Why Do I Collect Modern Library?

It's complicated.

When I started selling used and rare books I stumbled on to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. I kept it for myself, read it, and loved it. It was my first foray into reading serious literature since high school.

The next one I read was Ben Hurby Lew Wallace. Quite a contrast, but still an excellent book.

One day I went into a bookstore in the suburbs around Rochester, NY and found the elusive Illustrated Modern Library edition of Alice in Wonderlandfor $7.50. Even though I had read the article on collecting Modern Library in Firsts Magazine, somehow the scarcity of that book got past me. I ended up selling it to a collector for $15.00 along with a few other signed Modern Libraries. I did not realize what I had done, but when I finally bit the bullet and bought Toledano's price guide you can imagine my shock when I saw the picture of "my" Alice in the book.

So since then I am doing bookman's penance by collecting the series and enjoying the reading. Right now I am reading The Confessions of Saint Augustine and "The World's Best Books: Taste, Culture and the Modern Library" by Jay Satterfield. Which, BTW, is an excellent book and worth reading for anyone who loves the series as I do.

WOW! That's funny (only because it didn't happen to me, for once.) I started collecting so long ago, I don't really remember why. I just liked the uniform size, the numbered jackets, the wonderful design. And then when I found Toledano's guidebook and the old Dogeared site (now http://modernlib.com/) -- it was off to the races. Nowadays I only buy the buckram editions with clean spines, and usually, only in titles I want to read/own. I've started collecting the Vintage buckrams as well since so many great titles/ authors are there.

>2 benjclark: I'm not familiar with the Vintage buckrams. Is there a site or resource on those?

The uniform size is a good reason to start collecting them. They do look sharp on the shelf.

I am also not familiar with buckram covered ML editions, however I really do like buckram coverings. They are nice to hold, offer great protection, and I find them attractive. I typically find buckram in books rebound for the library from the last century. I wonder if this was the audience.

Regarding the Illustrated Modern Library, I don't know how many are in that series, but I have three of them. I kept these in spite of my general cull of my other ML books to a better home. One I kept was the Illustrated Modern Library edition of Famous Ghost Stories -- good for a winter's night.

I love the buckrams because I read my ML books and these are built for rough service, but still very attractive. They're also the only ML issued without dust jackets. They were made and marketed to the library/school market, and didn't do all that well, and seem to have been bound in short runs. They were less picky about colors, so there can be some really nice color combos you don't see in the regular bindings.

http://modernlib.com/Identifiers/buckram.html

Here's a photo of a large collection (not mine!):
http://modernlib.com/Identifiers/Buckrams.brianLeMasters.jpg

There's no Vintage Buckram resources that I'm aware of, but I would love to learn of any. They are nearly identical to the ML ones -- just a little taller, and with the Vintage sun colophon on the spine instead of the torchbearer. They are also stamped "Buckram Reinforced" on the lower spine.

>5 benjclark: That photo is not to be missed. What an incredible collection of buckrams! I only have a handful.