Les Miserables

I picked up a two volume set of Hugo's Les Miserables this weekend. I have done
some research and have not been able to find it anywhere. (I checked
addall.com, the LoC, Karlsruhe, etc.)

It was published by William L. Allison & Co., New York. No date shown. The
binding is quarter leather over marbled boards with marbled endpapers. Gilt top
edge. Gilt title on Red leather patches on spine with gilt-stamped design below
on spine. Paper quality seems good.

On addall.com, I find a 4 volume set published by Allison, but it is cloth
bound. I also found a "Complete in One Volume" edition from Allison, also
cloth, but no two volume set and no leather or marbled boards.

The translator was Lascelles Wraxall with additions by Charles Wilbour, and that
combination comes up with several other publishers in New York and Chicago,
including one by Donoghue & Co. in two volumes. None of them are leather bound.
The prints, uncredited on the title page but signed in the block, were by
Fortune Louis Meaulle.

As far as I can tell from LoC and other sources, William L. Allison & Co.
published from about 1869 (the earliest date I found) to 1900 (the latest date I
found). Given the lack of a date, I would guess that this was a pirate edition.
But the elaborate binding and gilt top edge and spine work as well as the use
of good paper argue against that, though I suppose there were quality pirate
editions as well.

If anyone can provide any further information on either this publication or Wm.
L. Allison & Co. I would appreciate it.


Francis A. Miniter

Francis A. Miniter wrote:

I picked up a two volume set of Hugo's Les Miserables this weekend. I
have done some research and have not been able to find it anywhere. (I
checked addall.com, the LoC, Karlsruhe, etc.)

It was published by William L. Allison & Co., New York. No date shown.
The binding is quarter leather over marbled boards with marbled
endpapers. Gilt top edge. Gilt title on Red leather patches on spine
with gilt-stamped design below on spine. Paper quality seems good.

On addall.com, I find a 4 volume set published by Allison, but it is
cloth bound. I also found a "Complete in One Volume" edition from
Allison, also cloth, but no two volume set and no leather or marbled
boards.

The translator was Lascelles Wraxall with additions by Charles Wilbour,
and that combination comes up with several other publishers in New York
and Chicago, including one by Donoghue & Co. in two volumes. None of
them are leather bound. The prints, uncredited on the title page but
signed in the block, were by Fortune Louis Meaulle.

As far as I can tell from LoC and other sources, William L. Allison &
Co. published from about 1869 (the earliest date I found) to 1900 (the
latest date I found). Given the lack of a date, I would guess that this
was a pirate edition. But the elaborate binding and gilt top edge and
spine work as well as the use of good paper argue against that, though I
suppose there were quality pirate editions as well.

If anyone can provide any further information on either this publication
or Wm. L. Allison & Co. I would appreciate it.

I found an eBay auction (in Polish) for a single volume from a
five-volume set (same publisher, same translation):

http://cgi.ebay.pl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=140087738065

The seller gives the date as 1890. Don't know if that helps much, but
it's all grist to the mill.

The binding is quite likely neither here nor there. It may have been
issued like that but it is just as likely (if not more so) that it was
issued in a cloth binding and rebound. The top-edge gilt would probably
have been done at the same time.

It may have been pirated; apparently Allison did publish pirated stuff,
e.g.:

DOYLE, Arthur Conan. THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE.
New York: William L. Allison Co. Publishers. No Date [circa 1895].
Reprint. An early American Pirated edition.
(http://www.thompsonrarebooks.com/?pa...category_id=47)

On the other hand, I can't see that the lack of a date in itself
indicates that it was a pirated edition; the common practice of many
publishers in the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries was to date the
first edition and leave the date off reprints.

There's a fair lowdown on the publisher he

http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/lucile/pub...on/ALLISON.HTM


John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org

John R. Yamamoto-Wilson wrote:
Francis A. Miniter wrote:

I picked up a two volume set of Hugo's Les Miserables this weekend. I
have done some research and have not been able to find it anywhere.
(I checked addall.com, the LoC, Karlsruhe, etc.)

It was published by William L. Allison & Co., New York. No date
shown. The binding is quarter leather over marbled boards with
marbled endpapers. Gilt top edge. Gilt title on Red leather patches
on spine with gilt-stamped design below on spine. Paper quality seems
good.

On addall.com, I find a 4 volume set published by Allison, but it is
cloth bound. I also found a "Complete in One Volume" edition from
Allison, also cloth, but no two volume set and no leather or marbled
boards.

The translator was Lascelles Wraxall with additions by Charles
Wilbour, and that combination comes up with several other publishers
in New York and Chicago, including one by Donoghue & Co. in two
volumes. None of them are leather bound. The prints, uncredited on
the title page but signed in the block, were by Fortune Louis Meaulle.

As far as I can tell from LoC and other sources, William L. Allison &
Co. published from about 1869 (the earliest date I found) to 1900 (the
latest date I found). Given the lack of a date, I would guess that
this was a pirate edition. But the elaborate binding and gilt top
edge and spine work as well as the use of good paper argue against
that, though I suppose there were quality pirate editions as well.

If anyone can provide any further information on either this
publication or Wm. L. Allison & Co. I would appreciate it.


I found an eBay auction (in Polish) for a single volume from a
five-volume set (same publisher, same translation):

http://cgi.ebay.pl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=140087738065

The seller gives the date as 1890. Don't know if that helps much, but
it's all grist to the mill.

The binding is quite likely neither here nor there. It may have been
issued like that but it is just as likely (if not more so) that it was
issued in a cloth binding and rebound. The top-edge gilt would probably
have been done at the same time.

It may have been pirated; apparently Allison did publish pirated stuff,
e.g.:

DOYLE, Arthur Conan. THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE.
New York: William L. Allison Co. Publishers. No Date [circa 1895].
Reprint. An early American Pirated edition.

(http://www.thompsonrarebooks.com/?pa...category_id=47)

On the other hand, I can't see that the lack of a date in itself
indicates that it was a pirated edition; the common practice of many
publishers in the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries was to date the
first edition and leave the date off reprints.

There's a fair lowdown on the publisher he

http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/lucile/pub...on/ALLISON.HTM


John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org


Hi John,

Thank you. It had not occurred to me that the binding might not have been
original, but, now that I think of it, the last quarter of the 19th century was
not big on leather. And if they generally published cheap books, this would
have been out of character.

Looking at the title pages, the volume indications look a little tampered with.
I wonder if this may have been a four volume set as printed, then the
publisher fiddled to make a two volume set.

It did come across the information in the Lucile project, and have since found a
book that they published as early as 1856. But that is about it.


Francis A. Miniter

Francis A. Miniter wrote:

It did come across the information in the Lucile project, and have since
found a book that they published as early as 1856. But that is about it.

I'd be wary of the authenticity of that date. Lucile is fairly specific
about 1869 as Allison's earliest active date as a publisher, and there
is evidence that he may sometimes have got his dates wrong (purposely or
otherwise):

Clark, Rufus W. LECTURES ON THE FORMATION OF CHARACTER, TEMPTATIONS
AND MISSION OF YOUNG MEN. New York, William L. Allison Company: 1853.
Some wear and rubbing to spine and corners. Pictorial red cloth covers.
The title page says 1853, but the binding appears to be later, perhaps 1890's.
(http://www.osbooks.com/Inventory%20L...20&%20food.htm)

LoC confirms that this book was indeed published in 1853, but not by
Allison:

Lectures on the formation of character, temptations and mission of young men.
By Rev. Rufus W. Clark.
Boston, J.P. Jewett & company ; Cleveland, O., Jewett, Proctor & Worthington;
[etc., etc.] 1853.
(http://tinyurl.com/3ccmxr)

I'd check to see whether the 1856 title you found was actually published
in that year by another company.

John

John R. Yamamoto-Wilson wrote:

Francis A. Miniter wrote:

It did come across the information in the Lucile project, and have
since found a book that they published as early as 1856. But that is
about it.


I'd be wary of the authenticity of that date. Lucile is fairly specific
about 1869 as Allison's earliest active date as a publisher, and there
is evidence that he may sometimes have got his dates wrong (purposely or
otherwise):

Clark, Rufus W. LECTURES ON THE FORMATION OF CHARACTER, TEMPTATIONS
AND MISSION OF YOUNG MEN. New York, William L. Allison Company: 1853.
Some wear and rubbing to spine and corners. Pictorial red cloth covers.
The title page says 1853, but the binding appears to be later, perhaps
1890's.

(http://www.osbooks.com/Inventory%20L...20&%20food.htm)


LoC confirms that this book was indeed published in 1853, but not by
Allison:

Lectures on the formation of character, temptations and mission of
young men.
By Rev. Rufus W. Clark.
Boston, J.P. Jewett & company ; Cleveland, O., Jewett, Proctor &
Worthington;
[etc., etc.] 1853.

(http://tinyurl.com/3ccmxr)

I'd check to see whether the 1856 title you found was actually published
in that year by another company.

John

I have not been able to duplicate the search the led me (so I thought) to the
1856 date.

On checking again I found the following:

Mitchell, Donald Grant, Reveries of a Bachelor, or A Book of the Heart,
(New York: Wm. L. Allison, 1850)

listed at http://jmisc.net/bb/bm.htm

Of course, whoever entered that information could have been wrong. Or it could
be that Allison only listed the original publication date. But then, why would
they have not published the "new edition" [see below] and used the 1863 date?

Knowing I have a copy of "Reveries of a Bachelor" in my library, I pulled it
out, but it was Scribner's "new edition" of 1863. The original preface does say
"1850" on it, but I imagine that Scribner's was the rightful publisher.



Francis A. Miniter