Thread Name: Post-1970 MLs (was Re: Curious ML Binding on 1971 Book) From: j b krygier <jbkrygie@removed> Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 14:53:32 -0400 Years back when I read some of Barry's research on the Modern Library I remember being surprised that MLs were printed after 1970. I have read and heard over and over that ML was discontinued in 1970, with the implication being that no post 1970 MLs were printed (until the revival in 1977). I had noticed some odd characteristics of a few of my Toledano #14 (tall) MLs: - cheap, coarse, and (now) yellowing paper on a few titles (Saki, Joyce's Dubliners, Sons and Lovers, a few Faulkners); usually paired with a cheap looking tan or denimesque book binding. - blank endpapers - not the Fujita endpapers that were supposed to adorn binding #14. - an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) printed on the DJ (back cover, there is one on my odd copy of Shaw's Short Stories at http://tinyurl.com/11zi - but also on all the MLs with the cheap paper, and a few others. Now, ISBN was adopted as a standard in 1970 (info: http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/international/history.asp) and I am assuming Random House began to use it after that (maybe Barry knows exactly when). This is all semi important, thinks I: I have two copies of the definitive text edition of Joyce's Dubliners (First ML Ed, 1969). One has white, smooth paper, Fujita endpapers, and no ISBN on the DJ. The other has yellowed, coarse paper, white (well, yellowing) end papers, and an ISBN on the DJ (which otherwise are identical). Both say First ML edition. Given the fact that MLs were printed after 1970, it seems that there should be a distinction between these two books - one is actually a true first and the other is a subsequent printing (Henry's Guide indicates only a 1st edition printing for this title). I would think that the non-1st would be worth substantially less than M ($40) as noted in the Guide. I have also seen a many copies of Kafka's "The Castle" that have the post-1970 characteristics, and fewer that seem to be 'true' firsts (eg., white paper, endpapers, no ISBN). Maybe a 'true' first of this title should be worth more than the G it is assigned in the Guide. I am wondering if there are other late 1960s ML 1st editions that also had second, post 1970 printings? In any case, it does seem important to sort out the differences between true firsts and subsequent printings in the late 1960s MLs - and it is not hard to do given the distinctions in DJ, paper, and bindings. Any thoughts on this? It is also kinda interesting that there were post 1970s printings that had a variety of characteristics; my strange copy of Shaw's Short Stories is one example, and if any of you have other odd variants it would be interesting to hear about them. -------------------------------------