. I bought a lot of classical CDs in the 90s and early '00s, many from UK independent label Hyperion. They would absolutely cram essays, lyrics/libretti, etc.(in three languages) into the CD booklet (which was sometimes so overstuffed the CD box wouldn't close once out of its shrink-wrap). Tiny print, but I could read it. Not any more.
I wasn't familiar with The Red Car, and I don't think it's just a gap in my childhood reading. A search on Amazon UK didn't bring up any editions until I added the author's name as well, and then it was only one of these dodgy "grey market" reprints.
>40 WeeTurtle:
And somehow Brom has escaped my attention as well despite having a 30+ year career. I watched an interview with him on YouTube this evening.
And on the subject of inclusions, the Swan River Press, a small press based in Dublin run by Brian J. Showers, usually encloses something or somethings with their books. Quite often its a postcard with an author portrait or an appropriate image (for example the books original cover illustration) but recently has also included (when reprinting a deceased author such as J Sheridan Le Fanu) a small card bearing a reproduction of the author's signature.
I wonder if whoever slipped that picture of the "Beatle wives" into Horror Movies (in floaty "Flower Power" silk suits, I think) did it because they look a bit - just a tiny bit - like Dracula's wives?
>39 WeeTurtle:
My eyesight has deteriorated. I bought a lot of classical CDs in the 90s and early '00s, many from UK independent label Hyperion. They would absolutely cram essays, lyrics/libretti, etc.(in three languages) into the CD booklet (which was sometimes so overstuffed the CD box wouldn't close once out of its shrink-wrap). Tiny print, but I could read it. Not any more.
I wasn't familiar with The Red Car, and I don't think it's just a gap in my childhood reading. A search on Amazon UK didn't bring up any editions until I added the author's name as well, and then it was only one of these dodgy "grey market" reprints.
>40 WeeTurtle:
And somehow Brom has escaped my attention as well despite having a 30+ year career. I watched an interview with him on YouTube this evening.
And on the subject of inclusions, the Swan River Press, a small press based in Dublin run by Brian J. Showers, usually encloses something or somethings with their books. Quite often its a postcard with an author portrait or an appropriate image (for example the books original cover illustration) but recently has also included (when reprinting a deceased author such as J Sheridan Le Fanu) a small card bearing a reproduction of the author's signature.
42WeeTurtle
>41 housefulofpaper: I only knew of him because I used to play Magic: The Gathering and really liked some of his art. I was shopping at a store called "Dragonspace" on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC, when I saw the book spines on a shelf and went "I know that guy!" Book looked neat. I bought. I do not regret it. ;).
Actually, my whole fantasy reading began when, by chance, deciding to follow a friend's recommendation and switch from horse books to fantasy, the first one I grabbed at random on a shelf had the same cover as a computer game I had played years before. I knew that guy! Then fantasy lead to genre reading, leading to weirder and darker things and then Gothic and horror.
My second Poe book, now that I've looked properly at it, is a Barnes & Noble edition of some sort, with an intro by Neil Gaiman. This is kind of cool since Barnes & Noble books come from the USA so don't usually make it up here without specific ordering.
Actually, my whole fantasy reading began when, by chance, deciding to follow a friend's recommendation and switch from horse books to fantasy, the first one I grabbed at random on a shelf had the same cover as a computer game I had played years before. I knew that guy! Then fantasy lead to genre reading, leading to weirder and darker things and then Gothic and horror.
My second Poe book, now that I've looked properly at it, is a Barnes & Noble edition of some sort, with an intro by Neil Gaiman. This is kind of cool since Barnes & Noble books come from the USA so don't usually make it up here without specific ordering.
43WeeTurtle
It's so adorable!
Found this in my family collection of vintage and antique books. Shame it's in such poor shape. Any hobbyist restorers out there who might want it?
EDIT: Nuts! Why do I always fight with pictures? How do I fix this?
Plan B:
https://www.librarything.com/pic/9049077
https://www.librarything.com/pic/9049080
Found this in my family collection of vintage and antique books. Shame it's in such poor shape. Any hobbyist restorers out there who might want it?
EDIT: Nuts! Why do I always fight with pictures? How do I fix this?
Plan B:
https://www.librarything.com/pic/9049077
https://www.librarything.com/pic/9049080
44housefulofpaper
>43 WeeTurtle:
I always copy the instructions from The Green Dragon group's guidance on these matters, then paste in my picture's image address (after I've saved it to my junk drawer) between the speech marks in "http://host.com/picture.jpg".
I always copy the instructions from The Green Dragon group's guidance on these matters, then paste in my picture's image address (after I've saved it to my junk drawer) between the speech marks in "http://host.com/picture.jpg".
45housefulofpaper
But that's the first time I've done it from somebody else's!
46WeeTurtle
>44 housefulofpaper: I copied from a how-to, and the picture icon is there. Just not sure why the picture itself isn't showing. I tried a different browser but it's still the same icon. Can you quote the line of code in your post so I can see the arrangement?
47alaudacorax
>46 WeeTurtle:
Are you copying from this how-to: https://www.librarything.com/topic/177029#unread
The fifth and sixth lines down in post #1; they usually work for me.
Are you copying from this how-to: https://www.librarything.com/topic/177029#unread
The fifth and sixth lines down in post #1; they usually work for me.
48alaudacorax
Ce message a été supprimé par son auteur
49alaudacorax
>46 WeeTurtle: - Can you quote the line of code in your post so I can see the arrangement?
Hah! Gotto too clever for myself. Tried to quote the line of code and fell flat on my face ...
Let me have another try:
<IMG SRC="http://host.com/picture.jpg">
Hah! Did it!
Hah! Got
Let me have another try:
<IMG SRC="http://host.com/picture.jpg">
Hah! Did it!
50housefulofpaper
>46 WeeTurtle:
I wouldn't know how to quote the line of code - I would get the "can't display a picture" icon instead, because I would just be pasting in the line of code. I am indeed copying from the how-to as per >47 alaudacorax:.
I wouldn't know how to quote the line of code - I would get the "can't display a picture" icon instead, because I would just be pasting in the line of code. I am indeed copying from the how-to as per >47 alaudacorax:.
