1929 Transitional Bindings

Early 1929 saw the transition from the number 4 bindings with Bernhard endpapers to number 5 bindings with Kent end papers. But in the transition some interesting combinations showed up for a few months. (Henry Toledano points out that the Modern Library was infamous for using whatever binding was in the warehouse at a given time until it was used up.) Special thanks to Sam Gottlieb and Sharon Biederman for pointing out that these variations exist.

	The number 4 bindings were leatherette with a grainy finish and a left-facing Bernhard colophon, and were used from 1925 to early 1929.
	The number 5 bindings were balloon cloth with a tree colophon at the base of the spine and a large right-facing blindstamped Kent runner on the front cover. It also had new Kent end papers. It was in use from the end of 1928 to sometime in 1930 (just about a year).
	This transitional binding showed up in a dust jacket with 150 entries pointing to the end of 1928 going into 1929. The binding style was in use for just three months - January through March of 1929. The actual color of this binding is very bright red. Both the colophon and spine look like binding 4, but the balloon cloth and Kent end papers (not shown) are precursors of binding 5.
	I found a third one like the second, also in a 150-title jacket, but with Bernhard end papers. On the left you see the three spines together. On the right is a William James variation (114.1) sent in by Amy Comeau who first alerted me to the ML "vanity" printings. If you've found a different variation, or you have comments, please e-mail me.

Go back to the Modern Library page