Hardcover editions

[drifting.enpitsu]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I'd like to ask you all about good bound editions, excluding the most expensive collector's editions (like Easton Press and Folio Society)

 

I've found a comment on Buccaneer Books that they are overpriced and badly bound, but no other comments. Biblio Life and Kessinger have a good selection, but they're a tad too expensive for me to buy when I don't even know their quality. Are they well enough bound with good enough quality paper etc. to be worth the extra money?

 

Here's some publishers listed. I'd appreciate comments on any of them (hardcover editions). What kind of bounding (strong bounding, glue etc.), paper quality, font, typographical errors etc. And your opinion of the pricing in relation of the quality. Comparing different editions would also be helpful.

 

1st World Library

Biblio Life

Buccaneer Books

Everyman

HarperCollins

Hendrickson Publishers

Idylls Press

Ignatius Press

Kessinger Publishing

Modern Library

Overlook Press

Sterling

W. W. Norton & Co.

Wildside Press

 

---------------

 

Here's my (amateur) opinions on few (I'll add more later):

 

Shabhala Publications. I got two Shabhala Library editions, which are pretty small sized 17.8 x 11.5 cm / 7.2 x 4.6 inches. The clothe covers with sturdy bounding. Good quality paper and clear font. Price is good.

 

Charles Scribner's Sons. I got one book. Not sure if they are still publishing. Sturdy clothe covers. Binding is tight, but I see some glue in there. Seems properly bound though. This particular edition is a short story collection with stories divined to two different types with different font on each type (the other one is just bold, I think) and they're both comfortable to read. Overall I think this is very sturdy and beautiful edition. Can't say anything about the price since I bought mine used. From '74 and still in great shape.

 

Victor Gollancz. One book. The covers are sturdy cardboard, but mine are (very) slightly bend (barely noticable), but this one's from '77. Perhaps a bit sturdier pages than the average. Quite well bound. Golden, pressed letters on the spine, looks as new. Font is clear.

 

Collancz Black Books. These are leather bound editions. Someone said these are not leather, but to me they look (and smell) leather. I've probably not seen a leather edition is 10 years, and never a new one, so I'm not sure. It has sturdy looking glue "binding). The pages are a bit thinner than the average (but over 1000 pages, so it seems good. The font is clear few full page black and white illustrations by Les Edwards, and small ones at the beginning of each chapter. The price is about 20-30€, 25-35$. The quality isn't anything special, but it's not bad either. For it's price it's a good buy.

[Chrissy]

I really don't know what to make of your first post here on the forum.

 

Why are you asking such a specific and detailed question? Is this an interest of yours? an investment? Research for study? I really cannot tell.

[drifting.enpitsu]

I'm sorry, I thought it was obvious. As I have no experience of those books and I very much appreciate a good quality when I'm going to buy a book, so I'd like to know from which publishers I should buy. Oh, and I'm ordering books from the internet (not very good English language books selection where I'm currently living, so I can't go check out the different editions myself. I also thought it might do as a good reference for anyone else interested in a certain buy and not knowing which edition to buy.

[Ooshie]

I would recommend second-hand editions of Easton Press and Folio Society books; you can often pick up a perfect copy for less than £10.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Ooshie

[willoyd]

I'd agree with Ooshie. Although I do belong to the Folio Society, most of my collection I've bought second hand, many at prices not much more than a new paperback (if that) and in excellent condition, about which I'm pretty fussy.

 

On the others you list: I have several Everyman books. Sturdy, well produced, excellent value, although the quality of type can vary.

I also have the Norton omnibus edition of the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series. Superficially attractive, there are so many typographic errors as to make the books virtually unreadable - pages have obviously been scanned with OCR, but inadequately checked. I'm replacing them with the Folio Society editions as they come out.

Edited December 1, 2010 by willoyd

[drifting.enpitsu]

Thank you for your advice, I'll consider it if any of the books I'm looking for have been published by them. But still, I'll like to get opinions on the editions I listed as there are many books that Easton Press or Folio Society haven't published and probably never will.

[Chrissy]

What authors or books are you interested in? Are there any particular genres you enjoy?

[drifting.enpitsu]

I'd just like comments on those particular publishers' hardcover editions. I'm sure some members here have at least some of those books.

 

Most of my favorite authors are science fiction authors, though none of them actually focus on science. Perhaps it's something you'd call science fantasy. I've never been too fond of genres. In the past all stories were what we call "fantasy" these day. Anyways, authors that I'm speaking of include R.A. Lafferty, Jack Vance, Cordwainer Smith and Gene Wolfe.

 

What I like in them perhaps most is their imaginative stories and, ah, "lyrical" language. I also like how the stories (the world, characters etc.) are so realistic and alive. The worlds they create are so big. You could read their stories again and again and every time discover something new. There's always something more behind of what you first see (perhaps less so for Vance, as his is more adventure/mystery stories with beautiful language). They have that something I think allows them to be on par with "oral literature" in the art of storytelling, whereas most literature seems to be very passive in that there's nothing going on behind the letters and the worlds are dead. I hope I'm making any sense; I find I've never tried to explain this before.

 

Of more known authors there's not many that I'd consider my favorites, but then again I'm not very well read in the first place. One well known author that does impress me though, is G.K. Chesterton. Then there's some Japanese authors.

 

At the moment I'm looking to buy some P.G. Wodehouse books. Probably going with Everyman/Overlook editions. And also Chesterton's poem The Ballad of the White Horse published by Ignatius Press, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream by New Cambridge Shakespeare.

[drifting.enpitsu]

Doesn't anyone have any of those editions? If anyone has any hardcover edition from those publishers I listen in the first post, please tell me about the quality of the books.