Book Board Chat

Found this tidbit of info interesting as I was researching some early Everyman's Library books. Richard Burton was a big fan of EL. This is from the Collecting EL site.

'Of the Taylor/Burton Everyman collection, Terry Seymour writes: "Richard Burton was an avid reader and a great fan of Everyman's Library. Elizabeth Taylor, aware of this affection, arranged to assemble a collection of Everyman's Library, nominally a 'complete collection.' This effort reportedly took five years. She then spent a considerable sum of money having the volumes rebound in a suede-like leather, with lavish end papers and gilding on all edges. Three colors of leather were used: pink, royal blue, and mustard yellow. Liz presented this gift to Richard for his birthday. Burton retained the books for the remainder of his life. Several years after his death, his widow sold the books at auction for the benefit of charity. Three booksellers won most of the books. They all proceeded to market the books more or less as souvenirs. We may presume that many of the books are not owned by traditional 'book people' but rather by fans of the Taylor/Burton mythology. Thus, if the books return to the market, pricing is somewhat arbitrary and chaotic."'

Here is a link to part of the collection - scroll to the bottom of the page:
http://www.everymanslibrarycollecting.com/bindings.html

Many of us are familiar with Modern Library books but less well-known are the Everyman's Library which began before ML. According to the EL website: "As with so many monumental endeavours, the dreams and ideas of two men converged in 1905 with the conception of the Everyman's Library. J. M. Dent (1849-1926), bookbinder and publisher, and Ernest Rhys (1859-1946), poet and editor, both had the vision of a large collection of the great books of the world, in a handsome edition that would be affordable by the common man. Both also realized that many difficulties would have to be surmounted. "We were aiming, you see," Rhys wrote in 1932, "at something almost impracticable, almost quixotic, in this transcendental enterprise." Their grand goal was to produce a collection of 1000 great books, grouped into categories such as Biography, History, Fiction, Essays, and Poetry, to name a few of what ultimately became thirteen sections.

I first encounted the EL when I bought a box of them at an auction. While we made a very tidy sum on them, I now know that I sold them for too little. I had grouped them into lots and moved them out. Like ML, EL are still published and it is the early ones that are in demand, esp. if they have DJs. Like ML, EL had a number of design changes and I like to include info on the design etc. in my listings. Here are two sites that are very helpful for the two 'libraries' that people might want to bookmark. Maybe these links could be included by @shibadiva on Bibliomania. I'll email Gary/ Red-PT too about adding them to his informational post.

Collecting the Modern Library (1917-1975)
http://www.modernlib.com/

Collecting Everyman's Library (1906-1978)
http://www.everymanslibrarycollecting.com/site_index.html