Thread Name: Type l Dust Jacket Variants From: Ron Holl <modlib@removed> Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:01:05 -0400 I have noticed two interesting variants on type 'l' dust jackets. The analysis and images are available here: http://home.alltel.net/ronholl/ml/ljackets.htm For the first variant, I'd appreciate any help in completing the research by having collectors check their first editions of late '65 and early '66 titles. I am curious if type l's started out in the one format and moved to the other, of if the variant displayed is unique for that title. ------------------------------------- From: Gordon Neavill <aa3401@removed> Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 15:48:54 -0400 (EDT) Thanks for noting this discrepancy. The type "l" jacket was used in fall 1965 and spring 1966 and for some later reprints of these titles. All of my fall 1965 first printings except Michelangelo have the full band at the bottom of the back panel: Genet Our Lady of the Flowers, Mann Confessions of Felix Krull Confidence Man, Tolstoy Short Stories v. 2, and Bellow Adventures of Augie March. All of my spring 1966 first printings have the partial band at the bottom of the back panel: Johnson Reader, Hindu Tradition, Mann Doctor Faustus, Singer Selected Short Stories, and Tolstoy Short Novels v. 2. I suspect that my copy of Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Michelangelo may be a later printing, based on the partial rather than full band. Does anyone have this with a full band on the back panel of the jacket? It's possible, of course, that RH tried out the parial band on this title, liked the way it looked, and switched to that format for all of the following season's titles. I'm sure that the statement about the complete list of ML and Giants was omitted from early 70s jackets because RH no longer offered ML catalogs -- or cared much about the ML. The number of ML titles in print was slashed drastically in the early 1970s, with 118 titles being axed in 1971 alone. Random House moved in April 1969 from the Madison Ave. building to its own skyscraper at 201 East 50th St., which it still occupies. Cerf loved the old building; there's a staged photo in At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf (p. 194) of a defiant Cerf being "carried out" of the old building by Donald Klopfer and editor John Simon. ------------------------------------- From: Ron Holl <modlib@removed> Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 19:13:37 -0400 Thanks for all the information. (It must be nice to have so many ML copies available for checking things like this!) Does the Michelangelo have a Month Year indicated along with the first statement? I am wondering if it was possibly the last released in 1965; it would not be the first time that titles were not released in the order of their 'book numbers'. I'll update the Amenities site with all this new, useful, and entertaining material you have provided. ------------------------------------- From: Gordon Neavill <aa3401@removed> Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 10:14:57 -0400 (EDT) All five of the fall 1965 titles indicate on the verso of the title page that they were published in September 1965. They seem to have appeared a little later than that. Three are listed in Publishers Weekly's "Weekly Record" of newly published titles on Oct 18; Michaelangelo was listed the following week (Oct 25); Tolstoy's Short Stories was listed in the Nov. 22 issue. ------------------------------------- From: John Peterson <jpetersonlhi@removed> Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:42:11 -0500 (CDT) Barry, my 359 (Michelangelo) DJ has a full band. (Unfortunately, it also has a big chunk missing at the top of the spine.) ------------------------------------- From: Gordon Neavill <aa3401@removed> Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:53:01 -0400 (EDT) Thanks, John -- looks like I need to look for a true first! ------------------------------------- From: Ron Holl <modlib@removed> Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 12:09:56 -0400 Well, Barry, you called that one right. A later DJ printed with the partial band. I wonder: should we keep track of later DJ's found for titles that retain the first statement? We know all about Thurber and Bemelmans. But we are now finding these mid - late 60's titles that have similar issues. An ISBN here... a partial band there... ------------------------------------- From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:03:53 -0700 Well, "partial band" DJs could have been added to a jacketless real first book whereas ISBNs added to books that have old first edition slugs constitute a different problem -- the former were done (I assume) outside the factory and the latter were done at the printer's. So I would think that the meaningful one to keep track of would be the "factory errors." Yes? No? Maybe? ------------------------------------- From: Ron Holl <modlib@removed> Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:47:39 -0400 I agree. What you end up with is a first dj or not a first dj. Ignoring the thick/thin paper on the Bemelmans, without the jacket how can you tell first/not first on Thurber or Bemelmans? Yet these we know about, because they are indicated as such in more than one place (but not the guide... although I can't recall; does the Thurber have a non-first indicator?). Over the last month or so both John W. and Barry have somewhat lamented the fact that they may need to upgrade some of their copies to obtain the 'first' DJ based on new information. An ISBN in many cases, a 'band' in another. And don't forget the Ouida (plus others). Only one printing (B&L), but two different jackets (B&L, ML). I ask, which Ouida is more valuable? Clearly, it would seem, the one with the B&L jacket. Maybe not by a lot, but I believe there is a premium on it. BUT, then again, maybe there were only two dozen ML jackets printed for 24 left over from B&L. The ML jacket may be 5, 10 or more times as scarce! Regardless of the reason for the dj variation, I was wondering if it would be worth noting all the known cases where the jacket changed on a title that has 'First' listed on all copies. -------------------------------------