The Modern Library Bibliography
MODERN LIBRARY SERIES 1928
1928
General
Boni & Liveright, Inc., became Horace Liveright, Inc., on 28 May. Boni had left the firm nearly nine years earlier, in July 1919.
Number of titles
Cerf and Klopfer added nineteen new titles and discontinued ten titles, all but one of which were from the Boni & Liveright period, bringing the total number of active titles to 148. D’Annunzio, Maidens of the Rocks (1926), which Cerf and Klopfer added shortly after they took over the series, was the first title for which they had been responsible to be discontinued. Minor discrepancies between the number of titles indicated here and on the back panels of ML jackets are due primarily to the ML’s practice of including titles projected for January publication on fall lists.
Format
All new titles except France, Revolt of the Angels (163) were published in the standard format, with the binding measuring 6⅝ x 4⅜ in. (168 x 110 mm) and the leaves trimmed to 6½ x 4¼ in. (164 x 107 mm). The first printing had a trim size of 6⅝ x 4½ in. (167 x 108 mm).
The ML’s standard format was enlarged in 1939. The new binding measured 7¼ x 4⅞ in. (182 x 123 mm) with a trim size of 7 x 4¾ in. (177 x 120 mm). In 1969 a taller, slightly slimmer format was introduced with the binding measuring 7½ x 4¾ in. (190 x 120 mm) and a trim size of 7¼ x 4½ in. (182 x 115 mm). All dimensions indicated are approximate.
Most books through 1954 were printed with 16 pages on each side of the sheet and bound in gatherings of 16 leaves (32 pages); by 1956 most books were being printed with 32 pages on each side of the sheet and bound in gatherings of 32 leaves (64 pages).
Title page
Most new titles had the final version of Elmer Adler’s title page with the title in open-face type, Lucian Bernhard’s
Binding
Imitation leather in dark green, brown, or dark blue with spine lettering in gold and the Bernhard torchbearer in gold on the front cover.
Endpaper
Bernhard
Jackets
Spring 1928 titles were the last published in
The Modern Library printed new uniform jackets for the entire series, not just for newly published titles. First printings of Gargantua and Pantagruel and Revolt of the Angels, originally published in
The text on the back panel of uniform typographic jackets C and D was also revised.
The upper band which indicates the author on the front panel and spine, contains the following statement on the back panel:
the modern library Books that have something to say to the Modern Mind
The area between the upper and lower bands states:
How many modern library books have you read? A complete list of the 150 books in The Modern Library series will be found on the inside of the jacket. They are representative works by modern authors of the first rank, supplemented by a group of books that, although they were written centuries ago, are still *modern* in the full sense of the word. How many of these books have you read? How many are in your library? Handsome, durable, and inexpensive Modern Library editions enable them to be secured at a fraction of their usual cost. Jot down the numbers of volumes you desire on the coupon below. Give it to your bookseller. If there is no bookseller near you, the publisher will supply you.
Like uniform jacket B2, a complete list of Modern Library titles is printed inside uniform typographic jackets C and D.
Price
95 cents.
Dating key
(Spring) Dumas, Three Musketeers xApuleius, Golden Ass. (Fall) Apuleius, Golden Ass xDostoyevsky, Brothers Karamazov.
Titles sought, suggested, declined
Cerf expressed interest in several titles published by Doubleday, Doran, including works by Joseph Conrad (Victory, Lord Jim, Youth, Chance, or Nigger of the Narcissus), Aldous Huxley (Chrome Yellow or Antic Hay), W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, or The Trembling of a Leaf), William McFee (Captain Macedoine’s Daughter, Command, or Casuals of the Sea), and Horace Walpole (Fortitude). He offered the ML’s highest royalty—12 cents a copy—on any of these books (Cerf to Russell Doubleday, 25 April 1928), but Doubleday, Doran was not receptive. The Modern Library was able to include seven of these titles—Victory, Lord Jim, Antic Hay, Of Human Bondage, Moon and Sixpence, Casuals of the Sea, and Fortitude—in the early 1930s as a result of its purchase of the Sun Dial Library from Garden City Publishing Co., the Doubleday reprint subsidiary. (See the introductory matter for 1930 for more information on the Sun Dial Library purchase.)
Another author Cerf wanted in the ML was Ernest Hemingway. He told Hemingway, “We are very anxious indeed to add a book of yours to our Modern Library series” (Cerf to Hemingway, 29 October 1928). The ML was able to secure reprint rights to The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms in the early 1930s; The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway was added to ML Giants in 1942.
When Cerf told Sinclair Lewis that he wanted one if his books in the series, Lewis replied that the decision was up to Harcourt, Brace (Lewis to Cerf, 1928). The ML was able to add Arrowsmith in 1933 and three additional titles by Lewis in the 1940s and 1950s.
Bernice Baumgarten of the literary agency Brandt & Brandt suggested a ML edition of John Dos Passos, Three Soldiers, which had never appeared in a reprint edition (Baumgarten to Cerf, 6 March 1928). Cerf, who had previously declined to reprint Dos Passos’s Manhattan Transfer, replied, “We will not be interested in doing John Dos Passos’ ‘Three Soldiers’ in the Modern Library. I know the book well, and though I think it is an excellent piece of work, I do not feel that Dos Passos quite rates the Modern Library” (Cerf to Baumgarten, 7 March 1928). Cerf later changed his mind. Three books by Dos Passos were published in the ML in the 1930s: Three Soldiers (1932: 248), The 42nd Parallel (1937: 307), and U.S.A. (1939: G42).
Cerf offered Harcourt, Brace an advance of $1,800 against royalties of 12 cents a copy for reprint rights to Lytton Strachey’s Queen Victoria, provided the ML could print from Harcourt plates (Cerf to Harrison Smith, 21 April 1928). Harcourt, Brace declined on the grounds that Strachey’s Elizabeth and Essex, published that year, would revive interest in the earlier work (Harrison Smith to Cerf, 11 May 1928). Strachey’s Eminent Victorians was added to the series in 1933.
Cerf also wanted to include anthologies devoted to American poetry and English poetry. Conrad Aiken’s American Poetry, 1671–1928: A Comprehensive Anthology (169.1), published early in 1928, was compiled for the Modern Library. Cerf sought permission to reprint John Drinkwater’s Anthology of English Verse (Houghton Mifflin, 1924), but the publisher rejected the offer (Curtis Brown to Cerf, 13 July 1928).
Klopfer offered a $4,000 advance against a royalty of 12 cents a copy for James Stephens’s Crock of Gold (Klopfer to H. C. Latham, Macmillan, 27 November 1928). Despite subsequent offers, the book never appeared in the ML. Appleton declined Cerf’s offer of a $3,000 advance against royalties of 10 cents a copy for Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage (Cerf to John W. Hiltman, Appleton & Co., 12 December 1928). The ML finally secured reprint rights to Crane’s novel fourteen years later.
E. Clark Stillman suggested a volume of Heinrich Heine’s poems for the ML and offered to do the translations (Stillman to ML, 15 June 1928). A reader suggested a volume of poetry by Alfred Noyes. Cerf replied to the latter suggestion, “. . . the idea is a mighty good one, and we shall investigate it at once” (Cerf to Mrs. R. G. Pattern, 29 October 1928). Nothing came of either suggestion.
Christmas gift box
For the 1928 Christmas season the ML offered a boxed set titled Three Renaissance Romances consisting of three titles—Cellini, Autobiography (1927: 132), Merejkowski, Romance of Leonardo da Vinci (1928: 154), and Symonds, Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1928: 164) in distinctive bindings and jackets. The bindings were brightly colored Keratol, a treated book cloth stamped in a geometric pattern, with the same gold stamping as other volumes of the period. The Cellini binding was light greenish blue (172), Merejkowski was vivid orange (48), Symonds was light yellowish green (135). Each jacket had an inset illustration printed in black on colored paper; the jackets are described in the entries for each title. Volumes in Keratol bindings have spring 1928 jackets and fall 1928 lists at the end of the volumes, except for Cellini which has no list. The retail price of each set was $2.85. Orders came mainly from department stores. Cerf noted after the Christmas season that the boxed set had proved so popular that it would be carried in stock regularly (Cerf to Desmond FitzGerald, 13 February 1929). This does not appear to have been done, but the Three Renaissance Romances gift box was offered again during the 1929 Christmas season.
New titles
Douglas, Old Calabria (1928) 150
Zola, Nana (1928) 151
Tomlinson, Sea and the Jungle (1928) 152
Dumas, Three Musketeers (1928) 153
Merejkowski, Romance of Leonardo da Vinci (1928) 154
Starrett, ed., Fourteen Great Detective Stories (1928) 155
Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1928) 156
O’Neill, Emperor Jones; The Straw (1928) 157
Sterne, Tristram Shandy (1928) 158
Dreiser, Twelve Men (1928) 159
Hauptmann, Heretic of Soana (1928) 160
Pennell, Art of Whistler (1928) 161
Discontinued
None
Spring
150
NORMAN DOUGLAS. OLD CALABRIA. 1928–1935. (ML 141)
150. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] OLD CALABRIA | [rule] | BY | NORMAN DOUGLAS | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–viii, 1–440. [1–14]16
[i] half title; [ii]
Variant (1931 printing): Pagination and collation as 150. Contents as 150 except: [iv] copyright and First statements omitted. (Seen in balloon cloth binding)
Jacket A:
Text on front:
Norman Douglas’ best known travel book has never before been published in a popular edition. Its inclusion in the Modern Library exactly two years after “South Wind” was added to the series, makes available to the readers of the Library Mr. Douglas’ two most representative works. (Fall 1927)
Jacket B:
Originally published in U.S. by Houghton Mifflin Co., 1915, using sheets of the English edition. ML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting, omitting the index and illustrations. Publication announced for January 1928; probably published in December 1927. WR 7 January 1928. First printing: 7,000 copies. Discontinued 1 January 1936.
The ML arranged its edition directly with Douglas, who wrote a new introduction and received royalties of 5 cents a copy. The ML edition was the first to be printed in the U.S. Cerf offered to sell duplicate plates to the English publisher Martin Secker for use in his New Adelphi Library, but Secker decided not to include Old Calabria in the series (Cerf to Secker, 25 July 1928; Secker to Cerf, 14 August 1928).
There was a second printing of 3,057 copies in March 1931 (Woolf, p. 46).
Sales during the first six months of 1928 placed Old Calabria 37th out of 147 ML titles. It was listed in 1931 as one of the ML’s worst-selling titles (“Notes on the Modern Library,” RH box 117, Publicity folder). It was discontinued after returns from booksellers exceeded sales during the last part of 1935.
Also in the Modern Library
Douglas, South Wind (1925–1968) 114
151
EMILE ZOLA. NANA. 1928–1970. (ML 142)
151.1a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] NANA | [rule] | BY | EMILE ZOLA | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | ERNEST BOYD | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xii, 1–517 [518–524]. [1–16]16 [17]12
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Text on front:
“NANA”, Zola’s famous story of the theatrical underworld in Paris, is an excellent example of the virtues and faults of the acknowledged founder of the realistic school in modern fiction. “Zola”, writes Burton Rascoe, “was a boorish and heavy handed seducer who urged upon the novel a very raw and potent drink. He showed that life, even in fiction, might be stripped of the enameled exterior of cultural standards and refinements, and the substratum of animality that cannot die be portrayed in its true light.” (Fall 1927)
Jacket B:
Jacket C: Three French Romances gift box. (1929)
Jacket D: Pictorial in strong yellowish pink (26) and black on light pink paper with inset oval illustration of a woman with parasol and four winged cherubs; lettering in black except title in strong yellowish pink and black, borders in strong yellowish pink. (Fall 1932)
Jacket E: Pictorial in dark yellowish pink (30) and moderate reddish brown (43) on cream paper with head-and-shoulders illustration of a woman glancing to her right; lettering in moderate reddish brown except title in dark yellowish pink outlined in moderate reddish brown, borders in dark yellowish pink. Signed: Newman.
Front flap:
Banned in England in 1888 for its so-called obscenity, Nana has since come to be regarded the highest achievement among the novels of the Naturalist school. Its author is now acknowledged as the source from which the English realists and our own Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser derive their greatest influence. Regardless of the sensational aspects of this work and its niche in literary history, Nana lives as a novel by its own vigor and the incomparable skill and fidelity with which it is written. (Spring 1935)
Plarr translation originally published in a limited edition by the Lutetian Society (London, 1894) and in U.S. by Boni & Liveright, 1924. ML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting. Published January 1928. WR 18 February 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1970/71.
The Modern Library used the Victor Plarr translation without identifying the translator. When a film version produced by Samuel Goldwyn and starring the Russian actress Anna Sten was released in 1934, the ML urged booksellers to stock Nana in quantity and distributed copies of the movie poster to major bookstores.
Sales of Nana during the first six months of 1928 placed it 2nd out of 147 ML titles. During the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943 it was low in the first quarter of ML titles in terms of sales. It did not rank among the 100 best-selling titles in the regular ML during the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952.
151.1b. Title page reset (c. 1941)
NANA | by | EMILE ZOLA | introduction by ERNEST BOYD | [
Pagination and collation as 151.1a. Contents as 151.1a except: [ii] blank; [iv] publication and manufacturing statements within single rules; [519–523] ML list; [524] blank. (Spring 1943)
Jacket: Pictorial in dark reddish orange (38), light reddish brown (42) and black on coated cream paper depicting a woman with parasol and hatbox crossing a street while a man in top hat watches from a passing carriage; lettering in black and dark reddish orange.
Front flap as 151.1a jacket D. (Fall 1943)
151.2. Text reset (1946)
NANA | by | EMILE ZOLA | Introduction by ERNEST BOYD | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xii, [1–2] 3–545 [546–548]. [1–16]16 [17]8 [18]16
[i] half title; [ii] blank; [iii] title; [iv] publication and manufacturing statements within single rules; v–xii INTRODUCTION signed p. xii: Ernest Boyd | New York, | November, 1927.; [1] fly title; [2] blank; 3–545 text; [546–548] blank.
Jacket: As 151.1b. (Fall 1947) Front flap reset with minor revisions and following phrase added at end: “. . . and with which it reflects actual life.” (Fall 1955)
Printed from plates made from a new typesetting.
The new typesetting, made in 1945, was designed by Stefan Salter to allow for the possible inclusion of Nana in the Illustrated Modern Library. Chapter openings were dropped to the center of the page so that illustrations or decorations could be added if desired (Ray Freiman to Salter, Wolff Mfg. Co., 17 July 1945). Nana never appeared in the Illustrated Modern Library.
152
H. M. TOMLINSON. THE SEA AND THE JUNGLE. 1928–1950. (ML 99)
152a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE SEA AND THE | JUNGLE | [rule] | BY | H. M. TOMLINSON | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | CHRISTOPHER MORLEY | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–x, 1–332 [333–334]. [1–10]16 [11]12
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Text on front:
“In ‘The Sea and the Jungle’ we have surely one of the great achievements of maritime narrative. There need be no fatuous comparisons. Sometimes they are useful as a label for the instruction of those who must have things expressed in terms of what they know already. But in speaking of this book, that has earned its right to stand among the most thoughtful of our time, we can be absolute. The author’s own casual phrase will serve, ‘This is a travel book for honest men.’ Beneath the sheer beauty of the writing you will find that plain virtue, that honesty, that fidelity to the ungainly fact.” — Christopher Morley (Spring 1928)
Jacket B:
Jacket C: Pictorial in light green (144) and black on cream paper with inset illustration of a man making his way through jungle foliage; lettering in black, borders in light green. Signed: Loederer. (Fall 1932)
Front flap:
From the moment H. M. Tomlinson, caught and caged by the city, watched the Putney bus take on a casual passenger, and then the Skipper himself, until the Capella made port from Pará and the Madeira jungle, this book spreads a tapestry of pictures and places, adventures and yarns, and talk of great things and little in the sure accents of truth. The Sea and the Jungle is more than a travel book or a maritime narrative; it is writing of sheer beauty, unswerving fidelity and scrupulous honesty. (Fall 1933)
Originally published in U.S. by E. P. Dutton Co., 1913, using sheets of the English edition published by Duckworth. ML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting. Published February 1928. WR 17 March 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued fall 1950.
The Sea and the Jungle appears to have been in the U.S. public domain because of its original publication in the U.S using imported sheets. The ML paid royalties directly to Tomlinson.
Sales of The Sea and the Jungle during the first six months of 1928 placed it 15th out of 147 ML titles. During the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943 it was low in the third quarter of ML titles in terms of sales.
152b. Title page reset (c. 1941)
THE SEA | AND THE | JUNGLE | BY H. M. TOMLINSON | WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY | CHRISTOPHER MORLEY | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–x, 1–332 [333–342]. [1–11]16
Contents as 152a except: [ii] blank; [iv] INTRODUCTION COPYRIGHT, 1928, | BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [333–338] ML LIST; [339–340] ML Giants list; [341–342] blank. (Spring 1944)
Jacket: Non-pictorial in dark bluish green (165) and black on cream paper; lettering in black on inset cream panel, background in dark bluish green with series in reverse. Designed by Joseph Blumenthal.
Front flap as 152a jacket C. (Spring 1942)
153
ALEXANDRE DUMAS. THE THREE MUSKETEERS. 1928–1970. (ML 143)
153.1a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE | THREE MUSKETEERS | [rule] | BY | ALEXANDRE DUMAS | [rule] | [
Pp. [4], 1–596. [1–18]16 [19]12
[1] half title; [2]
Jacket A:
Text on front:
The Modern Library offers you herewith a complete and unabridged “Three Musketeers” in one volume to slip into your coat pocket or tuck into an accessible corner of your library shelf. For the next time a fit of boredom or weariness assails you, a dose of d’Artagnan and his three musketeers—Porthos, Athos, and Aramis—is confidently prescribed. (Spring 1928)
Jacket B:
Jacket C: Pictorial in vivid red (11) and black on cream paper depicting four swords held aloft with a plumed hat perched on one of the swords; lettering in black, borders in vivid red. Signed: Staloff. (Spring 1931)
Front flap:
However much the industry of Alexandre Dumas is held up as an example of literature in its first manifestations of mass production, The Three Musketeers still throbs with undiminished pulse for the modern reader. Around those three inseparables, Athos, Parthos [sic] and Aramis, and their fourth comrade in arms and adventure, d’Artagnan, there is a glamorous aura and romantic flourish. They are the progenitors of those “cape and sword” characters whose persistence in fiction is the best tribute to the man who created them in their first and final perfection. (Spring 1934)
Anonymous translation previously published in U.S. by A. L. Burt Co. ML edition printed from Burt plates. Publication announced for February 1928. WR 26 May 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Superseded spring 1950 by Le Clercq translation (153.2).
The ML bought a set of plates from Burt. Neither Burt nor the ML knew the name of the translator or the date of the translation (Doris Schneider to E. P. Dutton Co., 4 April 1929).
Sales of The Three Musketeers during the first six months of 1928 placed it 18th out of 147 ML titles. During the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943 it was low in the third quarter of ML titles in terms of sales. It did not rank among the 100 best-selling titles in the regular ML during the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952.
153.1b. Title page reset (1941)
[within triple rules] The Three | Musketeers | BY | ALEXANDRE DUMAS | [
Pp. [4], 1–596 [597–604]. [1–19]16. Contents as 153.1a except: [2] blank; [4] publication and manufacturing statements within single rules; [597–601] ML list; [602–603] ML Giants list; [604] blank. (Spring 1942)
Jacket: Non-pictorial in moderate blue (182) and black on cream paper with lettering in black on inset moderate blue panel, background in cream. Designed by Joseph Blumenthal.
Front flap as 153.1a jacket C. (Fall 1941)
153.2. Le Clercq translation (1950)
THE THREE | Musketeers | by ALEXANDRE DUMAS In a new | translation by Jacques Le Clercq | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xvii [xviii], [1–2] 3–712 [713–718]. [1–23]16
[i] half title; [ii] blank; [iii] title; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1950, BY RANDOM HOUSE, INC. | FIRST MODERN LIBRARY EDITION, 1950; v–vii CONTENTS; [viii] blank; ix–xiii INTRODUCTION signed p. xiii: Jacques Le Clercq; [xiv] blank; xv–xvii AUTHOR’S PREFACE; [xviii] blank; [1] fly title; [2] blank; 3–712 text; [713–718] ML list. (Spring 1950)
Jacket: Pictorial in deep blue (179) and deep yellowish pink (27) on cream paper with line drawing of musketeers and lettering in deep yellowish pink and black on inset cream panel; background in deep blue with pattern of fleurs-de-lis in deep yellowish pink.
Front flap:
This brand-new translation of one of the world’s masterpieces of adventure is alive with the excitement that has held generation after generation of readers spellbound. For those three inseparables, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, with their fourth comrade-in-arms, d’Artagnan, there never can be a dull moment. They are the archetypes of the “cape and sword” heroes whose persistence in fiction is the best possible tribute to Alexandre Dumas, the man who created them in their first and final perfection. (Spring 1950) Note: Copies of the first printing are most often seen in spring 1950 jackets, but it was not unusual for jackets of new ML titles published in January to have lists from the previous season. Copies of this jacket have been reported with the fall 1949 ML list (MLC 47, April 2004, p. 6).
Le Clercq translation commissioned by ML. Published spring 1950. WR 18 February 1950. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1970/71.
154
DMITRI MEREJKOWSKI. THE ROMANCE OF LEONARDO DA VINCI. 1928–1970. (ML 138)
154a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE ROMANCE OF | LEONARDO DA VINCI | [rule] | TRANSLATED FROM THE | ORIGINAL RUSSIAN OF | DMITRI MEREJKOWSKI | [rule] | BY | BERNARD GUILBERT GUERNEY | [rule] | [
Pp. [2], [i–iv] v–xii, 1–637 [638–644]. [1]16(2+1) [2–20]16 [21]8
[1] half title; [2]
Variant A: Pp. [i–iv] v–xii [xiii–xiv], 1–637 [638–642]. [1–20]16 [21]8. Contents as 154a except: [i] half title; [ii]
pub. note A6 ; [iii] title; [iv] Copyright, 1928, by | THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC. | [short double rule]; [xiii] translator’s dedication; [xiv] blank; blank leaf at end omitted. (Spring 1928)
Variant B: Pp. [i–iv] v–xii [xiii–xiv], 1–635 [636–642]. [1–20]16 [21]8. Contents as variant A except: translator’s notes omitted; [636] blank; [637–640] ML list; [641–642] blank. (Spring 1930)
Variant C: Pp. [i–iv] v–xii [xiii–xiv], 1–637 [638]. [1–20]16 [21]6. Contents as variant A except: [ii]
pub. note D12 ; ML list omitted. (Fall 1934 jacket) Note: Translator’s notes restored.
Jacket A:
Text on front:
Merejkowski’s trilogy of historical romances, collectively entitled Christ and Antichrist, have been translated from the original Russian into every European language. The Death of the Gods is the first of the three, and has for its central figure Julian the Apostate; Leonardo is the second; and the third is Peter and Alexis, which is based on the tragic story of Peter the Great and his son. Despite the fact that Leonardo da Vinci has been heretofore available only in very expensive editions in America, its popularity has increased each year. Mr. Guerney’s new and complete translation for the Modern Library brings within the reach of many new thousands of readers the best biography of what was probably the most versatile genius in all history. (Fall 1927; spring 1928)
Jacket B: Pictorial on light yellowish green (135) paper with inset right profile drawing of Leonardo in black; lettering in black without horizontal borders and rules. Signed: M.S. [Max Schwartz]. (Spring 1928) Note: Used on copies sold as part of Three Renaissance Romances gift box, Christmas 1928.
Jacket C:
Jacket D: As jacket B except on moderate reddish orange (37) paper. Note: Used on copies sold as part of Three Renaissance Romances gift box, Christmas 1929.
Jacket E: Pictorial in green and black on cream paper with drawing as jacket B; lettering in black, borders in green. Signed: M.S. (Spring 1931)
Jacket F: Typographic in grayish reddish brown (46) and black on yellow paper with torchbearer omitted from front panel and title (THE | ROMANCE OF | LEONARDO | DA VINCI) and borders in grayish reddish brown; other lettering in black. (Fall 1931) Later printings in dark purplish gray (234) with front flap:
The insatiable spirit and the unparalleled genius of Leonardo Da [sic] Vinci give radiance to this biographical romance. The heroic grandeur of Leonardo’s achievements in art and science, the fecundity of his mind and the illimitable reaches of his imagination are revealed against the glowing background of the Renaissance. Kings and popes and courtiers, artists and philosophers and poets throng the scene. Dominating them all is Leonardo in a portrait that might have been wrought by one of his own contemporaries. (Fall 1934)
Original ML translation. Published 1 March 1928. WR 17 March 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1970/71.
Publication was originally announced for November 1927 on the basis of Guerney’s promise of a finished manuscript by the beginning of September. The translation took longer than expected; the ML did not receive final installment until 13 January 1928 (Cerf to Ronald Wilkinson, Macmillan Co. of Canada, 14 January 1928).
The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci sold 12,264 copies during the first six months of 1928, making it the ML’s best-selling title. During the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943 it was in the third quarter of ML titles in terms of sales. It did not rank among the 100 best-selling titles in the regular ML during the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952.
The ML edition sold nearly 76,000 copies during its first five years with annual sales as follows: 23,651 copies (1928); 20,933 copies (1929); 14,447 copies (1930); 9,404 copies (1931); and 7,334 copies (1932) (Cerf to Kenneth Roberts, 23 November 1938). It was the ML’s best-selling title during the first half of 1928, with sales of 12,264 copies. During the eighteen-month period May 1942–October 1943 it sold 4,736 copies, placing it in the third quarter of ML sales.
154b. Title page reset (1940)
The Romance of | LEONARDO | DA VINCI | TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF | DMITRI MEREJKOWSKI | BY BERNARD GUILBERT GUERNEY | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xi [xii–xiv], 1–637 [638–642]. [1–20]16 [21]8. Contents as 154a variant A except: [ii] blank; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; v–[xii] as 154a; [638–642] ML list. (Fall 1940) Note: Page numeral “xii” removed from plates.
Variant: Pagination as 154b. [1]16 [2–9]32 [10]8 [11]32 [12]16. Contents as 154b except: [iv] line added: COPYRIGHT RENEWED, 1955, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [638] blank; [639–640] ML Giants list; [641–642] blank. (Spring 1964)
Jacket: Pictorial jacket in moderate reddish brown (43), deep green (142) and other colors on coated white paper depicting Leonardo holding a paint brush with city of Florence in background; title and series in reverse, other lettering in black. Designed by Paul Galdone, June 1940; unsigned. Front flap as 154a jacket E. (Spring 1942)
Also in the Modern Library
Merejkowski, Death of the Gods (1929–1940) 173
Merejkowski, Peter and Alexis (1931–1940) 227
155
VINCENT STARRETT, ed. FOURTEEN GREAT DETECTIVE STORIES. 1928–1949. (ML 144)
155a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] FOURTEEN GREAT | DETECTIVE STORIES | [rule] | EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY | VINCENT STARRETT | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xv [xvi], 1–400. [1–13]16
[i] half title; [ii]
Contents: The Purloined Letter, by Edgar Allan Poe – The Red-Headed League, by A. Conan Doyle – The Blue Cross, by G. K. Chesterton – The Stanway Cameo Mystery, by Arthur Morrison – The Case of Oscar Brodski, by R. Austin Freeman – The Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage, by Ernest Bramah – In the Fog, by Richard Harding Davis – The Age of Miracles, by Melville Davisson Post – The Absent-Minded Coterie, by Robert Barr – The Fenchurch Street Mystery, by Baroness Orczy – The Problem of Cell 13, by Jacques Futrelle – The One Best Bet, by Samuel Hopkins Adams – The Private Bank Puzzle, by Edwin Balmer and William MacHarg – One Hundred in the Dark, by Owen Johnson.
Jacket A:
Text on front:
This anthology includes stories by EDGAR ALLAN POE A. CONAN DOYLE G. K. CHESTERTON RICHARD HARDING DAVIS ARTHUR MORRISON ERNEST BRAMAH MELVILLE DAVISSON POST BARONESS ORCZY SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS OWEN JOHNSON EDWIN BALMER and WILLIAM MACHARG ROBERT BARR JACQUES FUTRELLE N. [sic] AUSTIN FREEMAN There are fourteen stories in all – some of them appearing in an anthology for the first time, all of them notable examples of a type of fiction whose popularity seems to know no bounds. (Spring 1928)
Jacket B:
Front flap:
Detective story addicts will need no introduction to any of the authors represented in this collection. It is an all-star list. The volume is particularly recommended to readers who are inclined to sneer at detective fiction in general, for here they may learn how thrilling—and how well-written—these tales can be made when fashioned by the masters of the craft! Many of these stories appear in an anthology for the first time. (Fall 1933)
Original ML anthology. Published March 1928. WR 7 April 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Superseded 1949 by a revised edition edited by Howard Haycraft (424).
Four years after the publication of Fourteen Great Detective Stories Starrett suggested a volume of crook stories as a companion volume (Starrett to Cerf, 17 October 1932). Nothing came of this idea.
Fourteen Great Detective Stories was the ML’s tenth best-selling title during the first six months of 1928. During the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943 it was in the middle of the second quarter of ML titles in terms of sales.
Starrett declined an invitation in 1946 to revise Fourteen Great Detective Stories, citing lack of time, the “wildly inadequate” fee, and his lack of sympathy with the hard-boiled genre which he believed should be represented (Starrett to Harry E. Maule, 28 July 1946). The revised edition, edited by Howard Haycraft, was published in 1949.
155b. Title page reset (c. 1940)
FOURTEEN | GREAT | DETECTIVE | STORIES | EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY | VINCENT STARRETT | [
Pagination and collation as 155a. Contents as 155a except: [ii] blank; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.
Jacket: Pictorial in moderate greenish blue (173), light yellow (86) and black on coated white paper depicting a figure in top hat walking through deserted street of town at night with gas light in light yellow; lettering in reverse. Signed: Galdone.
Front flap as 155a jacket B. (Spring 1941) Note: A redesigned version of the jacket was used on the revised edition of Fourteen Great Detective Stories, edited by Howard Haycraft and published in 1949. The redesigned jacket is based on Galdone’s 1940 jacket but is unsigned.
156
JAMES JOYCE. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN. 1928–1956. (ML 145)
156a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] A PORTRAIT of the ARTIST | AS A YOUNG MAN | [rule] | BY | JAMES JOYCE | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | HERBERT GORMAN | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xii, [2], 1–299 [300–306]. [1–10]16
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Text on front:
No new method of writing has been more discussed in the last decade than Mr. Joyce’s so-called “stream of consciousness technique”; in this novel, which was published in 1915, he handled this method for the first time on a large scale.
Herbert Gorman, in his introduction to this edition of “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” says: “So profound and beautiful and convincing a book is part of the lasting literature of our age, and if it is overshadowed by the huger proportions and profundities of “Ulysses,” we must still remember that out of it that vaster tome evolved and that in it is the promise of that new literature, new both in form and content, that will be the classics of tomorrow.” (Spring 1928)
Jacket B:
Front flap:
The publication by Random House of James Joyce’s Ulysses, after the ban had been lifted by Judge John M. Woolsey’s epoch-making decision, lends importance to the Modern Library edition of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. This earlier autobiographical novel is a prelude to Ulysses, and it makes clear the method and the scope of the latter work. As the first novel to employ the stream of consciousness technique, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man created a revolution in modern fiction. (Fall 1933)
Originally published in book form by B. W. Huebsch, 1916, and from 1925 by Viking Press. ML edition (pp. [1]–299) printed from Huebsch/Viking plates with Huebsch half title used as a fly title. Published March 1928. WR 7 April 1928. First printing: 8,000 copies. Discontinued fall 1956.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was the ML’s thirteenth best-selling title during the first six months of 1928. During the eighteen-month period May 1942–October 1943 it was at the bottom of the first quarter of ML titles in terms of sales. It slipped into the second quarter of ML titles during the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952 but sold 1,200 more copies on an annual basis than it had in 1942–43. There were thirty-eight ML printings by May 1950 for a total of 99,000 copies (Slocum and Cahoon, pp. 18–19).
Viking Press published A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in its quality paperback series, Compass Books, in August 1956. Viking Press appears to have canceled the ML’s reprint contract in anticipation of the Compass edition and allowed the ML to sell out its existing stock.
156b. Title page reset (c. 1941)
A Portrait of the Artist | As a Young Man | BY JAMES JOYCE | Introduction by HERBERT GORMAN | [
Pagination and collation as 156a.
Contents as 156a except: [ii] blank; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY B. W. HUEBSCH | INTRODUCTION COPYRIGHT, 1928, | BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [301–306] ML list. (Fall 1944)
Variant: Pagination, collation and contents as 156b except: [iv] second line added: COPYRIGHT, RENEWED, 1944, BY NORA JOYCE. (Fall 1955)
Jacket A: Non-pictorial in dark red (16) and black on cream paper; title in black on cream panel at top, other lettering in reverse or black on dark red panel at foot. Front flap as 156a. Designed by Joseph Blumenthal. (Fall 1944)
Jacket B: Non-pictorial in dark yellow (88), moderate bluish green (164) and black on coated white paper with lettering in black against dark yellow background except author in reverse on moderate bluish green band. Front flap as 156a. (Spring 1954)
Also in the Modern Library
Joyce, Dubliners (1926– ) 129
Joyce, Ulysses (Giant, 1940– ) G50
157
EUGENE O’NEILL. THE EMPEROR JONES; THE STRAW. 1928–1936. (ML 146)
157. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE EMPEROR JONES | THE STRAW | [rule] | BY | EUGENE O’NEILL | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | DUDLEY NICHOLS | [rule] | [
Pp. [6], ix–xxv [xxvi], [2], 1–223 [224–230]. [1–8]16
[1] half title; [2]
Jacket A:
Text on front:
It was the production of “The Emperor Jones” in 1920 that put the final seal on Eugene O’Neill’s acceptance as one of America’s most important dramatists.
The play is a story of a fear-crazed negro, told to the accompaniment of a rhythmical drumbeat which starts at a normal pulse and is slowly intensified until the heartbeat of the reader corresponds to the frenzied beat of the drums.
“The Straw” was written in 1918—immediately preceding the composition of “The Emperor Jones.” (Spring 1928)
Jacket B: Alternative pictorial jacket on pale blue (185) paper with inset illustration in black of a bare-chested black man making his way through jungle foliage; lettering in black without horizontal borders and rules. Signed: Davidson. (Spring 1928)
Jacket C:
Jacket D: Pictorial in strong orange (50) and black on yellow paper with inset illustration of a bare-chested black man making his way through jungle foliage; lettering in black, borders in strong orange. Signed: Davidson. (Spring 1931)
Front flap:
Diversity of form and content, an unswerving artistic integrity and an ever-renewing imaginative strength have given Eugene O’Neill his unchallenged place among the first dramatists of the world. Even if his reputation did not draw sustenance from his other published works, his pre-eminence would be assured by The Emperor Jones alone. It is a tour de force of heart-pounding relentlessness that strips naked the terror-stricken soul of a Negro. The Straw reveals another facet of Eugene O’Neill’s many-sided genius. (Spring 1935)
The Emperor Jones and The Straw originally published by Boni & Liveright, 1921, in a volume with O’Neill’s Diff’rent. ML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting. Publication announced for April 1928. WR 9 June 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1 January 1937. Superseded February 1937 by The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, The Hairy Ape (299).
Dudley Nichols of the New York World wrote the introduction after O’Neill declined to write it himself (Cerf to O’Neill, 7 December 1927; Cerf to Nichols, 7 February 1928).
O’Neill made several revisions in the text of The Emperor Jones when he prepared it for The Complete Works of Eugene O’Neill (2 vols., Boni & Liveright, 1924). The most notable were the cutting of speeches by Smithers at the end of Scene One and the end of the play. In the revised version Scene One ends as follows:
Smithers [Looks after him with a puzzled admiration]: ’E’s got ’is bloomin’ nerve with ’im, s’elp me. [Then angrily.] Ho—the bleedin’ nigger—puttin’ on ’is bloody airs! I ’opes they naps ’im an’ gives ’im an’ gives ’im what’s what!
The original version continues:
[Then putting business before the pleasure of this thought, looking around him with cupidity.] A bloke ought to find a ’ole lot in this palace that’d go for a bit of cash. Let’s take a look, ’Arry, me lad. [He starts for the doorway on right as
[The curtain falls]
The revised version of the play ends with Lem’s dialogue: “Gawd blimey, but yer died in the ’eighth o’ style, any’ow!” The original version continues:
[Lem makes a motion to the soldiers to carry the body out left. Smithers speaks to him sneeringly.]
Smithers—And I s’pose you think it’s yer bleedin’ charms and yer silly beatin’ the drum that made ’im run in a circle when ’e’d lost ’imself, don’t yer? [But Lem makes no reply, does not seem to hear the question, walks out left after his men. Smithers looks after him with contemptuous scorn.] Stupid as ’ogs, the lot of ’em. Blarsted niggers![Curtain falls]
The Modern Library used the original version of The Emperor Jones in some collections and the revised version in others. The Emperor Jones; The Straw was probably set in type from The Emperor Jones, Diff’rent, The Straw (Boni & Liveright, 1921) and uses the original version. The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, The Hairy Ape (399), which superseded The Emperor Jones; The Straw in the ML in 1937, also follows the original text. The 1972 Vintage Books edition of The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, The Hairy Ape, which superseded the Modern Library edition and is printed from plates made from a new typesetting, uses the original text. The original version also appears in Six Modern American Plays (441).
In contrast, O’Neill’s Nine Plays (G53), published in 1941 as a ML Giant and printed from plates originally used by Liveright, Inc. in 1932 and later by Random House, has the revised version of The Emperor Jones. The revised version also appears in the 3-volume Plays of Eugene O’Neill (624), published in the ML in 1982. The 3-volume edition was originally published by Random House in 1941 and revised in 1951 when The Iceman Cometh was added.
The Emperor Jones; The Straw, with sales of 3,622 copies, was the 14th best-selling ML title during the first six months of 1928. Sales through 1932 were as follows: 5,855 copies (1928); 2,901 copies (1929); 1,921 copies (1930); 1,405 copies (1931); 756 copies (1932) (Cerf to O’Neill, 2 June 1933).
The ML paid royalties to Boni & Liveright of 10 cents a copy.
O’Neill became a Random House author after the Liveright bankruptcy in 1933. Saxe Commins, his editor at Liveright, also moved to Random House. In choosing between Coward-McCann and Random House, O’Neill wrote:
Cerf . . . has drive and enthusiasm, coupled with keen shrewdness. Moreover, I felt Coward was trade publisher, pure and simple—but Cerf has more to his publishing than that, a love of beautiful books, an appreciation for good literature, an ambition to keep his firm above the level of the others, to expand only along lines of distinction. That, of course, appealed strongly to me. As for background for my stuff, there is no comparison. . . . Cerf has two unique things—Modern Library and Random House.
He also thought Random House would offer better opportunities for Commins:
I feel strongly that Cerf is the better bet for your present and future . . . with him, you will have a real chance to do your stuff and a most congenial atmosphere. . . . With Cerf you’ll undoubtedly be called upon to contribute real imagination and judgment of real writing, once you’ve fitted in there (O’Neill to Commins, June 1933; in Commins, ed., “Love and Admiration and Respect”, pp. 159-60).
Also in the Modern Library
O’Neill, Moon of the Caribbees and Six Other Plays of the Sea (1923–1940) 101
O’Neill, Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, The Hairy Ape (1937–1971) 299
O’Neill, Long Voyage Home (1940–1971) 101e
O’Neill, Nine Plays (Giant, 1941– ) G53
O’Neill, Ah, Wilderness! and Two Other Plays (1964–1973) 559
O’Neill, Plays of Eugene O’Neill, 3 vols. (1982– ) 624
158
LAURENCE STERNE. TRISTRAM SHANDY. 1928–1970. (ML 147)
158.1a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] TRISTRAM SHANDY | [rule] | BY | LAURENCE STERNE | [rule] | [
Pp. [10], 1–270, 281–591 [592–596]; leaf of marbled paper inserted facing p. 202. [1–18]16 [19]8(8+1.2)
[1] half title; [2]
Variant: Pp. [10], 1–270, 281–591 [592]. [1–18]16 [19]8. Contents as 158.1a except: [2]
pub. note D12 ; [4] First statement omitted; leaf of marbled paper omitted. (Spring 1929 jacket)
Jacket A:
Text on front:
The Modern Library edition of Laurence Sterne’s immortal “Tristram Shandy” is complete and unabridged in this one volume—with every one of the author’s most unusual directions to the printer followed in minute detail. (Spring 1928)
Jacket B:
Text on front:
Although the first part of “Tristram Shandy” appeared as long ago as 1760, the editors of the Modern Library feel that they need offer no explanation for its inclusion in a series of latterday classics. Could any writing be more modern in spirit than Laurence Sterne’s—more singularly frank and unconventional? Toby Shandy is a character that will remain universally lovable and admirable for all time. (1928)
Jacket C:
Front flap:
A world deprived of the joyous and audacious spirit of Tristram Shandy would be unthinkable. For two centuries Laurence Sterne’s irrepressible book has served as an unfailing antidote for dullness and pomposity. Its whimsicality and its gusto, its playful digressions and its quaint irrelevancies have contributed to the world’s gaiety. Because it is a classic that retains all the freshness and buoyancy of temper that the present-day reader demands, the Modern Library fulfils its mission by presenting Sterne’s incomparable work in its complete and unabridged version. (Spring 1934)
ML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting. Publication announced for April 1928. WR 9 June 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1970/71.
The leaf of marbled paper mentioned in the text (p. 202) is traditionally included in finer editions. Klopfer thought that its inclusion in the ML edition was “the height of luxury” (Klopfer to R. H. Wilkinson, Macmillan Co. of Canada, 21 June 1928). It was a luxury the ML abandoned after the first printing.
The omission of pp. 271–280 is deliberate. Printings of Tristam Shandy traditionally skip ten pages between Book IV, Chapters 23 and 25. There is no Chapter 24. The text of Chapter 25 begins, “—No doubt, Sir,—there is a whole chapter wanting here—and a chasm of ten pages made in the book by it . . .” (p. 281).
Tristram Shandy was the 17th best-selling title in the ML during the first six months of 1928. During the eighteen-month period May 1942–October 1943 it ranked high in the third quarter of ML titles in terms of sales. It was not among the 100 best-selling titles in the regular ML during the twelve-month period November 1951–October 1952.
158.1b. Title page reset (1940)
[
Pagination and collation as 158.1a variant.
Contents as 158.1a variant except: [2] blank; [4] publication and manufacturing statements within single rules.
Jacket: Pictorial in strong green (141), light yellowish pink (28) and black on coated white paper depicting a man in spectacles and wig; title and author in reverse with title on diagonal axis, other lettering in black, all against strong green background. Signed: E. McKnight Kauffer. The figure depicted on the jacket bears some resemblance to Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of Sterne, but it is not clear whether it is meant to be Sterne or Tristram Shandy. Kauffer’s illustration was also used in 1941 on the jacket of the ML Giant edition of Tristram Shandy & A Sentimental Journey (G54) with the background in dark red.
Front flap as 158.1a jacket B. (Fall 1940)
158.2a. Text reset (mid-1940s)
The Life and Opinions of | TRISTRAM SHANDY | Gentleman | by Laurence Sterne | [
Pp. [i–vi] vii [viii], [1–2] 3–312, 323–674. [1–21]16
[i] half title; [ii] blank; [iii] title; [iv] publication and manufacturing statements within single rules; [v] dedicatory letter; [vi] blank; vii CONTENTS; [viii] blank; [1] fly title; [2] blank; 3–312, 323–674 text. Note: The marbled paper is restored in 158.2, but instead of tipping in a leaf of genuine marbled paper as in the first printing of 158.1a, p. 235 is printed in a black-and-white marbled pattern.
Jacket: As 158.1b. (Fall 1947)
158.2b. Evans introduction added (1950)
The Life & Opinions of | TRISTRAM SHANDY | Gentleman | [short decorative rule] By Laurence Sterne | Introduction by Bergen Evans | Professor of English, Northwestern University | [short decorative rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xxi [xxii], [1–2] 3–312, 323–674 [675–676]. [1–20]16 [21]8 [22]16
Contents as 158.2a except: [iv] Copyright, 1950, by Random House, Inc.; v–xvii INTRODUCTION | By Bergen Evans; xviii SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY; [xix] dedicatory letter; [xx] blank; xxi CONTENTS; [xxii] blank; [675–676] blank.
Jacket: As 158.1b. (Fall 1952)
Front flap reset with minor revisions. (Fall 1956)
Originally published 1950 in MLCE and subsequently in regular ML. Evans received $150 for his introduction (Stein to Evans, 3 February 1950).
159
THEODORE DREISER. TWELVE MEN. 1928–1934. (ML 148)
159. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] TWELVE MEN | [rule] | BY | THEODORE DREISER | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | ROBERT BALLOU | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–ix [x], [2], 1–360 [361–364]. [1–11]16 [12]12
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Text on front:
“Twelve Men” shows, with a few unimportant breaks, a deliberate return to Drieser’s first manner—the manner of pure representation, of searching understanding, of unfailing gusto and contagious wonderment. . . . Here are simply a dozen sketches of character—rotund, brilliantly colored, absolutely alive. The thing is done capitally, and, at its top points, superbly. H. L. Mencken
In all these portraits there is that same sincere attempt to present the men as they are—the modern Heliogabalus, and the modern ascetic, the section boss, and the village patriarch. Here is wondrous, inscrutable, fascinating life as revealed in the diversity of twelve marionettes of the Great Impressario [sic]. It is one of the most unusual books in our literature, and certainly one of the best books that Dreiser has given us. Burton Rascoe (Spring 1928)
Jacket B:
Originally published by Boni & Liveright, 1919. ML edition (pp. [1]–360) printed from B&L plates with contents page omitted. Publication announced for June 1928. WR 4 August 1928. First (and only) printing: 10,000 copies. Discontinued fall 1934.
Cerf negotiated the ML edition directly with Dreiser, who controlled the rights to Twelve Men. He initially offered Dreiser an advance of $1,200 against royalties of 12 cents a copy (Cerf to Dreiser, 6 October 1927). The reprint agreement dated 13 October 1927 provided for royalties of 11 cents a copy to Dreiser and 1 cent a copy to B&L for the use of their plates. B&L received $200 for approving the ML reprint; this appears to have been an advance against the plate rental and was deducted from the advance initially offered to Dreiser, who received $1,000 when the contract was signed.
Dreiser wanted to use H. L. Mencken’s review in the New York Sun (13 April 1919) as an introduction to the ML edition. Cerf offered Mencken $50 for permission to reprint it (Cerf to Mencken, 4 November 1927), but Mencken either declined or did not reply. He then asked Sinclair Lewis to write the introduction. Lewis indicated that he liked Twelve Men very much but had no time since he was just beginning a new novel (Cerf to Sinclair Lewis, 13 December 1927; Lewis to Cerf, 3 January 1928). Charles Merz of the New York World also declined (Merz to Cerf, 9 February 1928). The introduction was finally written by Robert O. Ballou of the Chicago Daily News, who began it with the words, “Dreiser ought to be doing this himself” (p. v).
Sales of the ML edition were disappointing. Twelve Men ranked 34th among the best-selling titles in the ML during the first six months of 1928 with sales of 2,358 copies, most of which were advance sales. Sales fell off steadily thereafter. A memo in the RH Papers (Box 77, Dreiser file) indicates a total sale of 9,749 copies as follows: 4,718 copies (1928); 1,837 copies (1929); 1,546 copies (1930); 681 copies (1931); 421 copies (1932); 380 copies (1933); and 166 copies (to October 1934).
Several years after the ML edition was discontinued, Dreiser wrote that Twelve Men was no longer available in any edition. “My publishers, Simon and Schuster, have consistently refused, because of my inability to furnish them with a third volume of the Cowperwood Trilogy, to keep my works in print or to distribute them, and since that leaves me without a publisher other than yourself I would like to arrange for, at least, a reprint of this volume” (Dreiser to Cerf, 4 April 1939). Cerf explained why Twelve Men had been discontinued and added, “I believe that one of the main reasons that the Modern Library has remained popular all these years is that we have taken out the slow-moving titles each year and allowed the booksellers to return them for full credit, thereby assuring them a fresh stock with a turnover that warrants their keeping the line in a prominent position in their stores” (Cerf to Dreiser, 10 April 1939).
Also in the Modern Library
Dreiser, Free and Other Stories (1924–1931) 106
Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1932–1971) 230
Dreiser, American Tragedy (Giant, 1956–1968) G89
160
GERHART HAUPTMANN. THE HERETIC OF SOANA. 1928–1931. (ML 149)
160. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE | HERETIC OF SOANA | [rule] | BY | GERHART HAUPTMANN | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | HARRY SALPETER | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xxxi [xxxii], [3–4] 5–192 [193–194]. [1–7]16
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket:
Text on front:
The world knows Gerhart Hauptmann as dramatist, and, largely because of the nature of some of his dramas, as poet. When, in 1912, Gerhart Hauptmann, then fifty years of age, was awarded the Nobel prize for literature, it was “principally for his rich, versatile and prominent activity in the realm of the drama.” To a world which knows Hauptmann by his “The Sunken Bell,” there is no more convenient way of introducing a work of his which yet is not so widely known as by saying that “The Heretic of Soana” is to Gerhart Hauptmann’s prose fiction what “The Sunken Bell” is to his poetical dramas. (Spring 1928; Fall 1928)
Originally published in U.S. by B. W. Huebsch, 1923, whose firm merged with Viking Press in 1925. ML edition (pp. [3]–192) printed from Huebsch/Viking plates with the Huebsch half title used as a fly title. Published July 1928. WR 4 August 1928. First (and probably only) printing: 6,000 copies. Discontinued April 1931.
The ML failed to identify the translator, Bayard Quincy Morgan. Viking Press pointed out the oversight, and Klopfer promised to add Morgan’s name to the next printing (Klopfer to Viking Press, 23 July 1930). However, The Heretic of Soana sold poorly, and there does not appear to have been a second printing. Copies of the first printing have been seen with the remainder marking of a star stamped on the endpaper.
161
ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL. THE ART OF WHISTLER. 1928–1936. (ML 150)
161. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE | ART OF WHISTLER | [rule] | BY | ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL | WITH | JOSEPH PENNELL, | AUTHOR OF “LIFE OF WHISTLER” AND | THE “WHISTLER JOURNAL” | [rule] | WITH THIRTY-TWO REPRODUCTIONS | IN THE AQUATONE PROCESS | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–vi] vii–xxi [xxii], 1–201 [202]. [1–14]8
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Text on front:
It so happens that this volume, Number 150 in the Modern Library, appears just ten years [sic] after the first book in the series—Oscar Wilde’s “Dorian Gray” it was—made its appearance in the shops. The editors feel that they can show their appreciation of the support accorded the entire series by booklovers of America in no more appropriate way than by publishing these reproductions of Whistler’s beautiful art, with an understanding biography by Elizabeth Robins Pennell, at the regular Modern Library price. (Spring 1928)
Jacket B:
Text on front:
“32 Reproductions in the Aquatone Process | With an understanding biography by Elizabeth Robins Pennell”. (Spring 1929)
Original ML publication. Text and illustrations printed by the “aquatone process.” Published August 1928. WR 8 September 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued fall 1936.
The ML’s regular printers did letterpress printing only. The verso of the title page states: “Printed by the aquatone process by | Edward Stern &Company, Inc.”
There were at least two printings of The Art of Whistler. The statement “First Modern Library Edition | 1928” appears to have been retained on all ML printings. The “First Modern Library Edition” statement was usually removed from letterpress plates after the first printing; ML books printed by offset processes typically retained such statements on all printings.
The ML volume is “essentially a miniature version of the Pennells’ previous biography of the life of Whistler” (Getscher and Marks, p. 97). The Life of James McNeill Whistler by Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Joseph Pennell was originally published in two volumes by J. B. Lippincott (1908) and appeared in a one-volume revised version in 1911. Joseph Pennell died in 1926. Cerf invited Elizabeth Robins Pennell to edit and arrange a short version for the ML, and she prepared the manuscript on her own.
Klopfer had vivid memories of the publication of the book. Cerf lost the manuscript that Mrs. Pennell had submitted and insisted on a coin toss to determine which of the two partners would convey the bad news to the author. Cerf won the toss, and Klopfer went to see Mrs. Pennell at her home in Brooklyn to explain what had happened. He was then in his mid-twenties, and the author was in her early seventies. Klopfer struggled to get around to the purpose of the visit; finally Mrs. Pennell said, “Young man, are you trying to tell me you lost the manuscript?”—and produced a back-up copy (Klopfer to Cerf, 20 November 1942; Klopfer interview with GBN, 5 July 1978).
Shortly after publication of The Art of Whistler Klopfer invited Mrs. Pennell to edit a companion volume, The Art of Joseph Pennell (Klopfer to Pennell, 9 March 1929), but the projected volume was never submitted.
Klopfer offered Allen Lane, who distributed several ML titles in Britain before he founded Penguin Books in 1935, 1,000 unbound copies of The Art of Whistler in sheets at 30 cents a set, which, he noted, “is darn near our actual cost.” He added, “We lose money on this book, but as we don’t sell very many it doesn’t make much difference” (Klopfer to Lane, 11 August 1931). In contrast, Suetonius’s Lives of the Twelve Caesars (217), which was 150 pages longer than the Whistler volume but had no illustrations, could be supplied in sheets at 20 cents a set.
Fall
162
FRANÇOIS RABELAIS. GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL. 1928–1944. (ML 4)
162a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] GARGANTUA AND | PANTAGRUEL | [rule] | BY | RABELAIS | [rule] | EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY | DONALD DOUGLAS | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–vi] vii–xii, [1–2] 3–543 [544–548]. [1–17]16n[18]8
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Jacket B:
Front flap:
The four books of Rabelais remain forever the four gospels of the joyous and irredeemable brotherhood of sinners. Against the weariness of a forbidding morality and the rumbling pretences of its pious advocates, there is always the wholehearted ribaldry and rollicking laughter of Rabelais. His gigantic nonsense and his gay and lecherous love of life give his books the stature and vitality of his own heroes. The Modern Library version, condensed by Professor Donald Douglas, is as faithful in spirit as it is intelligent in its selectiveness. (Fall 1933)
Original ML abridgment of the Urquhart-Motteux translation. Published September 1928. WR 13 October 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1 January 1945 following the publication of The Complete Works of Rabelais (G66).
The ML commissioned Douglas to prepare an abridged edition of Rabelais. The manuscript was due in May 1927, but Douglas’s work on it was held up by a succession of bouts with influenza. There were other problems as well. In one letter he told Cerf, “I had worked about six hours a day for a week on Rabelais . . . and then you told me the whole thing must be expurgated” (Douglas to Cerf, 6 October 1927). When he finally submitted the manuscript he exclaimed, “It was the hardest job I ever did in my life” (Douglas to Cerf, 4 January 1928).
Douglas commented on the expurgation in the introduction: “To cleanse Rabelais (as is done in the present edition) is not, as H. G. Wells would say, like cleaning rabbits for the table. It is like cleaning the immense Augean stables. It is like purifying the fertility of the earth or turning the curious and inventive mind into a glass house for fear of stones. By the laws of our own age it has become necessary and obligatory” (pp. ix–x). Douglas’s edition was superseded in 1944 by The Complete Works of Rabelais (G66) in an unabridged translation by Jacques Le Clercq.
Gargantua and Pantagruel ranked in the middle of the third quarter of ML titles in terms of sales during the 18-month period May 1942-1943.
The ML plates were used by Walter J. Black, Inc., for an undated printing.
162b. Title page reset (c. 1940)
GARGANTUA | AND | PANTAGRUEL | BY | RABELAIS | EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION | BY DONALD DOUGLAS | [
Pagination and collation as 162a.
Contents as 162a except: [ii] blank; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [544–548] blank.
Jacket: Pictorial in vivid yellow (82), dark reddish orange (38), medium gray (265) and black on coated white paper depicting Pantagruel in left profile; title in black and dark reddish orange, author in reverse, series in gray. Signed: E. McKnight Kauffer.
Front flap as 162a jacket B. (Spring 1941)
Also in the Modern Library
Rabelais, Complete Works of Rabelais, translated by Jacques Le Clercq (Giant, 1944–1970) G66
163
ANATOLE FRANCE. THE REVOLT OF THE ANGELS. 1928–1938. (ML 11)
163. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE REVOLT | OF THE ANGELS | [rule] | BY | ANATOLE FRANCE | [rule] | [
Pp. [4], [1–6] 7–348. [1–11]16
[1] half title; [2]
Format: The first printing has a trim size of 6⅝ x 4¼ in. (167 x 108 mm); later printings revert to the ML’s standard trim size of 6½ x 4¼ in. (164 x 108 mm).
Jacket A:
Jacket B:
Front flap:
The mighty corridors of heaven and the mean and fashionable streets of Paris provide the scenes for Anatole France’s most fabulous satire. Angels and mortals, seraphim and syndicalists, demiurges and trollops mingle in love and in the daily pursuits of life. This novel, recounting the visitation to earth of the messengers of God and Satan, reveals Anatole France at his impious best as the subtle ironist and the resourceful historian of disillusion. The Revolt of the Angels is one of five Anatole France titles in the Modern Library. (Spring 1934)
Translation by Mrs. Wilfrid Jackson originally published in U.S. by John Lane, 1914, and from 1922 by Dodd, Mead & Co. ML edition (pp. [1–4], 7–348) printed from a duplicate set of Lane/Dodd, Mead plates with running heads removed and original page numerals in the headline replaced by smaller numerals placed closer to the text. Published September 1928. WR 13 October 1928. First printing: 10,000 copies. Discontinued 1 January 1939.
The Dodd, Mead trade edition of The Revolt of the Angels was an attractive volume with a trim size of 8½ x 5⅝ inches. The type page (text and headline) measured 6¼ x 3½ inches, allowing generous margins. The Modern Library wanted to print from Dodd, Mead plates to avoid typesetting and plate making costs. However, the plates produced a typepage that was barely ⅛ inch shorter than the Modern Library’s standard trim size (6⅝ x 4¼ inches). This was a problem.
In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s the ML dealt with situations like this by photographing the original publisher’s edition, reducing the size of the type page photographically, and printing by offset lithography. The quality of printing was inferior to letterpress and printing costs were higher, but offset lithography saved the cost of a new typesetting. Cerf and Klopfer do not appear to have considered offset lithography as an option in the 1920s. Marshall Lee states, “The necessary techniques were developed in the early part of the century, but it was not until the 1920s that any considerable commercial printing was done by this method, and it was not until after World War II that it became a major book printing industry. The method would have had more use in its early days had it been able to deliver a better result, but the skills were not well enough advanced to avoid the gray, flat quality that marked lithography as a ‘cheap’ process” (Lee, Bookmaking, 2nd ed., p. 136).
The Modern Library’s solution was to print from a duplicate set of Dodd, Mead plates with the running heads removed. The original page numerals were part of the headline, so the Modern Library had to add new page numerals. The added numerals were squeezed uncomfortably close to the first line of text, and they were set in a different font that was smaller and less compatible with the text than the original numerals. Margins on all sides were minimal. The first Modern Library printing was ⅛ inch taller than the series’ standard format; later printings reverted to the standard format with even narrower margins at the foot. The result was one of worst looking books the Modern Library ever produced.
The Revolt of the Angels sold well through 1931 and slowly thereafter. The ML edition was reprinted three times in 1929 and 1930 for a total of 17,000 copies in print. Between 1931 and 1936 there were three printings of 1,000 copies each. Sales totaled 18,915 copies by June 1936, shortly before the final printing. Subsequent sales were as follows: 366 copies(July–December 1936); 344 copies (1937); 319 copies (1938); and 256 copies (January–June 1939, after the ML edition was officially discontinued). The figures for July 1936–June 1939 include the resale of copies returned by booksellers; sales subject to royalty payments during this period totaled 753 copies.
The Revolt of the Angels was discontinued in 1938 because of declining sales, shortly before the ML introduced a new and larger format designed by Joseph Blumenthal that could have accommodated the Dodd, Mead plates more comfortably.
Also in the Modern Library
France, The Red Lily (1917–1937) 7
France, Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1917–1942) 21
France, Queen Pédauque (1923–1933) 100
France, Thaïs (1924–1938) 109
France, Penguin Island (1933–1970; 1984– ) 253
164
JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS. THE LIFE OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI. 1928–1970. (ML 49)
164a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE LIFE OF | MICHELANGELO | BUONARROTI |[rule] | BY | JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–vi] vii–viii, [2], 1–544 [545–550]. [1–17]16 [18]8
[i] half title; [ii]
Variant: Pagination and collation as 164a. Contents (including First statement) as 164a except: [ii]
pub. note A6 . (Fall 1928) Probably a later printing but priority with 164a not established.
Jacket A:
Jacket B: Pictorial without horizontal borders or rules with lettering and inset drawing of Michelangelo’s Moses in black on moderate reddish orange (37) paper. Signed: Davidson. (Spring 1928) Reprinted spring 1929 on grayish red (19) paper. Note: Jacket used on copies sold as part of Three Renaissance Romances gift box, Christmas 1928 and 1929, and possibly as an alternate pictorial jacket on regular ML sales. The Life of Michelangelo in the 1928 gift box is bound in green Keratol and in balloon cloth in the 1929 gift box.
Jacket C: Pictorial in strong reddish orange (35) and black on cream paper with inset drawing as jacket B; lettering in black, borders in strong reddish orange. (Spring 1929)
Front flap:
John Addington Symond’s [sic] biography is more than a study of a unique personality; it is an incarnation of the Renaissance and an evaluation of its most titanic symbol. In the ninety years of Michelangelo’s life, three-quarters of a century was consecrated to a burning sense of beauty, which took form in his colossal plastic figures and the impassioned sonnets. The versatile creator of the Sistine chapel, sculptor of the Medicean tombs, the architect and writer completely embodies the Carlyle-Nietzschean conception of “the hero as artist.” (Fall 1933)
Originally published in U.S. by Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1893, in 2 volumes. ML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting. Published October 1928. WR 3 November 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1970/71.
The PW advertisement announcing the publication of The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti noted that the ML edition was “1/8 the price of other editions!” (PW, 4 August 1928, p. 368).
The Life of Michelangelo ranked in the fourth quarter of ML titles in terms of sales during the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943. It was not among the 100 best-selling titles in the regular ML during the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952.
164b. Title page reset (c. 1940)
[
Pagination and collation as 164a.
Contents as 164a except: [ii] blank; [iv] publication and manufacturing statements within single rules; [545–549] ML list; [550] blank. (Spring 1941)
Jacket: Pictorial in deep orange (51), dark brown (59), dark gray (266) and black on coated white paper depicting a large hand holding a book; title and author in dark gray with “MICHELANGELO” on a diagonal axis overlapping black sleeve and white background, series in deep orange. Signed: E. McKnight Kauffer. Front flap as 164a jacket C with placement of apostrophe corrected. (Spring 1941)
Front flap revised:
Even more than a study of one of the most heroic personalities of history, John Addington Symond’s [sic] biography of Michelangelo becomes an evaluation of the Renaissance and its most titanic symbol. Of the ninety years of Michelangelo’s life, three-quarters of a century was consecrated to his great works of art. The unexcelled sculptured figures and the impassioned sonnets suggest two facets of his complex creative personality. The painter of the Sistine Chapel, the sculptor of the Medicean tombs, the architect and the writer indicate the versatility of his gifts and the richness of the heritage he has bestowed upon mankind. (Fall 1960)
Also in the Modern Library
Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, 2 vols. (1935–1941) G19
165
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER. THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOPENHAUER. 1928–1970. (ML 52)
165a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE PHILOSOPHY OF | SCHOPENHAUER | [rule] | EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY | IRWIN EDMAN | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xiv, [1–2] 3–376 [377–378]. [1–12]16n[13]4
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Jacket B: Uniform pictorial jacket in orange and black on yellow paper. Signed: W.C.
Front flap:
The philosopher of the hopelessness of the human predicament, is the oracle of the young and the disenchanted. For those who dream of the unattainable and those who attain the sad reality of a dream, the cynical incisiveness of his writings has a singular charm and persuasion. This volume, edited by the foremost authority on Schopenhauer in America, Professor Irwin Edman, includes in essence the masterpiece, The World as Will and Idea and all of the famous essay, The Metaphysics of the Love of the Sexes. (Spring 1935)
Original ML collection. Published October 1928. WR 3 November 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1970/71.
The Philosophy of Schopenhauer was low in the second quarter of ML titles in terms of sales during the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943. It did not rank among the 100 best-selling titles in the regular ML during the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952.
Edman received royalties of 5 cents a copy after the first 10,000ncopies.
165b. Title page reset (c. 1941)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF | SCHOPENHAUER | Edited, with an introduction byIRWIN EDMAN | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xiv, [1–2] 3–376 [377–386]. [1–12]16 [13]8
Contents as 165a except: [ii] blank; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [377–382] ML list; [383–384] ML Giants list; [385–386] blank. (Spring 1946)
Variant: Pagination as 165b. [1]16 [2–5]32 [6]8 [7]32 [8]16. Contents as 165b except: [iv] second line added: COPYRIGHT, RENEWED, 1956, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [385] American College Dictionary advertisement; [386] blank. (Fall 1959)
Jacket: Non-pictorial in dark green (146) and dark red (16) on cream paper with title in reverse on inset dark green panel bordered in dark red; other lettering in dark red, torchbearer in dark green. Designed by Joseph Blumenthal.
Front flap as 165a jacket B. (Fall 1946)
165c. Title page with Fujita torchbearer; 7½ inch format (1969/70)
Title as 165b except
Pagination and collation as 165b variant.
Contents as 165b variant except: [377–384] ML list; [385–386] ML Giants list. (Spring 1967)
Jacket: Fujita non-pictorial jacket in black, gray and green on coated white paper with following 8 lines within single-rule frame in green: “PHILOSOPHY OF | SCHOPENHAUER” printed three times in gray, title “THE | PHILOSOPHY OF | SCHOPENHAUER” in reverse with first line superimposed over last gray line; Fujita ML symbol in gray at upper left, editor in reverse below frame, all against solid black background; Fujita torchbearer on spine in green.
Front flap:
The first of modern philosophers to insist on the primacy of will over intellect, Schopenhauer, who himself derived much of his thought from Kant, started a movement whose influence was felt by Nietzsche, James, Bergson and Dewey. The continuing popularity of his work, however, rests not on his influence on other thinkers of his time or on the logical strength of his metaphysics, but on his resonant prose, and the accessibility to the nonacademic reader of what Irwin Edman calls, in his introduction, a “philosophy in the old and appealing meaning of the wisdom of life. . . . the alert, half-sad, half-cynical harvest of a candid eye.”
This volume contains Schopenhauer’s major work, The World as Will and Idea, as well as the essay, “The Metaphysics of the Love of the Sexes.”
Also in the Modern Library
Schopenhauer, Studies in Pessimism (1917–1934) 12
166
MARCEL PROUST. SWANN’S WAY. 1928–1971; 1977–1982. (ML 59)
166.1a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] SWANN’S WAY | [rule] | BY | MARCEL PROUST | [rule] | TRANSLATED BY | C. K. SCOTT MONCRIEFF | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | LEWIS GALANTIÈRE | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–vi] vii–xv [xvi], 1–551 [552]. [1–17]16 [18]12
[i] half title; [ii]
Variant: Pp. [i–vi] vii–xv [xvi], 1–551 [552–560]. [1–18]16. Contents as 166.1a except: [ii]
pub. note A6 ; [552] blank; [553–558] ML list; [559–560] blank. (Spring 1934)
Jacket A:
Jacket B: Pictorial in moderate orange (53) and black on cream paper with silhouette of Proust in reverse on inset scalloped black panel; borders in moderate orange, lettering in moderate orange and black. Signed: Brienza.
Front flap:
Swann’s Way is the first volume of Marcel Proust’s life work, Remembrance of Things Past. Independently, it is a unique and stimulating novel, but in a larger sense, it is an overture to a magnificent symphony, announcing its theme and mood and bringing into being its empire of notable character creations. (Spring 1934)
Originally published in U.S. in two volumes by Henry Holt & Co., 1922, using imported sheets of the Chatto & Windus edition. Published in one volume by Albert & Charles Boni, 1930; using plates made from a new typesetting. ML edition printed from Boni plates. Published November 1928. WR 1 December 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1971/72. Reissued 1977–1982.
Klopfer initially offered royalties of 5 cents a copy, then increased the offer to 8 cents (Klopfer to Bernice Baumgarten, Brandt & Brandt, 23 March 1928 and 29 March 1928).
The ML edition sold nearly 30,000 copies during its first four years with annual sales as follows: 11,874 copies; 8,854 copies; 5,395 copies; and 3,513 copies (Cerf to Kenneth Roberts, 23 November 1938). Swann’s Way was high in the third quarter of ML titles during the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943. Sales increased significantly during the early 1950s. It ranked in the middle of the second quarter of ML sales during the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952
166.1b. Title page reset (1941)
SWANN’S | WAY | BY | MARCEL PROUST | TRANSLATED BY | C. K. SCOTT MONCRIEFF | INTRODUCTION BY | LEWIS GALANTIÈRE | [
Pagination and collation as 166.1a.
Contents as 166.1a variant except: [ii] blank; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [553–557] ML list; [558–559] ML Giants list; [560] blank. (Fall 1941)
Jacket: Not seen; probably as 166.2a.
166.2a. Text reset (1948?)
Title as 166.1b except lines 8–9: LEWIS GALANTIERE | [
Pp. [i–vi] vii–xiv, [1–2] 3–611 [612–618]. [1–18]16 [19]12 [20]16
[i] half title; [ii] blank; [iii] title; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.; [v] CONTENTS; [vi] blank; vii–xiv INTRODUCTION signed p. xiv: Lewis Galantiere. | New York, September, 1928.; [1] fly title; [2] blank; 3–611 text; [612] blank; [613–618] ML list. (Spring 1952) Note: The accent grave is omitted from Galantière’s name on the title page and at the end of the introduction. His name is seen in both forms, but Galantière appears to be the more formal and correct.
Variant: Pagination as 166.2a. [1]16 [2–9]32 [10]28 [11]16. Contents as 166.2a except: [iv] second line added: COPYRIGHT, RENEWED, 1956, BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC. (Fall 1956)
Jacket: Pictorial in moderate blue (182) and gold on coated white paper with silhouette of Proust in gold against solid moderate blue background with lettering in reverse. Designed by Joseph Blumenthal.
Front flap as 166.1a jacket B. (Fall 1951)
166.2b. Title page with Fujita torchbearer (1968)
Title as 166.1b through line 8; lines 9–10: [
Pagination as 166.2a. [1]16 [2–8]32n[9]28 [10]32 [11]16
Contents as 166.2a variant except: [612–613] ML Giants list; [614–618] blank. (Spring 1967)
Jacket: As 166.2a.
166.1c. Reissue format (1977)
SWANN’S WAY | MARCEL PROUST | Translated by | C. K. SCOTT MONCRIEFF |Introduction by | LEWIS GALANTIÈRE | [
Pagination as 166.1b. Perfect bound.
Contents as 166.1a except: [ii] blank; [iv] Copyright 1928 by The Modern Library, Inc. | Copyright renewed 1956 by The Modern Library, Inc.; [552–560] blank.
Jacket: Non-pictorial on kraft paper with lettering in reddish brown and torchbearer in brown.
Front flap:
Swann’s Way, the first volume of Proust’s great seven-volume masterpiece Remembrance of Things Past, was first published in France in 1913, at Proust’s own expense. The most popular of his books, it stands alone as a unique recreation of what was actually Proust’s own childhood. Swann, the focal character, is the son of a stockbroker and has entered into an “unfortunate” marriage. Marcel, the narrator, remembers that his family’s guests during the early period of his life were practically limited to Swann, who, like the other people in Marcel’s early memories, seemed to him to be “abounding in leisure, fragrant with the scent of the great chestnut-tree.” If I think of it,” says Marcel at the end of Remembrance of Things Past, “the substance of my experience came to me through Swann.”
Published fall 1977 at $5.95. ISBN 0-394-60429-6.
Also in the Modern Library
Proust, Within a Budding Grove (1930–1970) 194
Proust, Guermantes Way (1933–1970) 264
Proust, Cities of the Plain (1938–1970) 316
Proust, The Captive (1941–1970) 340
Proust, Sweet Cheat Gone (1948–1971) 408
Proust, The Past Recaptured (1951–1971) 443
167
APULEIUS. THE GOLDEN ASS OF APULEIUS. 1928–1937. (ML 88)
167. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] THE GOLDEN ASS | OF APULEIUS | [rule] | TRANSLATED BY | W. ADLINGTON | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–xvii [xviii], 1–301 [302]. [1–10]16
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket:
Text on front: “The first of a selection of great classics, hitherto unobtainable in a popular edition, be added to the Modern Library.” (Fall 1928)
ML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting. Published November 1928. WR 1 December 1928. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued fall 1937.
Cerf invited Edmund Wilson to write an introduction to The Golden Ass and offered the ML’s standard $50 fee. “For a long time I have been meaning to ask you to write an introduction for one of our new additions to the Modern Library. . . . If you would rather write an introduction for another of the new titles, that could be arranged” (Cerf to Wilson, 18 July 1928). Wilson either declined or did not respond.
168
VIRGINIA WOOLF. MRS. DALLOWAY. 1928–1949. (ML 96)
168a. First printing (1928)
[within double rules] MRS. DALLOWAY | [rule] | BY | VIRGINIA WOOLF | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | VIRGINIA WOOLF | [rule] | [
Pp. [i–iv] v–ix [x], 3–296. [1–9]16 [10]8
[i] half title; [ii]
Jacket A:
Front flap:
Virginia Woolf’s vibrant sensitiveness to the casual, her unerring susceptibility to impressions and the firm texture of her prose combine to make Mrs. Dalloway a novel of distinction and absorbing interest. The events of the single day on which Clarissa Dalloway prepares for a party become a pageant of London. By means of technique both delicate and sure, a vivid chronicle of men and women of diverse character unfolds itself, revealing a cross-section of English life compressed into the flow of a few hours. (Fall 1936)
Jacket B: Non-pictorial jacket in light violet (210), deep reddish orange (36) and black on white paper with title in deep reddish orange on inset white panel on diagonal axis; author’s name in reverse and other lettering in black, all against light violet background. Designed by Valenti Angelo; unsigned. Front flap as jacket A. (Spring 1939)
Originally published in U.S. by Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1925. ML edition (pp. 3–296) printed from Harcourt, Brace plates. Published December 1928. WR 12 January 1929. First printing: 7,500 copies. Discontinued fall 1949.
ML sales of Mrs. Dalloway totaled 61,000 copies (Kirkpatrick, Virginia Woolf, p. 26). Mrs. Dalloway sold 4,271 copies during the eighteen-month period May 1942–October 1943, placing it in the third quarter of ML titles in terms of sales. To the Lighthouse (306) was in the fourth quarter during this period with sales of 3,203 copies.
Lewis Miller, the RH sales manager, reviewed the jacket design that Angelo originally submitted and asked for revisions: “Would you try to do the lettering for the title in a little simpler fashion to increase visibility. Also the pinkish lettering against the white is perhaps not strong enough. Could I recommend that you think in terms of a darker ink for the lettering?” (Miller to Angelo, 15 March 1939).
Harcourt, Brace decided in 1948 to launch its own hardbound reprint series, Harbrace Modern Classics, in response to the burgeoning postwar college market. It served notice that it was terminating the ML’s reprint contracts for Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and seven other titles, including works by E. M. Forster, Sinclair Lewis, Katherine Anne Porter, and Lytton Strachey (S. Spencer Scott, Harcourt, Brace, to ML, 18 May 1948). At that time the ML had 1,400 copies of Mrs. Dalloway in stock. Klopfer estimated that it would take six months for the books to sell out (Klopfer to Scott, 3 June 1948; 28 June 1948).
168b. Title page reset (c. 1940)
MRS. | DALLOWAY | BY | VIRGINIA WOOLF | INTRODUCTION BY | VIRGINIA WOOLF | [
Pagination and collation as 168a.
Contents as 168a except: [ii] blank; [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1928, | BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC.
Variant: Pagination, collation and contents as 168b except: [iv] COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY HARCOURT, BRACE & CO. | INTRODUCTION COPYRIGHT, 1928, | BY THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC. (Fall 1942 jacket)
Jacket 2b: Enlarged version of 168a jacket 2a. (Spring 1942)
Also in the Modern Library
Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1937–1948) 306