Library of America books are great. They are so durable. Most of mine come from library copies or used book sales. The Dos Passos volume is fun. It shows how he pulled off all those different styles in USA. Indian Summer is a sleeper for my favorite Howells novel. The descriptions of Italy are wonderful. I’ve always thought of Howells as a less serious/stodgy cousin to Henry James. Now we have to see these fabled shelves of 70 LoA volumes!
Now I'm frantically counting them in my head, Jack! Haha. I'm downgrading my original estimate to perhaps 55. :) I love how you described Howells as a "less serious/stodgy cousin to Henry James." That puts it so clearly for me! I'll start planning my LOA bookshelf tour soon, since someone else has already requested to see them. :)
On LibraryThing , an employee of LOA explicitly stated that the color choices do not follow any scheme. He stated: "It's a closely held secret: There is in fact no scheme to the color scheme. " That post was from 2010.
Yes, the black jacketed ones have the same cloth cover. I have a huge collection of LOA most of which I bought used. Some are pristine and others have clear signs of use. Some are library discards. What I find shocking is a lot of them were never opened after getting mylared and labeled, they sat on the shelves and were never touched. My Melvilles and some of my founding fathers were like that. For books with no jackets I make jackets out of pretty gift wrap to keep the covers pristine. I've found no rhyme or reason for the cover colors. Both Shirley Jackson and James Fenimore Cooper are green: Authors from different eras writing very different stories.
I also am a subscriber to the Library Of America, and highly recommend them to all my friends and family. Dont forget that a portion of all purchases go toward their charitable organization, which provides great literature from America to local schools & libraries. This is an great way to help get these great writers into the hands of every reader. Also, the store bought versions are the same as the subscriber book, but have the black dust cover, which I personally dislike, but, oh well.
Ah yes, I forgot to mention the “pay it forward” aspect of LOA. I’ll try to remember that next time I show a new one. And I agree with you, Elizabeth, about the black dust jackets. I do not like them one bit.
I love The Library of America! I have the retail version of Jefferson's writing on my shelf and am planning to get another volume or two my next trip home. If I ever move back to the US I'm going to have to think about subscribing, your editions are beautiful! 😍
I used to always ditch dust jackets, too. I don't have any jackets on books from before I was 18 years old or so, not that many of my books from back then actually had one in the first place. Many keep dust jackets simply in order to retain the book's value, but the monetary resale value of a book is not what makes a book a book. Then you simply reduce it to a physical item, a commodity, or an investment. I don't keep books in order for them to retain any kind of collector's value. I keep them for me, because they are books I enjoyed or think I will enjoy reading. That's not to say I mishandle my books in any way. I also like a book to look fresh on my shelf, so most books I've read look as mint after I've read them as before, but not to keep their value, but because it's how I like my books to be. Sometimes bigger paperbacks unavoidably get a spine crease, but once it's happened, I don't mind, and it becomes a reminder of the memory of having read it. These days, I have got used to keeping dust jackets on when I read hardback books. I like the aesthetics of it, I don't mind how it handles now that I am in the habit of doing so, and it also makes the book easier to clean if I accidentally get coffee on them, for instance - and I like an espresso while reading when sometimes a little bit can get on my fingers and then on the book.
Did you ever do a video on your entire LOA collection? Ive ordered quite a few sets since first heard you mention it. And I'm working on getting hard cases for those I bought with the paper cover.
I love Library of America Books. I read Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter this year. LOA books are lovely to hold and read. Do you have a shelf of your LOA books? I would love to see them.
Hi there! So nice to hear from a fellow LOA lover! Yes, I have three (soon-to-be four) shelves full of my Library of America books. I do plan to have some bookshelf tours in the next few weeks!
I like L of A, but they don't send to UK, so I can't subscribe. I have a few of the slipcase ones from eBay, and a few black dustjacket ones from Amazon. I also collect Folio Society which are also slipcase.
