Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Thoughts At Lakeside



As I write this the sound of chainsaws fills the air with a music I both appreciate and rue. The reason they’re singing is because an enormous tree which has needed to depart our company for at least 20 of the 24 years we’ve lived here is about to be felled. Four tree surgeons arrived at nine to perform the operation made delicate due to the tree’s proximity to power lines, the garage, and our neighbor’s screened porch. I know it needs to go – it’s too close to the house – but what a lovely thing it is overarching the brick patio. I can’t bear to watch, so every blind is closed and I am hidden away in my office as though it were a windowless cubicle and I a corporate worker bee (oh, perish the thought!). The good part is I can finally write the blog I promised you about the Lakeside Press books I bought last week at the FOL sale. If you’ve never seen these be sure to read on, as this is something you definitely want to file away in your memory for future reference.

Until I saw these in two cardboards boxes priced at $40 for all I had never seen a Lakeside Classic with the word Christmas on the title page. But I HAD read about them, so all it took was one glance to send a thousand neurons firing – zing! zing! zing! zing! – until my brain practically exploded with Roman candles. I got all but one of the 1940’s annuals, all of the 50’s and 60’s, and the first six from the 70’s. And every last one says CHRISTMAS on the title page. I know this practice stopped at some point – Chistmas being replaced by December -- but I cannot seem to find out when this was. All I can tell you is that at least through 1975 the word Christmas is spelled out in block letters.

But before we talk about the salient points of these pretty little volumes (all are in fine conditon) a bit of history is in order. The Lakeside Classics are the imprint of the R.R. Donnelly Company, a venerable publishing house created by a Canadian immigrant named Richard Robert Donnelly who hung his first publisher’s shingle in 1864. The business incorporated and reincorporated many times over the years, but was already successful with its Lakeside imprint when the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed the Lakeside building and its contents. It’s said that Donnelly traveled to New York in a borrowed coat with a free train ticket to seek a loan to regroup. Not only was his integrity and reputation rewarded, but he bounced back with a brand new product that proved to be a big hit with readers. Donnelley published hardback fiction in soft cover, added woodcut illustrations and sold his Lakeside Library novels at a dime apiece, launching the second revival of the paperback novel which had first been introduced in the 1840’s (yeah, surprising, isn’t it?), but had faded away.

Now fast forward to the early 20th century – 1903 to be exact. Donnelly senior is dead, but his son, Thomas, snaps the reins and launches the Lakeside Classics which would be finely bound, small books (16mo) issued one per year and always an uncommon title generally on American western history that’s long been out-of print and known primarily to historians. But here’s the kicker – these books were purposely NEVER sold. They were published and distributed as annual gifts to employees, stockholders, vendors and associates, which means that the first time a reader or collector ever bought one was on the secondary market! The book that launched the whole shebang in 1903 was The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It’s estimated that a thousand copies came off the press but, even so, it’s pretty hard to find one and VERY expensive if you do. Only a few complete sets of Lakeside Classics are known to exist and their volumes are multi-colored because Lakeside has made it a practice to change the color of the binding every 25 years.

Here’s the breakdown by year:

1903-1927 – dark green

1928-1952 – red

1953-1977 – navy blue

1978-2002 – dark brown

2003 – turquoise

 Not surprisingly, a few sellers on ABE, clearly of the “you don’t gotta know nothin’ to sell books” school of pricing,  have listed these ridiculously low, but research shows that experienced sellers are listing in the $30-50 range. I will be doing likewise, but probably not until after the Akron Antiquarian Show in April.

Until then back into the box they go. And me back to work with the chainsaws still whirring away outside the window killing my beautiful tree that sits, ironically -- near the lakeside.

P.S. To see early examples of specific Lakeside titles get thee to this impressive website http://www.lakesideclassicbooks.com/ and have a look. It clarified my recollection of what I'd previously read and also provided dates for the various colors for which I am most grateful.

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