Thread Name: Where have all the buckrams gone? From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 15:38:56 -0700 Lately I've been focusing on collecting buckrams. But I'm having a heck of a time locating any. All together, I own fewer than 40 - that's less than 10% of the buckrams known to exist!!! A few of you have been kind enough to point out buckrams to me when you see them appear on eBay, and in a few cases I've been able to snag them. Others have made me aware when they have one to sell, and I'm grateful to you all for these leads. But they are some SCARCE puppies! Anybody have ideas why this is so? ------------------------------------- From: GOODBOOKS@removed> ((JOSEPH HILL) Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 19:14:11 -0700 (PDT) Not so easy Scot, I have only found two in the last six months and one I needed for my own collection! ------------------------------------- From: "Marianne Stebbins Beck" <mariannestebbinsbeck@removed> Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 18:01:35 -0500 Since you asked, can you help me with defining a Buckram? Now that I'm asking, I can't find the particular book I'm curious about. I'm sure it's listed and filed away. But it has a rubbery texture, no cloth apparent. That was a Modern book. I do have another one in front of me that is similar, but by Doubleday. This one is textured, also with a rubbery feel, but not as much as I recall with the Modern book. How does the Buckram differ from something called "balloon?" Forgive me, for I am a novice, eager to learn. And thanks in advance! ------------------------------------- From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 16:35:46 -0700 >Since you asked, can you help me with defining a Buckram? Sure. Check this out: http://www.dogeared.com/Identifiers/buckram.html ------------------------------------- From: "Jimmy Williamson" <jwslaw@removed> Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:43:46 -0500 Where have all the buckrams gone?i dont know why they are scarce, but they are. I only have 10 or 12, and i never pass on an opportunity. the only thing i can figure is that they are still in libraries, or that libraries discarded them, because of use. for our historians out there, were buckrams ever popular or a big seller for the mod lib, ; how long did bennett keep them going? ------------------------------------- From: GOODBOOKS@removed> ((JOSEPH HILL) Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 19:27:14 -0700 (PDT) Ex-Library ML buckrum books would not enter into the collecting picture as they would have the Dewey or LC number on the spine of the volume as well as other markings inside... ------------------------------------- From: HTatML@removed> ((Henry Toledano) Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:59:23 EDT I've bought them all!! I have 99 in my collection. Not much considering there are around 370. Seven for sale. I have been saying for years that the Buckrams are by far the hardest to find, especially the Giants. I have 13 Giants , but none for sale. Incidentally Bukrams were sold in the regular market and not just to libraries. ------------------------------------- From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 13:23:14 -0700 Please e-mail the list of the seven you have for sale so I can check against what I have. ------------------------------------- From: "Jimmy Williamson" <jwslaw@removed> Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 23:42:56 -0500 email em to me too, henry ------------------------------------- From: HTatML@removed> ((Henry Toledano) Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 11:09:24 EDT Sorry, six have gone. The only one left is Misc. GREAT SPANISH STORIES (Fine) $12.00 ------------------------------------- From: "Jimmy Williamson" <jwslaw@removed> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 23:28:02 -0500 i will take it if you still have it ------------------------------------- From: j b krygier <jbkrygie@removed> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 08:49:18 -0400 Has anyone actually seen (or acquired) all 370? I have seen the full listing (from Random House, sometime in the 1960s? reprinted in the ML Collector), but could it be that fewer than the advertised 370 titles were bound in buckram? Given that Henry T. only has 99 titles, I am a bit suspicious. Everyman's Library offered a similar library binding on any of their titles, but I believe that such a binding was 'on demand' - only if a library or bookstore requested it. Could this have been the case with ML buckrams? Maybe we need to compile a list of actually seen Buckrams? A pain for those with a big shelf full, but maybe the only way to figure out if all 370 titles were actually available in Buckram. I have only a few: Schulburg 'What Makes Sammy Run' (281.1), Carlyle 'French Revolution' (G 13.2), Misc. Anthology of Famous English and American Poetry (G 67.2). ------------------------------------- From: "Gordon Neavill" <aa3401@removed> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 10:14:04 -0400 Check PTLA (Publishers Trade List Annual) volumes from the late 1960s ... ML catalogs in PTLA indicate which titles were available in buckram (described as Gibraltar Library Binding). PTLA, published annually, is a compilation of publisher's catalogs. Not all libraries keep the back volumes. ------------------------------------- From: GOODBOOKS@removed> ((JOSEPH HILL) Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 09:30:53 -0700 (PDT) Well, if we are going to pool buckrum lists, -here are mine. [buckram list cut] So that's 54 Henry did not get them all... ------------------------------------- From: <jpete9530@removed> ((John Peterson Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 18:45:24 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Only buckram I have not already mentioned is 309.1 (Malthus) ------------------------------------- From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 17:23:34 -0700 Are there more than one buckram with the same spine number? Doesn't look that way doing a quick perusal of Henry's lists. If there weren't, folks needn't list the .x segment of a title - just saying 1, 7, 5, 37, and like that should do. ------------------------------------- From: HTatML@removed> ((Henry Toledano) Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 21:00:41 EDT As far as I know there are no duplicate numbers. The period covered for the Buckrams is 1950's to late sixties, at which time there were around 370 numbers in the series----thus, no doubt 370 Buckrams. ------------------------------------- From: HTatML@removed> ((Henry Toledano) Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 21:03:44 EDT Incidentally, some buckrams do not have "Buckram Reenforced" and the number at the base of the spine. I have sold at least half a dozen Proust's CAPTIVE and none has had at any writing at the base of the spine. ------------------------------------- From: Richard Ugland <ugland.1@removed> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 07:46:22 -0400 I can add the following buckrams to the list: 40, 130, 141, 183, 211, 291, 328, 341, 346, 348, 357, 359, the Giant Wisdom of Israel (G-79), and Tacitus (no number). ------------------------------------- From: "John Wolansky" <jwol@removed> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:50:51 -0400 Richard: While checking my list against yours to add to the efforts here, I noticed two books with the same prefix and different decimals. I have a copy of 134.2, Meredith's Richard Feveral and you list 134.1. The .2 copy has an intro by Stevenson. If your copy has a Stevenson intro it is 134.2, if not, we can add another buckram to the database. Also, I have a copy of 150.3, Autobiography of Cellini. You list 150.2, Stendhal's Charterhouse. Henry's guide does not list this edition in buckram. Would you double-check to see if you have the wrong suffix, if you found another buckram, ... or if I am having difficulties with numbers after a taxing return season. Scot: It may be prudent to include the decimal in view of the above. Although Henry probably has seen more ML buckrams than many of us combined, it is possible a small production run did not come to his hand, or there was a print typo in the guide. Gordon: Coincidentally, I picked up my buckram copy of 149.2, The Making of Man, and noticed the seller had "Gibraltar Binding" penciled beside the price on the front end paper. I remember buying it and thought it was just the sellers innovative description of the binding. Seems he was well informed. ------------------------------------- From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 07:25:40 -0700 >Scot: It may be prudent to include the decimal in view of the above. Excellent point! (I'll be posting my own list before the weekend's out - with .X values.) BTW, where'd you get all those giants!!! I've got but three, and NOT in great condition. ------------------------------------- From: GOODBOOKS@removed> ((JOSEPH HILL) Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 10:33:48 -0700 (PDT) Even though my name did not come up with the above three, I think John is right that the "." should be added as this will leave no question as to the title. This will be of more value to the collector who is seeking the title. ------------------------------------- From: "John Wolansky" <jwol@removed> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:53:57 -0400 [Buckram list cut] ------------------------------------- From: Scot Kamins <kamins@removed> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 09:58:12 -0700 [Buckram list cut] ------------------------------------- From: "KMP" <is_five@removed> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 13:17:30 -0700 12.3 That's all of them. ------------------------------------- From: GOODBOOKS@removed> ((JOSEPH HILL) Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 10:38:51 -0700 (PDT) [Commenting on John Wolansky's list...] EIGHT GIANTS! I have seen two in over 30 years of collecting! ------------------------------------- From: "John Wolansky" <jwol@removed> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 16:38:51 -0700 (PDT) It seems my enthusiasm for the Buckram project is exceeded only my carelessness. Please make the following adjustments: 1. My copy of Flaubert's Madame Bovary includes the Steegmuller intro & trans, making it 28.3, not 28.2. 2. I also have a copy of G017.1, Poems and Plays of Robert Browning. 3. Because of a prominent crescent on the cover left by what I am sure was a deluxe sized coffee cup, I passed on a copy of G031.2, Famous Science Fiction Stories. It was definitely at the Book Trader in Phil. last year. When I revisited the store it was gone. Sorry about the carelessness. -------------------------------------