100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature

I first learned about the FL in 1976 when they started publishing their 100 Masterpieces of American Literature. They were in full fine leather and the height of the FL quality so I purchased each of the books as they were issued. The series was part of the United States Bi-Centennial celebration. For some reason I see almost no references about this series including on the secondary market.

Was this the first FL series?

Do any of you have these books?

Refer to:

www.keithwease.com/franklininfo.html

The article is about the true "First Edition" of the Franklin Library's book sets. You may find this article helpful.

Very interesting.
Thanks for the link.

I have all of the 100 Masterpieces of American Literature, and a few of the Signed First Edition, and Signed Limited Editions but I haven't entered all into the Library Thing list yet.

I vividly recall the impressive initial packet announcing the 100 Masterpieces of American Literature series.

I had earlier started my Folio Society membership with the then usual four book minimum.

> IndyTaz: You are most welcome. Internet helps you.

The internet is a 'WONDERFUL" discovery for the "curious" people.

Information are readily available for "everything almost under the sun" by just typing the correct enquiry in the searching's process for the relevant search engines.( Google,Yahoo,Ask and other internet providers).

It needs patience and time to do the research for information we really require accurately and urgently. Sometime, information can be all " bullshit","inaccurate", irrelevant" and "outdated".

> 1
You are lucky if you were an original subscriber to the 100 Masterpieces of American Literature, have kept them in fine condition, and have all the Notes From the Editors pamphlets that go with them. I only discovered the Franklin Library in 2009 and since I was acquiring (at least initially) leather bound titles of some of my favorite authors, I wasn't really paying any attention to series (or market price for that matter!). Although there is quite a bit of title overlap with books in the 100 Greatest Books of All Time, I think the American Literature bindings are the among the best that Franklin Library ever produced (just look at Typee for example) and if I had to limit myself to only one FL series, it would be Am Lit.

I am still painstakingly collecting each volume individually and so far I have assembled 88 of the 100. They are much less frequently available on the secondary market than the 100 Greatest series, which is ubiquitous with individual volumes going as cheap as $15 with some regularity. Certain titles in particular (esp. the 12 I have remaining to collect!) seem to be harder to find than others, and certainly difficult to find without bookplates, with the Notes From The Editors, and at a reasonable, rather than an inflated price.

My understanding from my research is that the 100 Greatest Books of All Time was the first series offered by Franklin Library, beginning in 1974. As you point out, the 100 Masterpieces of American Literature did not begin until 1976 in honor of the bicentennial.

I suspect that the number of subscribers to the 100 Masterpieces of American Literature was relatively small since it only had one initial brief offering period and some may not have stayed for the duration of the monthly issuances. I rarely see much about that series. When I try to load one of those into Library Thing, few, if any, have loaded those. I need to get the time to upload pictures of those volumes. I have loaded a bit more than half of those so far.

Yes, I was an original subscriber and have the full set in fine condition. The bindings are quite artful. They have held up very nicely unlike many of my FS books from that time.

I also somewhere along that time subscribed to their 100 Greatest Recordings of All Time in really remarkable bindings with two LPs in each set.

I was only able to afford a few of the Signed and First Editions.

I still need to complete my listings in Library Thing.

Some of you may remember that "60 Minutes" did an "expose" on The Franklin Mint that did not help them. They focused on the various limited edition items and as I recall did not cover the books. They questioned the value and authenticity of their items.

I recall when The Franklin Mint had small shops in upscale shopping centers but they did not carry any of their books. They also had some sort of display/museum in Pennsylvania. If I remember correctly, one of their executives later was involved in one of the television shopping channels.

Overall, the potential customer base is now much smaller and with less disposable income.

Know more and better about The Franklin Library's book collection set'

Are the book collection sets ideal and ultimate "investment" for book lovers and collectors put together ?

www.blog.bookstellyouwhy.com

Use "Goggle".

Unfortunately, I was unable to get the link to work even when trying for just the primary portion.

These are probably not a sound financial investment with very few notable exceptions (signed editions by deceased authors - i.e. Capote)

Unfortunately, the link is not responsive.

I find that the collection is a poor way to seek financial gain except for a very few (Signed Limited Editions - i.e. Capote)

Try again with the edited address, and search - " Ideal for book collectors?".

or Use - Goggle,
Type: The Franklin Library - Ideal for Book Collectors.
Click on the appropriate site.

The autographed signatures are not original but reprinted "original signatures.

Joe Segel founded Franklin Mint and then founded QVC. No doubt the FM of the 70's produced a product unmatched in quality.

I am one of the original subscribers to this set and stuck it out through the entire 8 years. I thought with the bicentennial seal, that an intact collection would fetch a lot. But I notice nobody bid on complete near mint sets in the past at $4,000, which is a remarkably low price for such a high quality set.

>5 UK_History_Fan: what 12 are you looking for? I may still have them, and may be willing to sell them.