my copy of "Dracula"
Daniel Damouth
Facts:
The book is old, has a green hardcover, and is falling apart.
No publication or printing date in listed. The only copyright
information is "COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY BRAM STOKER". On the same page is
printed
"Random House is the publisher of THE MODERN LIBRARY" and
"Bennett A. Cerf - Donals S. Klopper - Robert K. Hoss" and
"Manufactured in the United States of America" and
"Printed by Parkway Printing Company - Paper by Richer Bauer & Co." and
"Bound by H. Wolff"
On the first page, I (long ago) crossed out someone else's name and
address and placed my own name, and "'79". Presumably I bought it used
at the age of 11 or 12. There's a little sticker reading "John G. Kidd
& Son, Inc., Booksellers, Stationers, Engravers - Cincinnati". (I grew
up in Rochester, NY, and I've never been to Cincinnati.)
Penciled onto the title page is what looks like "A H , 25", which could
mean a price of $.25 or maybe $25; but I can't imagine myself paying
$25 for a book at that age, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a gift.
After googling uselessly, I looked at isfdb.org. The only Random House
publication listed is from 2005.
As I said, a minor mystery, but I'm kind of curious about what
resources are out there to look this stuff up.
-Dan Damouth
htn963
> This is a minor mystery: when was my copy of "Dracula" published?
>
> Facts:
>
> The book is old, has a green hardcover, and is falling apart.
>
> No publication or printing date in listed. The only copyright
> information is "COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY BRAM STOKER". On the same page is
> printed
> "Random House is the publisher of THE MODERN LIBRARY" and
> "Bennett A. Cerf - Donals S. Klopper - Robert K. Hoss" and
> "Manufactured in the United States of America" and
> "Printed by Parkway Printing Company - Paper by Richer Bauer & Co." and
> "Bound by H. Wolff"
>
> On the first page, I (long ago) crossed out someone else's name and
> address and placed my own name, and "'79". Presumably I bought it used
> at the age of 11 or 12. There's a little sticker reading "John G. Kidd
> & Son, Inc., Booksellers, Stationers, Engravers - Cincinnati". (I grew
> up in Rochester, NY, and I've never been to Cincinnati.)
>
> Penciled onto the title page is what looks like "A H , 25", which could
> mean a price of $.25 or maybe $25; but I can't imagine myself paying
> $25 for a book at that age, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a gift.
"25" likely stands for 1925, the year this copy was printed. This was
also the year the Modern Library series was acquired by Bennett Cerf.
> After googling uselessly, I looked at isfdb.org. The only Random House
> publication listed is from 2005.
>
> As I said, a minor mystery, but I'm kind of curious about what
> resources are out there to look this stuff up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Library
Also try bookthink, and google for various sites where antiquarian
booksellers hang out.
--
Ht
xeno...@gmail.com
a guideline to help you guess the age of your edition would be to try
and match it up against the binding history: there's a good selection
of the cover styles with years they were used here -
http://www.modernlib.com/Identifiers/bindingsReg/bindingsReg.html
Michael Stemper
>This is a minor mystery: when was my copy of "Dracula" published?
>
>Facts:
>
>The book is old, has a green hardcover, and is falling apart.
>
>No publication or printing date in listed. The only copyright
>information is "COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY BRAM STOKER". On the same page is
>printed
There's some publishing history at:
<http://www.cesnur.org/2003/dracula/I.htm>
--
Michael F. Stemper
#include <Standard_Disclaimer>
If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made from meat?
disc...@yahoo.com
wrote:
> In article <Xns9BD9F2C0D17ECdamouthsanrr...@69.16.186.8>, Daniel Damouth <damo...@san.rr.com> writes:
> >This is a minor mystery: when was my copy of "Dracula" published?
>
> >Facts:
>
> >The book is old, has a green hardcover, and is falling apart.
>
> >No publication or printing date in listed. The only copyright
> >information is "COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY BRAM STOKER". On the same page is
> >printed
>
> There's some publishing history at:
>
> <http://www.cesnur.org/2003/dracula/I.htm>
>
> --
> Michael F. Stemper
> #include <Standard_Disclaimer>
> If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made from meat?
Dan, have any of these links helped you narrow it down?
Is it style #7 from xenoc's link and the 1932 edition as listed on
Stemper's link?
Curiously,
Sean
Daniel Damouth
news:2db01afa-a63b-4e06-8571-
12f325...@i28g2000prd.googlegroups.co
m:
It is very close to style #8 (in use from 1939-). One difference is
the colors -- mine is green, with one black rectangle on the cover
upon which the letters are inscribed in gold, and one similar black
rectangle with gold lettering on the spine -- and the other
difference is that the spine of my copy lacks the image of the
torch-bearer. I'm not qualified to judge whether the cover is "linen
cloth over stiff cardboard", but that seems reasonable.
It does seem to match a description of the 1932 series at
http://www.cesnur.org/2003/dracula/I.htm#IB:
"Undated rpt.: Green boards with black square and gold stamp Random
House/Modern Library symbol"
... but, as it says, this is "undated."
-Dan Damouth