From the FAQ:

What is a Pirated ML Edition?

Modern Library editions were extremely inexpensive right up through the 60's. But this didn't stop people from copying a number of ML books and selling them on the open market. Particularly egregious were the pirate operations in Taiwan. One operation, Book World Company, boldly printed a list of titles that they offered! These were not licensed reprints with royalties going back to Random House—these were blatant rip-offs.

A pirated copy will have several (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:

  • unusual binding style and size not matching known configuration
  • lack of a colophon on the binding
  • sometimes a printed or stamped Chinese language text block (examples left) on the front or rear paste-downs, end papers, title page, or last page
  • blank pastedowns
  • blank DJ inverse
  • Cover usually plain with silver or gold scripting.

The text block pages were usually copied wholesale, often with the ML copyrights intact.


Known Pirated Editons
 
Bulfinch Mythology Confucius Wisdom Dickens Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevski Brothers Karamazov Flaubert Madame Bovary Gibbons Decline And Fall
Hardy Tess of the D'urbevilles Hesse Steppenwolf Homer Complete Works
Homer Odyssey Jung Basic Writings Laotse Wisdom
Lawrence Sons And Lovers Lawrence The Rainbow Maugham Best Stories
Maupassant Best Stories Poe Complete Tales & Poems Stone Lust For Life
  Tolstoy War and Peace  
     

Contributors to this FAQ answer include:

Scot Kamins John Krygier Joe Hill
Pete Chocheles John M. Wolansky Henry Toledano
Ron Holl Gary Johnson

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