Spent part of this evening reshelving some of my Library of America books, placing them in publishing order. Due to the cramped space of the room in which I keep most of my books, I had to take this picture at an angle to capture most of the 109 volumes that I currently own. I also updated the list of current and forthcoming titles (through the end of 2013), in case you want to see what they have published to date. They are not cheap editions (usual new price is $35-45 a volume), but they certainly are worth the expense (even though roughly half of mine are used copies that I've either bought online or in two area used bookstores) and in the years to come, I hope to have a complete set.
I also (slowly) will be reviewing several of these volumes. Over at Gogol's Overcoat, I've been reviewing (took this past Friday off due to making arrangements for my upcoming second job) volume #39, the collected fictions of Flannery O'Connor story-by-story, similar to how I was reviewing some of William Faulkner's stories and novels (maybe later this year, I will resume those reviews). Toying with the idea of choosing another author from this list and reviewing his/her stories/novels in a similar fashion to the Faulkner and O'Connor volumes. But I'm uncertain when I'll commence this project, as I need to get acclimated to my new jobs first.
If you've read any of these volumes before, what did you think of the presentation and the notes found within these volumes?
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4 comments:
I got only 17-18 books from loa, so... :)
1. The dimensions are perfect, the paper is superb (acid free + “bound with the grain of the paper to ensure they will open easily and lie flat without crinkling or buckling.” ), Galliard, Galliard...
2. the notes are pathetic (similar to Everyman's), 6-8 pages vs 30-200 pages (200 = Chaucher) from Oxford, Penguin etc; ok, prefaces + essays are often wrong (and boring) but that's way we got at least one impression about the book/the author etc.
cseresz
Yes, the essays are rather on the short side, but in defense, I think these editions were not meant to be annotated ones (although in several of the volumes I have, there are dozens of pages devoted to outlining editorial decisions in regards to restoring certain changes from the manuscript made in the original editions).
But they are indeed a delight to hold and to turn page by page. About to post a list of LoA's American Poets Project, which I'm also slowly collecting (even though most of mine I got used that had remainder marks - placeholders for now).
"I think these editions were not meant to be annotated ones"
I couldn't agree with you more.
cseresz
wow impressive!
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