For the publishers:
Is anyone out there a publisher in need of a few ideas??? Probably not, but I'll give some anyway:
Daddy Longlegs and Dear Enemy, by Jean Webster, need to be published as a set or at least by the same company. Oh, and make them hardcover please!
Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, by Louisa May Alcott, need to have the same treatment.
Old-Fashioned Girl, by Louisa May Alcott, was published in '95, but if you could... I don't know, maybe make a box set with the above two books, this one, and the Inheritance, all in hardback of course. You'd have at least one buyer (if the set wasn't too expensive)!
Oh, and you know what would be really cool? An entire set, boxed (?), and hardcover of the ancient Greek mythology/plays. Perhaps you could sprinkle in a little of the Roman stuff too (the Aeneid?).
I'm not trying to completely overhaul my current meager "library," if you can call it that. I'm merely trying to replace, with more lasting books, some of my favorites, and to add some, mostly non-fiction (my current "library" is horribly deficient in that area), books that I have more recently found interesting and good. I have several sets of paperback books that I have no intention of replacing with hardcovers (either because those books are not really worth replacing or it would just be stupid to try). I have the entire Mandie series (we came from the regular world, you know), including the newest that's supposedly and entirely new series about her college days (I know, I know, sounds great doesn't it). I'm only interested in them now because I want to see who she ends up marrying. I have all the books in this series. I have this trilogy. I have this set, although not boxed, and I'm actually looking to complete the set with books by the same publisher. I have this book, but I'm thinking about looking for the novels in separate books. Hey, at least I'm not in the market to replace a certain hardback book I once received with a leather bound one!
So, if anyone can give me any pointers on library must-haves, or publishers to stay away from, or anything along those lines it would be much appreciated.
Also, if anyone happens to have a like new copy of this and just wants to get rid of it, I would be happy to take it off your hands! :)
2 comments:
I'll tell you what my husband taught me about quality of books, is that hardcover doesn't necessarily mean quality or long-lasting. You may already know this, but hardcovers (and sometimes paperbacks done the same way) that are bound in signatures with glue and stitching are a much superior quality to most modern hardbound books, that are only done with glue, or casebound. If you take a really nicely-bound book and look at how the pages are attached at the spine, you can tell it is bound in signatures because the pages are packaged together in sections (larger sheets that are folded in half and sewn into the binding), instead of just glued in. I can't explain it. If you go to a local bookstore, find a hardback that is published by Everyman's Library and then a cheaper paperback or low-quality hardback, and you should notice a difference with the binding, if you study how the pages attach, looking at the spine from the side top or bottom. Everyman's Library books, by the way, are a very good, reasonably-priced way to build a nice library. They are a lot cheaper than the really nice hardbound books like Easton Press or Folio, but they are still well-made. For classic literature, you should be able to find volumes bound in signatures, but for something restricted to a specific publisher (recently published), you probably won't have that option.
Thank you for those tips! I know that hardcover isn't always very good, but I think that they are usually better than paperbacks (the cheap ones anyway). I have looked at some of the Everyman's Library books, and I'm working on getting a Jane Austin set in them. I am glad to here another recommendation for them!
Hope y'all are doing well up there in Connecticut! Is it very different up there??? :)
Post a Comment