Which Dickens to collect...

ConversesGeorge Macy devotees

Afegeix-te a LibraryThing per participar.

Which Dickens to collect...

1Evelyn2108
feb. 2, 2022, 10:40 am

Hi folks,

I’m trying to decide on a Dickens series to collect. I’ll probably only purchase 5 or so of his major works, so I don’t need a complete series.

I’ve ruled out folio as I’m not a huge fan of the Charles keeping illustrations.

Right now I’m wavering between the heritage press dickens and Oxford Franklin Library.

Franklin Library uses the original Pailthorp illustrations. The Oxford edition is a really beautiful full red and blue leather that looks absolutely stunning. The higher end Franklin books are always nice quality, if somewhat “less beautiful...” then George Macy releases.

The heritage press has some very pretty illustrations. I read the old thread “tales of two dickens “ about the changes in illustrations, and in general realize the need to be cautious about the Connecticut reprints.

My question... how are the heritage books in terms of readability? Do they lay fairly flat? Is the font a comfortable size for reading? Is the paper comfortably opaque?

Thr heritage press titles I have are beautiful but all much shorter books. A comfortable reading experience is really important to me, so was just wondering your thoughts on this, and any other insights into why you may/may not recommend one set over the other. They seem to be illustrated quite nicely? Although each with a different illustrator...

I’ll probably get David copperfield, bleak house, great expectations, a tale of two cities and Oliver Twist.

Thanks so much for your thoughts

Take care,
Evelyn

2Django6924
feb. 2, 2022, 6:40 pm

>1 Evelyn2108:

Here is my copy of DC--I find the HP Dickens to be eminently readable--typography is I think the series' strongest asset. I took a picture of the books open to the center to show that the books, even thick ones such as Copperfield and Bleak House lie flat. (I have a very nice leather-bound Great Expectations which my late wife owned and which I have kept for sentimental reasons, but like other Franklin Library books, it is very stiffly bound and it is an ongoing chore to keep it open.)

Judge from the pictures the font size and paper opacity. I'll post pictures of the other you mentioned.

The deciding point may be the illustrations, which are a cause of some disagreement among members here. On the whole, I like them better than any other Dickens set I have seen--including the reprints of the Nonesuch editions with the original illustrations. Some are more successful than others--I am particularly fond of the ones for Pickwick Papers and Martin Chuzzlewit. Some are frankly a matter of whether you like that particular artist's style. I am not a fan of John Austen for the most part, although some of his work for Macy was truly great (The Frogs, especially). His Copperfield illustrations are very much in his usual style which I would call "pretty" but not very insightful. I am a huge fan of Barnett Freedman, though others here are not, but I think his Oliver illustrations are very in tune with Dickens. Robert Ball's Bleak House is pretty, but I would have liked to see something darker (which is where Freedman excelled in his for Oliver). Rene ben Sussan's Tale of Two Cities are fine, but again, it lacks some of the gravitas which you see in Jean Oberlé's illustrations of the same milieu in the Nonesuch/Heritage The Gods Are a-Thirst. On the whole, I very much recommend the HP Dickens, which are somewhat shamefully underpriced.

3Django6924
feb. 2, 2022, 6:44 pm

HP Oliver Twist:

4Django6924
feb. 2, 2022, 6:46 pm

HP.Bleak House

5Django6924
feb. 2, 2022, 6:48 pm

HP A Tale of Two Cities:

6Evelyn2108
feb. 2, 2022, 11:35 pm

Ahhh, thank you so much. It’s so hard to decide! I really love that Oliver Twist. And the French artist for Two Cities created definitely left a nice Francophone touch.

Argh, I have a strict rule in my house to only buy ONE edition of any given book, so when it comes to a series it is so hard to commit.

Maybe I’ll purchase a nice affordable heritage press of Oliver Twist and see how attached I get. Haha. At least if I change my mind I haven’t broken the bank.

Like a lot of folks I started with folio books, but I’m just amazed at the quality and beauty of HP and LEC, especially given the age.

I have yet to purchase an LEC but I’m eyeing the very reasonably priced Beowulf and Selections of St Thomas Aquinas.

Thank you so much for all the information you share that makes it possible for new collectors like me to navigate this maze of beautiful books!

7Evelyn2108
feb. 13, 2022, 11:17 am

I had the good fortune of going to a bookstore that had a copy each of a Heritage Press Dickens and Folio Society 1/4 bound leather Nonesuch Dickens.

The Heritage Press was absolutely charming, these George Macy books really look so much more amazing in hand. Sadly, the pages were quite yellow, which seems to be an issue with many older Heritage Press books. It was still in glassine, so presumably well cared for. So I suppose, if I decide to go with this series, uniformly yellowed pages goes with the territory. I wonder why this is the case with Heritage Press books? Too bad there was no matching LEC set for these illustrations. LEC paper is almost always perfect, looking entirely untouched by the passing of time.

The Folio Society Nonesuch really impressed me. Nice thick paper, wide margins, full page illustrations beautifully reproduced. Not sure if the Franklin Library would be able to surpass that. Wish I could get my hands on one so I could perfectly compare all 3!

8RickFlair
feb. 13, 2022, 11:25 pm

>7 Evelyn2108: Evelyn, I recommend you search online and don't give up on finding copies in outstanding condition. Most Heritage New York books can be found in great condition if you have patience. Although, I will say that for some reason I have yet to find a Heritage Dickens that didn't have a sunned or darkened spine!

9Evelyn2108
feb. 14, 2022, 1:28 am

Yep, you’re very right about looking for a nice copy. And I certainly can bide my time as I already have a big stack of books in my “to read” pile.

10cartographer144
oct. 26, 2023, 9:39 am

Were all the Heritage Dickens volumes bound in the same cloth? I cannot tell from looking at pictures if spines are mismatched due to different age/toning or if slightly different colors were used for different publications. Also, how many HP Dickens volumes are there in total (belonging to the set with matching bindings)? I see them often sold in small sets, but not sure if I’ve seen all of them together.

11Glacierman
oct. 26, 2023, 12:09 pm

>10 cartographer144: Regarding the bindings, the set was uniform in all respects. The differentiation in spine color you see is due to aging, sunning, etc. As to how many are in the series, I can't answer that right now as I lack access to my references, but I'm sure someone else can/will be able to.

12BuzzBuzzard
oct. 27, 2023, 7:35 am

I am reposting this from ten years ago:

The Heritage Press Dickens used different binding styles. The first issued Dickens, David Copperfield was in yellow leather and part of the introductory Heritage Club offerings. The last, the Short Stories was in a brownish-red binding with a gilt device on the cover (a "D" surrounded by a filigree square). After the first Heritage offering, all subsequent Dickens in the series featured the distinctive gray cloth covers with vermillion decorations and gilt oval title medallions on the spines with vermillion caricatures of two of the novel's principal characters. This series binding was designed by Clarence Pierson Hornung and used on all Heritage Dickens (excepting the Short Stories) including the re-issues of David Copperfield until the press was sold to MBI, who used different colored and designed bindings for all re-issues during the Connecticut Captivity. Also, over the years there were slight variations in the texture and value of the gray cloth in the series binding. I spent 20 years trying to track down bindings which matched the gray of my first Dickens as a member of the Heritage Club (the re-issue of Hard Times) and have been only moderately successful. Still they do make an impressive shelf, and frankly the variations have become rather more pleasing to my eye than a monotonous uniformity.

The books, in order of their first issues:

The Personal History of David Copperfield (1937)
A Tale of Two Cities (1938)
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1938)
Great Expectations (1939)
The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1939)
Five Christmas Novels (1939)
Martin Chuzzlewit (1940)
The Old Curiosity Shop (1941)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1941)
Bleak House (1942)
Little Dorrit (1956)
Our Mutual Friend (1957)
Dombey and Son (1957)
Hard Times for These Times (1966)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1968)
Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of '80 (1969)
The Short Stories of Charles Dickens (1971)

13cartographer144
oct. 27, 2023, 9:18 am

>12 BuzzBuzzard: Thank you for kindly reposting this information with the answers to all my questions! I’ve decided to also go this route for Dickens.

14Glacierman
oct. 27, 2023, 11:18 am

>12 BuzzBuzzard: Well, shows you how much I know...not much! My experience with the Heritage Dickens has obviously been rather limited. While I was a member, I got several of the Dickens books, but that was a long time ago and I haven't had my peepers on them for years...they're in storage. And my memory obviously sucks!

15Django6924
Editat: oct. 27, 2023, 9:25 pm

Sandglass 6A, David Copperfield refers to the cloth-bound editions being covered in "Bancroft's window-shade linen." Sandglass 12A, Pickwick Papers also mentions "Bancroft windowshade linen." Both Dickens are in the 1938 series as is Sandglass 4B, A Tale of Two Cities, which elaborates--" the sheets of the book are bound in boards covered with Bancroft linen… The color is gray what many people call British gray."

The next Dickens to be issued, Sandglass 7C, Five Christmas Novels Does not specify the binding material, just that it follows the patterns of previous Dickens in the series. This was December, 1939. A 1939 Extra, Sandglass 2CX, Great Expectations, mentions "Bancroft's window-shade linen...the color is a soft gray."

From February, 1941, Sandglass 9D, The Old Curiosity Shop again specifies "Bancroft's window-shade linen." From August, 1941, Sandglass 3E, Barnaby Rudge, "the boards are covered in a gray window-shade cloth." By October, 1941, Sandglass 5E The Mystery of Edwin Drood gives no information about the binding at all, and just says "… has been made to become part of the series of the more popular of Dickens' works which the Heritage Club has been issuing."

In June, 1946, Sandglass K1, Pickwick Papers was re-issued. My copy doesn't have an accompanying Sandglass, but since it has a colophon, and in the dark gray cloth, I'm assuming it is from the 1938 Series. I also have the edition issued much later by the Norwalk incarnation of the Heritage Club, and it is in the lighter gray binding and the Sandglass has no Series number or date.

It apparently isn't until December, 1950, Sandglass VII:15, Great Expectations, that Club members would get another Dickens--a re-issue--and only specifies "a smooth window-shade linen…the color of the linen is soft gray." (More on this later.)

In March, 1951, another re-issue, Sandglass X15, A Tale of Two Cities, which elaborates--" boards covered with Interlaken linen...the color is gray what many people called British gray."

I happen to have both the first issue of Great Expectations, Sandglass 2CX, as well as the 1950 re-issue, Sandglass VII:15, and the "British gray" on the latter issue is the much lighter gray cloth, and not due to handling on the older, or sun fading on the newer. My copies of The Old Curiosity Shop, and Pickwick Papers are all in the old dark gray linen, which I assume is the Bancroft, and all of my new editions (and I do have all of the Dickens) are all in the lighter gray, which is probably the Interlaken, with the exception of Sandglass XVIII:15, Martin Chuzzlewit which is a darker shade--"covered with a smooth window-shade linen imported by us from England" is how the Sandglass describes it.

I suspect, but can't confirm, that the darker gray "Bancroft" linen was imported from England, but the supplies were cut off during the war, and that the company either ceased production or went out of business and Macy had to find a new supplier, Interlaken, which accounts for the difference. Any Dickens in the darker cloth after the war may be the result of using up the existing supply.

For those interested in HC differences, a thread on this site goes into another interesting change in the 2 versions of Great Expectations: for some reason the illustrator, Edward Ardizzone, redid all the illustrations in an entirely different medium. Don't know why but it's an interesting factoid.

16Glacierman
oct. 28, 2023, 2:56 am

I KNEW there were some fellow HC enthusiasts who could fill in the details. And wow!, did they ever!!

Apunta-t'hi per poder publicar