Andrew Benedict-NelsonNov 26, 2022
Here’s number 8 in my 1954 Modern Library collection, Thus Spake Zarathustra. Modern Library published this title through the entire era we’re concerned with, 1917 through the 80s. This is the one you’re most likely to find. As always, I love their reds and blacks. Pretty happy with the condition of this one too.
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonNov 26, 2022
Forgot to tag #books #bookstodon @bookstodon …
Early on ML published Nietzche in individual titles, consistent with their ethos of bringing challenging modern ideas from Europe to American shores. This brings us to a character we will meet a few times in the series that collectors have nicknamed “the ugly goddess.” She graces the covers of various philosophy books in the 30s. Images via modernlib.com
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonNov 26, 2022
Over time many of ML’s philosophy titles came to feel more like textbooks, and Nietzche is no exception. Here’s “Basic Writings” which they started publishing in a “giant” edition in 1968. (A Modern Library “giant” is about the size of a thick hardback book today and contains about 1000 pages. We haven’t addressed this, but a “normal” Modern Library is a little bit larger than a mass market paperback today, but bound in cloth.)
We’ll also visit one more “giant” Nietzche edition later in my collection. This 1968 image also via modernlib.com.
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonNov 28, 2022
By the way, I said that Thus Spake Zarathustra was number 8 but it is number 9… I am a very bad Modern Library microblogger.
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonNov 28, 2022
Here is number 10, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. Checking out online reference images, I can see that my dust jacket is somewhat faded from the original red-pink. It happens to be a first Modern Library edition from 1950. @bookstodon #books #bookstodon
Clarissa is an epistolary novel built around one woman’s efforts to evade an obsessive pursuer. It is also one of the longest novels in the English language, so it comes as no surprise that this small edition is an abridged one.
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonNov 28, 2022
This is the first 18th-century work we have encountered. Like Shakespeare, it represents ML’s turn from a collection of thought-provoking near-contemporary authors to “books everyone should read.” The interior flap points the reader to other 18th-century novels in the series.
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonNov 28, 2022
Here’s how they rendered Clarissa from 1967-1970, via modernlib.com
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonDec 18, 2022
Whew, I’m back! Here’s number 11 in my 1954 Modern Library collection, Lust for Life by Irving Stone. It’s a biographical novel of Vincent Van Gogh mainly based on his letters to his brother Theo.
#books #bookstodon @bookstodon #modernlibrary
A biographical novel might seem a little unusual for a series focused on literary classics and trailblazers, but I think this fits with the idea that ML was hoping to popularize all kinds of elite culture, including music and painting. For example, the series also includes books of lyrics to operas and musicals.
Also…
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonDec 18, 2022
As Stone’s introduction makes clear, by the 1950s in America Van Gogh was a very popular artist, and ML loved chasing a trend.
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonDec 18, 2022
Introduction cont’d
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonDec 18, 2022
Irving Stone was known for his biographical novels, which covered subjects like Andrew Jackson, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin. You probably know him for “The Agony and the Ecstacy” about Michelangelo. This New York Times obituary gets into his method: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/28/obituaries/irving-stone-author-of-lust-for-life-dies-at-86.html
And here’s the movie posters for “Lust for Life” (starring Kirk Douglas as Vincent!) and “The Agony and the Ecstacy” starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison).
Irving Stone, Author of 'Lust for Life,' Dies at 86

Show threadAndrew Benedict-Nelson
Here’s number 12 in my 1954 Modern Library collection, The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne. I don’t have anything profound to say about Donne, but holy curlicues! And I like that green. #books #bookstodon @bookstodon
Dec 23, 2022 at 2:04amWeb
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonDec 23, 2022
I tried to learn a little more about the editor and discovered that unfortunately he did not live very long after this book came out! He is buried in the Kenyon College cemetery https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/53571243/charles-monroe-coffin
Charles Monroe Coffin (1904-1956) – Find a Grave...

Auglaize Native Dies In California WAPAKONETA, July 21 - The body of Dr. Charles M. Coffin, 52, native of Waynesfield, an author and Kenyon College professor, who died in California Friday night, is to be returned to Gambier for funeral services. Dr. Coffin, a specialist on 17th Century English literature, died of a...

Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonJan 4, 2023

Here’s number 13 in my 1954 #ModernLibrary collection, The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler.

Though it wasn’t one of their original 12 titles, ML starting publishing Butler’s autobiographical novel in their first year, 1917, 14 years after the book first came out. It’s a good example, I think, of how one element of what ML meant by “modern” is anti-Victorian, since the book serves as an indictment of Victorian family and social structures.

But what I really want to talk about is this dust jacket. I love the fabric pattern of the background and the scratchboard vignette. I love the gold of the torch runner and the light blue of the promotional text on the back. I love the contrast between serifs and san serifs.

This jacket was in use between 1940 and 1970.

#books #bookstodon @bookstodon

Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonJan 4, 2023
The ML editors definitely thought this was one of the greatest novels of all time, as some of the interior material suggests. I love this description from V.S. Pritchett of this book as a “time bomb.”
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonJan 4, 2023
Adding the “Random House is the publisher of Modern Library” frontispiece since I don’t think I have included it before. Just so you know! Random House was the ML side project that eventually became one of today’s publishing behemoths.
Show threadAndrew Benedict-NelsonJan 4, 2023
Finally, The Way of All Flesh enters into a really interesting obscure part of ML history, promotional gift sets. Here's Scot Kamins's page on this topic -- these cover designs are something else! http://www.modernlib.com/Rarities/giftSets.html#Anchor-1929-11481
Modern Library Gift Sets