Terry Seymour
Every book collector has felt the frustration of ignorance. How does he know a book isn’t overpriced? Is this book really a first edition? Was it issued with a dust jacket? Is it really scarce or is such a description just a sales tactic? Booksellers usually have more knowledge about their offerings. But even the most experienced booksellers can’t know every point about every book.
Terry Seymour has solved these problems for collectors and sellers of Everyman’s Library. His Guide will answer every conceivable question about every book in this vast publication project. Here in a single reference are descriptions of every aspect of book design in all the variations from the Library’s inception in 1906 through 1976.
The book also discusses scarcity and pricing, the two most crucial issues to both collectors and sellers.
Terry Seymour lives in Center Valley, PA and works as a financial planner. His “other job” and primary after work activity for the last several years, however, is as a collector and student of Everyman’s Library. His collection of these classic books currently exceeds 5,000 volumes.
Mr. Seymour holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Princeton University. He has studied every aspect of this remarkable publishing endeavor and now shares his knowledge with others.
He has written magazine articles in the past but this is his first book.
Dickens, Charles, 1812-70
256.0, 290, American Notes; Pictures from Italy, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [(xxiii), 430].
First: 1908(NS), 1/1/1/U, Temple Press. Scarcity: 4, (18,561).
257.0, 76, Barnaby Rudge, FIC, Walter Jerrold, Intro., [(xv), 633].
First: Apr 1906 (NS), 1/1/1/U, Richard Clay & Sons. Scarcity: 3, (~15,500).
Note: This book as well as 102 and 399D were the only Dickens title not introduced by Chesterton in the first edition. The Chesterton introductions to Dickens were later collected in a single volume published by Dent. (Criticisms and Appreciations of Charles Dickens’ Work, 1911.) Frank Swinnerton, in his Autobiography, Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1936, describes an amusing incident involving Chesterton and one of his introductions. “One evening late, when everybody with any money had gone, there descended from a hansom cab the enormous figure of G. K. Chesterton, who bore a preface for a volume of Everyman. He offered it to me, but did not let go of it. He said: ‘Can you give me the cheque?’ I said: ‘I can’t.’ He said: ‘Then I will bring back the preface tomorrow.’ And he climbed back into his cab with the manuscript and was trundled off to Fleet Street.”(p. 78)
257.1, 76, Barnaby Rudge, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [(xv), 633].
First: May 1909, 1/1/1/U, Temple Press. Scarcity: 7, (~81,000).
258.0, 236, Bleak House, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xxiv, 838].
First: 1907(NS), 1/1/1/U, Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. Scarcity: 7, (90,830).
259.0, 291, Child’s History of England, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xx, 396].
First: 1908(NS), 1/1/1/U, Richard Clay & Sons. Scarcity: 4, (28,044).
Notes: SL and order would suggest 1908 publication date. Introduction dated December 1907.
260.0, 239, A Christmas Tale and Other Christmas Books, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xiv, 416].
First: 1907(NS), 1/1/1/U, Temple Press. Scarcity: 7, (80,357).
261.0, 399A, Christmas Stories, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xiii, 708].
First: 1910(NS), 1/1/1/U. Scarcity: 1.
Notes: Sold only in theUnited States. This book is identical to 414 except for the dust jacket. No separate sales figures are given in SL for 399A. The number sold in the U. S. for 414 in 1910 was 1,700 and this may represent the total for 399A. Unless a copy with dust jacket surfaces no one may safely lay claim to a 399A. I have a library edition with no EL in the pendant. This may be a 399A but cannot be proven as one.
261.1, 414, Christmas Stories, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xiii, 708].
First: 1910(NS), 1/1/1/U, Temple Press. Scarcity: 2, (44,152).
262.0, 242, David Copperfield, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xx, 823].
First: Sep 1907(NS), 1/1/1/U. Scarcity: 7, (324,681).
Notes: Not seen. The all-time EML bestseller.
263.0, 240, Dombey and Sons, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xxiv, 814].
First: 1907(NS), 1/1/1/U. Scarcity: 7, (79,737).
Notes: First not seen.
264.0, 399C, Edwin Drood: Master Humphrey’s Clock, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xxi, 370].
First: 1910(NS), 1/1/1/U, Temple Press. Scarcity: 1, (3,700).
Note: Sold only in the United States.
264.1, 725, Edwin Drood: Master Humphrey’s Clock, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xxi, 370].
First: 1915(NS), 1a/1/1/U, Temple Press. Scarcity: 4, (20,491).
Note: A first edition of 725 may reliably be distinguished from a first edition of 399C by examination of the final page. Copies of 725 bear the flower image between “Temple Press” and “Letchworth England.” Copies of 399C have no flower and simply print “The Temple Press, Printers, Letchworth.” Additionally all copies seen are in style 1 for 399C and style 1a for 725.
265.0, 234, Great Expectations, FIC, G. K. Chesterton, Intro., [xiii, 453].
First: 1907(NS), 1/1/1/U, Richard Clay & Sons. Scarcity: 7, (116,032).
