If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
international collectors library
I am interested in book collecting...but am not knowledgable. Can
someone tell me what the international collectors library is? Is it worthwhile to pursue a collection of these books? |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
"Kim C" wrote...
I am interested in book collecting...but am not knowledgable. Can someone tell me what the international collectors library is? Is it worthwhile to pursue a collection of these books? Series of inexpensive reprints of classic literature, published by Doubleday, bound in faux leather. The paper is highly acidic and often found yellowing; the leatherette also is not of the highest quality, and it is prone to chipping and splitting at the hinges. That said, it looks like there are one or two books in this series--e.g. To Kill a Mockingbird--that are scarce and in demand. But for the great bulk of them, dozens of dealers at ABE have laughably high notions about the value of these books. I wouldn't take one for free. -- Jon Meyers [To reply, lose your way.] |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Kim C wrote:
I am interested in book collecting...but am not knowledgable. Can someone tell me what the international collectors library is? Is it worthwhile to pursue a collection of these books? Depends on what you mean by worthwhile. The ICL was a Doubleday & Company book club in the 60s and 70s. The books are fancy-looking but cheap copies of great lit. Each book was supposedly made to look like some famous old book, with gilt stamping on the spines and front covers, gilt on the top edge, and a sort of paper cover made to resemble leather. Some are illustrated. If you look at a bunch of them on a shelf from a ways away, or at a picture of them, they have a sort of attractivess, but, on closer inspection, their cheapness is evident. As such, you might say that the ICL was a sort of poor person's Easton Press, although I do not know if the Easton Press even existed at that time. Thus these books have little value as collectibles, except for sentimental value, perhaps, as in my case. I have seven of them. They were among the first books I ever bought for my library, and include my first Shakespeare and Odyssey. I was a teenager at the time. While I have other editions of all seven of these books, I still hang on to the ICL books. They represent my original desire to have a fine library. So, if your desire is simply to have copies of the "Great Books" that are more attractive than paperbacks or even the Modern Library or Everyman's Library, perhaps it is worthwhile to collect ICL books. They can certainly be had for cheap on eBay. I am sure there are plenty of other interesting, if maudlin, stories about how rcbers first collecting impulses played themselves out. Any takers? In particular, anybody else still have the first books they ever bought? Gary Pfeifer |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
"Jon Meyers" wrote in message
... "Kim C" wrote... I am interested in book collecting...but am not knowledgable. Can someone tell me what the international collectors library is? Is it worthwhile to pursue a collection of these books? Series of inexpensive reprints of classic literature, published by Doubleday, bound in faux leather. The paper is highly acidic and often found yellowing; the leatherette also is not of the highest quality, and it is prone to chipping and splitting at the hinges. That said, it looks like there are one or two books in this series--e.g. To Kill a Mockingbird--that are scarce and in demand. But for the great bulk of them, dozens of dealers at ABE have laughably high notions about the value of these books. I wouldn't take one for free. Just to second the remarks already made, there is very little to recommend books in the ICL. I recently picked up a couple of dozen at a thrift--and indeed they are relatively fragile. I also recently picked up a copy of the ICL Augustine's *Confessions* (the J.G. Pilkington translation) for my Confessions single-title collection. That might be their only appeal: to fill out a single-title or completist collection. William M. Klimon http://www.gateofbliss.com |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
17th Cologne/Koln collectors pen meeting | Miroslav Tischler | Pens & Pencils | 0 | January 16th 05 10:42 PM |
Question international cartridges | R. Paul Martin | Pens & Pencils | 24 | June 7th 04 05:41 PM |
June 12th: New Yorkers / Tri State collectors mark your calendars | Licensed to Quill | Pens & Pencils | 5 | May 13th 04 08:57 PM |
16th international fountain pen collectors meeting Koln | Miroslav Tischler | Pens & Pencils | 0 | March 5th 04 10:08 PM |
HOLLYWOOD COLLECTORS SHOW Part 2 | Todd F. | Autographs | 1 | January 18th 04 12:38 PM |