Quick Guide
to College Edition Cover Styles
1950-1985
This quick guide describes the major cover types used in the Modern Library College Edition series 1950-1985. No significance (such as genre designation) appears to have been applied to colors. Throughout the series different colors were used for the same title, even with the same cover type (for example, The Federalist, T061, has been observed in both burgundy and blue Td style covers, and Vanity Fair, T033, in both blue and yellow Ta style covers).

Click here for a list of titles in the series.
 

Style Ta

Colors: Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Yellow

Width: ? inches

Height: ? inches

Front: Classic, early torchbearer; no price.  Most covers have a small sketch related to the title; several have only the Random House "house" picture.

Back: Contains list of MLCE titles in alphabetical order. Initial list seems to be T1 - T41 as the numbering is unbroken. Lists with a title as high as T67 have been observed. The Ta style has also been seen with the Tb style back.

Spine: Has T#

In Use: 1950 - ?

Style Tb

Colors: Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Yellow

Width: ? inches

Height: ? inches

Front: Later style torchbearer.  Price on cover. Cover prices seen at $.75, $.85, $.95, $1.15, $1.25, $1.35, and $1.65.  Cover sketch same as described for cover style Ta.

Back: Provides an MLCE blurb, followed by a list of authors in the series.  The list of authors was updated, as shown by this later back.

Spine: Has T#

In Use: ? - ? (seen in 1967)

Style Tc1

Colors: Blue, Green, Grey, Red

Width: 4 3/4 inches

Height: 7 1/4 inches

Front: Price on front cover (with some exceptions). Cover prices seen at $1.15, $1.25, $1.35, $1.45, $1.65, $1.75, and $1.95.

Back: Classic style torchbearer, no SBN (with some exceptions), standard MLCE blurb printed in center (text comprises 6 rows). Some copies have been seen with the SBN, when a change to the Tc2 format was not made.

Spine: Has T#

In Use: ? - 1970(?)

Style Tc2

Colors: Blue, Green, Grey, Red

Width: 4 1/4 inches

Height: 7 1/4 inches

Front: No price on front cover (with some exceptions).

Back: Fujita torchbearer, SBN present (although some early copies have been seen without), standard MLCE blurb printed in center (text comprises 7 rows).

Spine: Has T#

In Use: (?)1971 - 1974(?)

Style Td

Colors: Blue, Brown, Burgundy, Green

Width: 4 1/4 inches

Height: 7 1/4 inches

Back: Fujita torchbearer, SBN present, Standard MLCE blurb printed at bottom, smaller font than previous with Modern Library SBN.

Spine: Does not have T#, has Fujita torchbearer.

In Use: (?)1981 - 1985

Style Te

Colors: Brown

Width: 4 1/4 inches

Height: 7 1/4 inches

Back: Fujita torchbearer, SBN present, Standard MLCE blurb printed at bottom, barcode in large white block with McGraw-Hill ISBN.

Spine: Same as Td

In Use: (?)1981 - 1985