Oxford/Franklin

I subscribed to Franklin's 100 Greatest when they first came out beginning in 1974. Are the titles in the Oxford/Franklin 100 Greatest the same as those in Franklin's original series?

Tom, check out this web site:

http://www.leatherboundtreasure.com
It has title lists for all the Franklin series.

Sometimes there is confusion about the 25th anniversary special edition of the Great Books of the Western Word and the 100 Greatest Books of All Time, especially since many works are in both collections, and the Great Books totalled close to 100 volumes as well. The Great Books were published between 1978 and 1985 (96 volumes). I'm not sure if the 96 count includes the "Great Ideas" that accompanies the set, which was produced in 3 volumes for this edition, so the count could be 99.

Os.

Okay, I found a site that describes the complete Oxford Library of the World's Great Books, generally, and lists the specific volumes (http://www.gohd.com.sg/site/component/virtuemart/detail/16-rare-books/flypage/1636-the-oxford-library-of-the-worlds-great-books-50-vols.html?sef=hcfp). They seem confident in their knowledge, and will sell you their complete set for 4,000 Singapore dollars (plus a major shipping charge for North America or Europe, I assume).

Here's the list they provide:

The Oxford Library of the World's Great Books (50 Vols)
Anton Chekhov's Plays
Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
Cervantes - Don Quixote
Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe
Dante - The Divine Comedy
Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of Mystery
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Rabelais - Gargantua and Pantagruel
Kafka - The Trial
Dostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Giovanni Boccaccio - The Decameron
Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales
Flaubert - Madame Bovary
Ibsen - Plays
Henry Fielding - Tom Jones
Henry James - Portrait of a Lady
Herman Melville - Moby Dick
Homer - The Odyssey
Homer - The Iliad
James Joyce - Ulysses
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
Goethe - Faust
Donne - Poems
Milton - Paradise Lost
Swift - Gulliver's Travels
Joseph Conrad - Lord Jim
Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina
Carroll - Alice in Wonderland
Marcel Proust - Swann's Way
Twain - Adventure of Huckleberry Finn
Montaigue - Essays
Moliere - Comedies
Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Scarlet Letter
Balzac - Pere Goriot
Stendhal - The Red and the Black
Thomas Hardy - Tess D'Ubervilles
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
Virgil - The Aeneid
Voltaire - Candide
W B Yeats - Collected Poems
William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury
Thackeray - Vanity Fair
Shakespeare - Tragedies
Shakespeare - Comedies
Shakespeare - Histories
St Augustine - Confessions
Romantic Poets - A Collection
Greek Tragedies - A Collection

Os.

The Franklin Library’s Oxford editions have left me baffled. Is there anyone knowledgeable on the Oxford (full Leather) series produced in the 1980s by Franklin Library? Here is my mystery. I was under the understanding that the Oxford series was one of the highest quality series Franklin Library ever produced and that it consisted of fifty titles. I have collected five of those titles over the past several years (and they are high quality) and have also collected pictures of fifty different volumes that are reportedly part of the series. On e-Bay there is a seller that currently has the entire set up for sale. My list of editions, my few Oxford editions I have collected, and the pictures I have accumulated match the set on E-Bay. So far, so good! That being said, about the same time, there were six books on E-Bay that were advertised as Franklin Library Oxford editions (full leather). These offerings did not match what I have, nor did they match the full set being offered on E-Bay. The seller had pictures of the books which all showed ID blocks that said, “This Special Edition of ……………. was prepared for subscribers to The Oxford Library of the World’s Great Books” which was set over the Oxford Library shield. This is the exact same ID block in the other Oxford Library books that I have and that match what is in the set currently on E-Bay. I know that these are not additional titles added to the original fifty editions that made up the set because some of the titles are the same. I decided I would bid on these books to see what was going on. I managed to win three of them and when they arrived, they did indeed have the Oxford ID blocks in them and their title pages all said, “THE OXFORD LIBRARY OF THE WORLD’S GREAT BOOKS”. The title page also says, “OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS”. Additionally, each edition has a two page editor’s message in the front of the book which says, “A special message for subscribes to THE OXFORD LIBRARY OF THE WORLD’S GREAT BOOKS.” On the back side of the title page it says, “THE FRANKLIN LIBRARY has been selected by the OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS as publishers of THE OXFORD LIBRARY OF THE WORLD’S GREAT BOOKS.” This is exactly how the other volumes are laid out. Obviously, these are also Franklin Library Oxford editions, but the duplicate titles throw me for a loop. An example is there are two versions of Dickens, Great Expectations. One title is Blue and the one that I purchased is red. The cover/spine designs are totally different. The same is true for Twain’s, Huckleberry Finn and Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination. In the case of all three volumes, the colors and the cover/spine designs were different clearly setting apart two separate editions of each of the titles. These volumes appear to be from the 1980s just like the other books. Another bit of information is that these books do not have the look and feel of the luxury Oxford Editions. They have more of a feel of the Heirloom series which were not quite as high a quality as other Franklin series like the 100 Greatest Books of All Time, or the Signed 60 series. So, I am not sure what the answer is on all of this. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks?

Does anyone have an answer for 5? I have the very same questions.

I'm just trying to get an understanding on this whole Franklin Library and Oxford Press joint publications. I have been searching around on eBay looking for affordable full collections of the works of Shakespeare and I keep coming across sets published by the Franklin Library.

There is a maroon red 4 book set, one poems, another comedies, tragedies and so on. Then another set exists published earlier that is 7 books in total. Yet a 3rd series seems to exist that has navy blue covers published in conjunction with Oxford.

So my question is which of these are a complete set and include all works? I can seem to find no information online about this and could really use some help if anyone is willing.

> 8
Though my books aren't handy, my understanding is that the 7-volume Shakespeare set is the "complete works" whereas the 4-volume set from the 100 Greatest collections is only selections of History, Comedy, Tragedy and Poetry.

I own both the 3 volume set and the 7 volume set of Shakespeare. The former is a selection of works in the various genres, illustrated with medieval woodcuts. The latter is the complete works, illustrated with more contemporary drawings.

When we old time collectors rave about the Franklin Oxford books, we are talking about the 50 FULL leather set, not the quarter leather collection. In my opinion no subscription series by either EP or Franklin ever exceeded the quality of this set. Here is an example of the fine craftsmanship of the Oxford set, using a current listing of Anna Karenina. I would love to have this (despite having an attractive EP copy), but not at the prices you see on eBay exceeding $500.

http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/skochkin/library/Anna%20Karenina?sort=3&pa...

I have since found this gem for $60 on EBay as shown above. It went under the collector radar since it was mistitled. Not worth $700 as listed now.

Good evening. I know this has been dormant for quite some time, but my own research has brought me here and while I found no answers, I can at least shed a bit of light on #5 and # 6.

I have in my possession a consignment of Franklin Press Oxford editions. One set is (perhaps complete) full Navy leather, a 500th anniversary edition of many reference works Oxford has published over the years. Very sturdy, well built books.

I also have a group of Oxford Dickens, which is what sent me on my search. These are full leather, ornately framed in gilt, with a navy leather frame pasted down to the crimson boards, framing an emblem which changes from book to book: a gilt figure of the main character.

This set is "limited to 7500" copies.

My confusion lies in the fact that I have two Christmas Books, one published in 1985 and the other in 1982. This is a title that has been published by Franklin a number of times. The books have differing emblems, but the same oranate filagree about it. One is much thicker than the other, and probably has one more story in it. There are other bibliographic differences--illustrations and the like.

And yet both carry the same limitation block.

Did Franklin publish two series of "Oxford" limited editions?

In any case, both say that Franklin was selected by Oxford--implying (perhaps only for marketing) that there is something "even more" special about these editions.

>13 Gretchenstreats: it is very confusing. I have been following Oxford Franklin for years and remember the flyer coming to my house. I turned it down because I was oversubscribed. In viewing all the listings I suspect three printings: 1) nice normal Franklin quality, 2) sumptuous ornate overthick boards sometimes with ornate touch to inside leather cover as you see in my Anna Karenina above, 3) Faux leatherette.

>5 Axatar:
Acc. to my online research, it seems there are several different formats of oxford franklin collection for each title, while it comes with full leather bound, quarter leather bound and faux leather bound or even more, not quite sure about it, also price varies hugely, starts from below USD 30 to around USD 900 per title on eBay, and the full leather ones look much more elegant and exquisite.

Personal exp., not to be confused by the wordings of the title page, all of them saying "This Special Edition of ……………. was prepared for subscribers to The Oxford Library of the World’s Great Books" kind of things, to avoid getting the wrong/cheap version, it's better to confirm the cover of the title which you are looking for first, then go for the right version, because cover design for different versions of this oxford/franklin collection is unique. For example, cover of the premium full leather Don Quixote is brown, while cover for the cheaper quarter-bound version is black. Furthermore, now the full leather oxford/franklin version will be around 100-200 USD on eBay, if much lower than this, it will not be the premium full leather ones.

>13 Gretchenstreats: 'In any case, both say that Franklin was selected by Oxford--implying (perhaps only for marketing) that there is something "even more" special about these editions.'

This isn't just marketing. Oxford had editorial input, and I think provided access to translation rights for some works.

On the broader point of distinguishing between the states of The Oxford Library of the World's Great Books, my understanding is there are three versions in play: quarter leather, full leather, and "special edition" full leather. (I think any leatherette volumes belong to other series, but I could be wrong about that.)

The quarter leather are easy to identify and avoid, if so desired (though by current standards these are probably pretty good quality). It is common for sellers to mislead customers by showing a primary (or only) picture spine-out, and then disclose the half-leather binding in small print, so if there is no front cover picture make sure to check carefully.

To distinguish between "special edition" full leather and standard full leather, the series name half-title (not limitation quantity) is the only certain way without handling the books in person or knowing beforehand what the cover design should be. Some other heuristics which I think are logically sufficient to identify a special edition state:

- "Oxford Library" + two colors of leather
- "Oxford Library" + hand-marbled end papers

Unfortunately, not all of the special editions had marbled end papers. For example, I know the Moby-Dick special had the standard inferior (relative to hand-marbling) silk moire end papers.

Any decently high resolution picture should also make it immediately clear. The decoration is much more intricate and impressive on the special editions, and often includes premium crafting such as inner dentelles. Apart from the paper, which is acceptable but nothing special by bibliophile standards, the Franklin Library Oxford special editions generally hold their own, despite being at least partly machine-produced. The bookbinders at The Sloves Organization (which executed the bindings) knew their craft.

Example special:

>17 abysswalker: Very nice. Could you tell me, does this edition contain the complete Doré engravings?

I picked up the Divine Comedy from the '100 Greatest' series. I was impressed with the quality, and with the Ciardi tranlation. I was disappointed, however, to find that it only contained around half of the engravings that Doré did for this work.

>18 SyllicSpell: I don't think this edition has all 50 Paradise Lost engravings, but I can check to verify when I get home.

>18 SyllicSpell: >19 abysswalker:
The Easton Press DLE contains 76 engravings in volume 1 (Inferno) and 60 in volume 2 (Purgatory and Paradise). Many critics believe the Divine Comedy to be Dore’s finest work.

>20 jroger1: I consider the Commedia to be Doré's finest work too, although Rime of the Ancient Mariner comes a close second.

Thank you for the recommendation. Do you own the EP DLE? I like it a lot, but it's far beyond my current means. The last copy I saw for sale was going for nearly £4000.

>21 SyllicSpell:
That price is ridiculous of course. Be patient, although I wouldn’t expect it to fall to the original sale price ($396). Yes, I bought it then (copy #3 of 400, actually).

>17 abysswalker: For ease of identification there is a helpful list of the Oxfords here (clicking on the title brings up a photo of the book):

http://www.eastonfranklinbooks.com/franklin-library-series/fl-oxford

>16 abysswalker: Your input is so amazing, I haven't noticed this before! But regarding the two colours of leather method, can I say that if I found two colors of leather on the book spine, i.e. black leather with book tittle claded into brown leather, so that one will be for sure the "special edition" full leather one, even without checking the cover? (some sellers only shows book stacking pictures)

But as I know, some titles in this Oxford series also come with single color full leather cover, like "Great Expectations" and "Scarlet Letter" etc., you could also check the covers provided through the link below, is that meaning, if without showing hand-mabled end page, then they may not be the "special edition"?
http://www.eastonfranklinbooks.com/franklin-library-series/fl-oxford

>18 SyllicSpell: looks like it has 30 of the 50 illustrations:

>24 ravercraft: I think so, assuming you know the book is from the Oxford series. There is at least one other Franklin series that uses two colors of leather in the bindings (the Dickens set). But, I would always ask for more info and pictures from a seller. Serious, professional booksellers will generally be glad to provide additional pictures, and if the seller will not that is a bad sign.

>25 abysswalker: Thank you. I imagine I will pick up a copy of this anyway as it's an impressive looking book. I'm pleased to see that FL also published an edition of Milton that includes Samson Agonistes and Areopagitica.

>26 abysswalker: Thank you for your answer, I guess it's better for me to stick to the two-color leather ones. By the way, what is the difference between Oxford standard full leather version and "special edition" full leather version?

I have seen that Dickens set, a bit confused, it seems a stand alone collection from Franklin/Oxford 50-title series, but whether this set shall be counted as a "special edition" full leather Franklin/Oxford or not?

>26 abysswalker: Judge by the cover, is this a "special edition" full leather franklin/oxford book?

>29 ravercraft: I believe so, though I haven't actually seen a copy of that title in person.

Note, the image you posted is from the EastonFranklinBooks web site. So if another seller is using it, it is probably functioning as a generic stock image. Always ask for pictures of the actual book's front matter if you want to be sure.

>30 abysswalker: thx bro. Yes, I took this pic from eastonfranklinbooks web site for easy access and good quality , I will ask seller to provide real pic, thank you for reminding.

>28 ravercraft: I have the full Oxford/Dickens 21 volume set. Considering that it was limited to 7500 copies, and the production quality is amongst the best that FL had produced (double leather covering, moire end papers etc), I would consider it a Special Edition.

>32 Fymido_Lenito: Thank you very much for your information!