Saturday, June 08, 2019

Bruxelles & la Bibliothèque de la Pléiade



A long time ago in a country far, far away - called Belgium - I lived a life in what now seems to me almost an alternate universe.

I don't know how convinced you are by the physics of the multiverse: the infinite branching paths radiating out from each moment in each of our lives (or, for that matter, in the life of the cosmos), but certainly in my own life I can see certain moments of decision - certain choices which determined one chain of events or another.



One of them was in Palmerston North, where I taught for a year at Massey University, and was offered at the end of it a new, improved half-time contract rather than the full-time one I'd been on.

On that occasion, a counter-offer of full-time work at Auckland was decisive. I returned to my home town, not without certain regrets, but forced by economic necessity.



My brief life as potential citizen of Europe (or Eurotrash, if you prefer) built up over several years from the late eighties to the mid-nineties. It was all involved with my first marriage, to a London-born, Paris-educated, French, German and Flemish speaking girl whose quite wealthy family lived in one of the nicer suburbs of Brussels.

The only one of those languages I could really speak was French, but no doubt the others would have come in time (I have a reading knowledge of German, though no Flemish at all).

The moment of our break-up put paid to that life. Nearly a quarter of a century later, I can't say I'm sorry. There's a certain comfort, as well as a certain complexity, in making your life in the place you originally came from. I do miss speaking French every day, but returning to New Zealand with the determination to try and get to know it properly for the first time has been as absorbing as any life task could be.

Some of the reliquaries of that vanished life include a large library of French books. One or two of them I should probably have returned to Jackie-Anne when we split up our few sticks of property, but I guess I hung on to them because they would be so much easier for her to replace than for me to reacquire (this was long before the days of Amazon.com and such digital gateways to virtually all the books in existence).



I did send back a whole lot of things, but some I overlooked at the time. Since she kept everything we had in the other country, I imagine it worked out pretty equally. If not, it's all a long time ago now. I hope I learned some things about avoiding pettiness on such occasions as a result, though. It certainly confirmed my agreement with that old Shakespearean tag: 'He jests at scars who never felt a wound.'

Marriage break-ups, like any other emotional upheaval, are not to be taken lightly - and it's been a help to me many times since to remember my own feelings at the time. I don't feel judgemental about excesses of behaviour which might otherwise seem inexplicable.

Some people are able to stay on civil terms with their ex's. I wish that were true of me, too, but it isn't. I envy their maturity, but - again - it's helped me to understand why people will change countries, let alone cities, to avoid any casual encounters.



These are some of the thoughts I have when I examine the following maniacal-seeming list of books belonging to the magisterial French collection of classics, the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. If you notice obvious gaps, that's probably because I have a lot of other French books in less impressive forms.

And if you've got sick of these long lists of books-in-particular-series I've been putting up on this blog, all I can say is that I suspect this will be the last of them for a while. So far my lists-of-lists have included:

  1. La Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (1931- ) [41]
  2. The Folio Society (1947- ) [95]
  3. The Landmark Ancient Histories (1996- ) [5]
  4. The Library of America (1979- ) [92]
  5. The Loeb Classics (1912- ) [59]
  6. Longman Annotated English Poets (1965- ) [12]
  7. The Nonesuch Library (1927-77) [16]
  8. Norton Annotated Editions (2000- ) [20]
  9. Oxford Myths and Legends (1954- ) [19]
  10. Penguin Modern Poets (1962-83) [28]
  11. Penguin Modern European Poets (1958-84) [40]
  12. Penguin Poets in Translation (1996-2005) [12]
  13. The Reynard Library (1950-71) [7]
  14. Russian Foreign Languages Publishing House (1946-64) [40]


It's the Pléiade which has the most tender, still smarting associations, however.

I'll never regret that other life I almost started to live, but the life I live now is so much more satisfactory in every way, that I have to say that my main feeling about the whole thing now is gratitude both for the amazing opportunity, and also for the fact that I ended up taking another road - the road home, the one less travelled by.

Maybe I'll write more about it someday.







La Pléiade (1931- )

Ma bibliothèque

MES LIVRES

41 ouvrages / 26 auteurs


  1. Anonyme




  2. Les Mille et Une Nuits: Tome I (2005)


    • Bencheikh, Jamel Eddine, and André Miquel, trans. Les Mille et Une Nuits. Tome 1: Nuits 1 à 327. 3 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 515. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.
    • Parution le 13 Mai 2005, 1312 pages, 68.00 €



      Les Mille et Une Nuits: Tome II (2006)


    • Bencheikh, Jamel Eddine, and André Miquel, trans. Les Mille et Une Nuits. Tome 2: Nuits 327 à 719. 3 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 526. Paris: Gallimard, 2006.
    • Parution le 12 Octobre 2006, 1104 pages, 61.00 €



      Les Mille et Une Nuits: Tome III (2006)


    • Bencheikh, Jamel Eddine, and André Miquel, trans. Les Mille et Une Nuits. Tome 3: Nuits 719 à 1001. 3 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 527. Paris: Gallimard, 2006.
    • Parution le 12 Octobre 2006 1088 pages, 61.00 €



    • Album Mille et Une Nuits : Iconographie. Choisie et commentée par Margaret Sironval. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Albums de la Pléiade, n° 44. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.
    • Parution le 13 Mai 2005, 272 pages, 248 ill.


  3. Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki [Guillaume Apollinaire] (1880-1918)




  4. Guillaume Apollinaire : Œuvres poétiques complètes (1956)


    • Apollinaire, Guillaume. Œuvres poétiques : Le Bestiaire - Alcools - Vitam impendere amori - Calligrammes - Il y a - Poèmes à Lou - Le Guetteur mélancolique - Poèmes à Madeleine - Poèmes à la marraine - Poèmes retrouvés - Poèmes épistolaires - Poèmes inédits. Théâtre : Les Mamelles de Tirésias - Couleur du temps - Casanova. Ed. Marcel Adéma & Michel Décaudin. Préface d'André Billy. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 121. 1956. Paris: Gallimard, 1990.
    • Parution en Décembre 1956, 1344 pages, 59.00 €



      Guillaume Apollinaire : Œuvres en prose complètes: Tome I (1977)


    • Apollinaire, Guillaume. Œuvres en prose complètes I : Contes et récits : L'Enchanteur pourrissant - L'Hérésiarque et Cie - Le Poète assassiné - Contes écartés du «Poète assassiné» - La Femme assise - Contes retrouvés - La Fin de Babylone - Les Trois Don Juan - La Femme blanche des Hohenzollern. Théâtre : La Température - Le marchand d'anchois - Jean-Jacques - La colombelle - Fragments divers. Cinéma : La Bréhatine - C'est un oiseau qui vient de France. Ed. Michel Décaudin. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 267. 1977. Paris: Gallimard, 1988.
    • Parution le 14 Mai 1977, 1584 pages, 60.00 €



      Guillaume Apollinaire : Œuvres en prose complètes: Tome II (1991)


    • Apollinaire, Guillaume. Œuvres en prose complètes II : Écrits sur l'art : Méditations esthétiques - Les Peintres cubistes - Fragonard et l'Amérique - Chroniques et paroles sur l'art. Critique littéraire : La Phalange nouvelle - Les Poèmes de l'année - Les Poètes d'aujourd'hui - [Sur la littérature féminine] - L'Antitradition futuriste - L'Esprit nouveau et les Poètes. Chroniques et articles : Théories et polémiques - Portraits et silhouettes - Critique - Variétés. Échos sur les lettres et les arts. Ed. Pierre Caizergues & Michel Décaudin. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 382. Paris: Gallimard, 1991.
    • Parution le 20 Novembre 1991, 1872 pages, 74.50 €



      Guillaume Apollinaire : Œuvres en prose complètes: Tome III (1993)


    • Apollinaire, Guillaume. Œuvres en prose complètes III : Le Flâneur des deux rives - La Vie anecdotique - Chroniques et échos - Les Diables amoureux. Appendices : Essai sur la littérature sotadique au XIXe siècle - L'Arétin et son temps - [Les Fleurs du Mal] - Lettre à Louis Chadourne. Textes érotiques : Les Onze Mille Verges - Les Exploits d'un jeune don Juan. Compléments : théâtre : Un buveau d'absinthe qui a lu Victor Hugo - À la cloche de bois. Pièce en un acte - Revue de l'année : la Vérité sur la vie et le théâtre. Compléments : contes : [Projet de contes] - Un vol à la cour de Prusse - Le Roi Lune - Héloïse ou Dieu même. Chroniques et échos. Ed. Pierre Caizergues & Michel Décaudin. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 399. Paris: Gallimard, 1993.
    • Parution le 13 Mai 1993, 1632 pages, 76.00 €


  5. Georges Bataille (1897-1962)




  6. Georges Bataille : Romans et récits (2004)


    • Bataille, Georges. Romans et récits : Histoire de l'œil - Le Bleu du ciel - Madame Edwarda - Le Petit - Le Mort - Julie - L'Impossible - La Scissiparité - L'Abbé C - Ma mère - Charlotte d'Ingerville - Archives du projet «Divinus Deus». Appendices : Récits retrouvés - La Maison brûlée - Ébauches. Ed. Jean-François Louette. Preface by Denis Hollier. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 511. Paris: Gallimard, 2004.
    • Parution le 18 Novembre 2004, 1552 pages, ill., 66.00 €


  7. Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867)




  8. Charles Baudelaire : Œuvres complètes: Tome I (1931)


    • Baudelaire, Charles. Œuvres. Tome 1 : Les Fleurs du Mal - Le Spleen de Paris - Les Paradis artificiels - Essais et nouvelles - Théâtre - Critique littéraire - Critique artistique - Richard Wagner - Journaux intimes - Pauvre Belgique - Amœnitates Belgicæ - Traductions de l'anglais. Ed. Y.-G. Le Dantec. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1. 1931. Paris: Gallimard, 1944.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 2 Octobre 1931, 666 pages


  9. Albert Camus (1913-1960)




  10. Albert Camus : Théâtre – Récits et nouvelles (1962)


    • Camus, Albert. Théâtre – Récits et nouvelles : Théâtre : Caligula - Le Malentendu - L'État de siège - Les Justes - Révolte dans les Asturies. Adaptations : Les Esprits - La Dévotion à la croix - Un Cas intéressant - Le Chevalier d'Olmedo - Requiem pour une nonne - Les Possédés. Récits et nouvelles : L'Étranger - La Peste - La Chute - L'Exil et le royaume : La Femme adultère. Le Renégat. Les Muets. L'Hôte. Jonas. La Pierre qui pousse. Ed. Roger Quilliot. Préface de Jean Grenier. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 161. 1962. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 13 Décembre 1962, 2128 pages



      Albert Camus : Essais (1965)


    • Camus, Albert. Essais : L'Envers et l'Endroit - Noces - Le Mythe de Sisyphe - Lettres à un ami allemand (1943-1944) - Actuelles I, chroniques 1944-1948 - L'Homme révolté - Actuelles II, chroniques 1948-1953 - L'Été - Actuelles III, chroniques algériennes 1939-1958 - Réflexions sur la guillotine - Discours de Suède (1957). Essais critiques : Introduction aux « Maximes » de Chamfort - Avant-propos à « La Maison du peuple », de Louis Guilloux - Rencontres avec André Gide - L'Artiste en prison - Roger Martin du Gard - Sur « Les Îles », de Jean Grenier - René Char. Appendices : Métaphysique chrétienne et néoplatonisme - Articles, préfaces, interviews, inédits. Ed. Roger Quilliot & Louis Faucon. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 183. 1965. Paris: Gallimard, 1981.
    • Épuisé, Parution le 8 Décembre 1965, 2000 pages


  11. Paul Claudel (1868-1955)




  12. Paul Claudel : Théâtre: Tome I (1948)


    • Claudel, Paul. Théâtre. Tome 1 : L'Endormie - Fragment d'un drame - Tête d'or (1re et 2e versions) - La Ville (1re et 2e versions) - La Jeune fille Violaine (1re et 2e versions) - L'Échange (1re et 2e versions) - Le Repos du septième jour - Partage de midi (1re version et version pour la scène). Traductions d'Eschyle : Agamemnon - Les Choéphores - Les Euménides. Ed. Jacques Madaule & Jacques Petit. 2 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 72. 1947. Paris: Gallimard, 1991.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution en Avril 1948, 1440 pages



      Paul Claudel : Théâtre: Tome II (1948)


    • Claudel, Paul. Théâtre. Tome 2 : L'Annonce faite à Marie (1re version et version pour la scène) - L'Otage - Protée (1re et 2e versions) - Le Pain dur - Le Père humilié - La Nuit de Noël 1914 - L'Ours et la Lune - L'Homme et son désir - La Femme et son ombre (1re et 2e versions) - Le Peuple des hommes cassés - Le Soulier de satin (version intégrale et version pour la scène) - Sous le rempart d'Athènes - Le Livre de Christophe Colomb - La Parabole du festin - La Sagesse ou La Parabole du Festin - Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher - Le Jet de pierre - La Danse des morts - L'Histoire de Tobie et de Sara - La Lune à la recherche d'elle-même - Le Ravissement de Scapin. Ed. Jacques Madaule & Jacques Petit. 2 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 73. 1948. Paris: Gallimard, 1965.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 23 Mars 1948, 1568 pages


  13. Denis Diderot (1713-1784)




  14. Denis Diderot : Œuvres (1946)


    • Diderot, Denis. Œuvres : Les Bijoux indiscrets - La Religieuse - Le Neveu de Rameau - Jacques le fataliste et son maître - Lui et moi - Les Deux amis de Bourbonne - Entretien d'un père avec ses enfants - Ceci n'est pas un conte - Sur l'inconséquence du jugement publique de nos actions particulières - Mon père et moi - Lettre à mon frère - Lettre sur les aveugles à l'usage de ceux qui voient - Entretien avec d'Alembert - Le rêve de d'Alembert - Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre - Sur les femmes - Sur l'estampe de Cochin - Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville - Paradoxe sur le comédien - Éloge de Richardson - Traité du Beau - Essai sur la peinture - Entretien d'un philosophe avec la Maréchale de *** - Satire I sur les caractères et les mots de caractère, de profession, etc. - Entretiens sur «Le fils naturel» - Des auteurs et des critiques - Lettres de Madame Riccoboni. Ed. André Billy. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 25. 1946. Paris: Gallimard, 1969.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 25 Septembre 1946, 1478 pages


  15. Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie [Alexandre Dumas, père] (1802-1870)




  16. Alexandre Dumas : Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1981)


    • Dumas, Alexandre. Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. 1845-46. Ed. Gilbert Sigaux. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 290. Paris: Gallimard, 1981.
    • Parution le 6 Mai 1981, 1504 pages, 60.00 €


  17. André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869-1951)




    • Gide, André. Romans; Récits et Soties; Œuvres lyriques : Le Traité du Narcisse - Le Voyage d'Urien - La Tentative amoureuse - Paludes - Les Nourritures terrestres - Les Nouvelles Nourritures - Le Prométhée mal enchaîné - El Hadj ou Le Traité du faux prophète - L'Immoraliste - Le Retour de l'Enfant Prodigue - La Porte Étroite - Isabelle - Les Caves du Vatican - La Symphonie pastorale - Les Faux-Monnayeurs - L'École des femmes - Robert - Geneviève ou La confidence inachevée - Thésée. Introduction by Maurice Nadeau. Ed. Yvonne Davet & Jean-Jacques Thierry. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 139. 1958. Paris: Gallimard, 1980.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 13 Novembre 1958, 1664 pages


  18. Louis Poirier ['Julien Gracq'] (1910-2007)




  19. Julien Gracq : Œuvres complètes: Tome I (1989)


    • Gracq, Julien. Œuvres complètes. Tome 1 : Au château d'Argol - Un beau ténébreux - Liberté grande - Le Roi pêcheur - André Breton. Quelques aspects de l'écrivain - La Littérature à l'estomac - Le Rivage des Syrtes - Préférences. Appendices : Éclosion de la pierre - Un cauchemar - Le Surréalisme et la Littérature contemporaine - Prose pour l'étrangère - Enquête sur la diction poétique - Kleist : «Penthésilée» - Entretien sur «Penthésilée» de H. von Kleist. Ed. Bernhild Boie. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 354. Paris: Gallimard, 1989.
    • Parution le 4 Avril 1989, 1536 pages, 74.50 €


  20. Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803)




  21. Choderlos de Laclos : Œuvres complètes (1944)


    • Choderlos de Laclos. Œuvres complètes : Les Liaisons dangereuses - De l'éducation des femmes - Poésies - Critique littéraire - Sur l'éloge de Vauban - Œuvres politiques - Appendices. Ed. Maurice Allem. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 6. 1944. Paris: Gallimard, 1959.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 16 Mars 1944, 942 pages


  22. Stéphane [Étienne] Mallarmé (1842-1898)




  23. Stéphane Mallarmé : Œuvres complètes (1945)


    • Mallarmé, Stéphane. Œuvres complètes : Poëmes d'enfance et de jeunesse - Poésies - Vers de circonstance - Les Poëmes d'Edgar Poe - Proses de jeunesse - Poèmes en prose - Crayonné au théâtre - Variations sur un sujet - Un Coup de dés - Quelques médaillons et portraits en pied - Richard Wagner - Préface à «Wathek» - Le «Ten o'clock» de M. Whistler - Contes indiens - La Musique et les Lettres - Proses diverses - Les Mots anglais - Thèmes anglais - Les Dieux antiques - L'Étoile des fées. Ed. Henri Mondor & G. Jean-Aubry. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 65. 1945. Paris: Gallimard, 1992.
    • Épuisé, Parution le 12 Juin 1945, 1696 pages


  24. André Malraux (1901-1976)




  25. André Malraux : Romans (1947)


    • Malraux, André. Romans : Les Conquérants - La Voie royale - La Condition humaine - L'Espoir. 1928, 1930, 1946, 1937. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 70. 1947. Paris: Gallimard, 1978.
    • Épuisé, Parution en Juin 1947, 864 pages


  26. Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870)




  27. Prosper Mérimée : Romans et nouvelles (1934)


    • Mérimée, Prosper. Romans et nouvelles : Chronique du règne de Charles IX - Mosaïque - La Double méprise - Les Âmes du purgatoire - La Vénus d'Ille - Colomba - Arsène Guillot - Carmen - L'Abbé Aubain - Il Viccolo di Madame Lucrezia - La Chambre bleue - Lokis - Djoûmane. Appendice : Histoire de Rondino. Ed. Henri Martineau. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 21. Paris: Gallimard, 1934.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 30 Novembre 1934, 864 pages


  28. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin ['Molière'] (1622-1673)




  29. Molière : Œuvres complètes: Tome I (1972)


    • Molière. Œuvres complètes. Tome 1 : La Jalousie du Barbouillé - Le Médecin volant - L'Étourdi ou Les Contretemps - Le Dépit amoureux - Les Précieuses ridicules - Sganarelle ou Le Cocu imaginaire - Dom Garcie de Navarre ou le Prince jaloux - L'École des Maris - Les Fâcheux - L'École des Femmes - Remerciement au Roi - La Critique de l'École des Femmes - L'Impromptu de Versailles - Le Mariage forcé - Les Plaisirs de l'Île enchantée - La Princesse d'Élide - Le Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur - Appendices. Ed. Georges Couton. 2 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 8. 1972. Paris: Gallimard, 1981.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 23 Février 1972, 1488 pages



      Molière : Œuvres complètes: Tome II (1972)


    • Molière. Œuvres complètes. Tome 2 : Dom Juan ou Le Festin de Pierre - L'Amour médecin - Le Misanthrope - Le Médecin malgré lui - Le Bal des Muses - Pastorale comique - Mélicerte - Le Sicilien ou L'amour peintre - Amphitryon - Le Grand divertissement royal de Versailles - George Dandin ou Le Mari confondu - L'Avare - Monsieur de Pourceaugnac - Les Amants magnifiques - Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - Psyché - Les Fourberies de Scapin - La Comtesse d'Escarbagnas - Les Femmes savantes - Le Malade imaginaire - Œuvres diverses - Appendices. Ed. Georges Couton. 2 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 9. 1972. Paris: Gallimard, 1981.
    • Ancienne édition, Parution le 23 Février 1972, 1584 pages


  30. Georges Perec (1936-1982)




  31. Georges Perec : Œuvres: Tome I (2017)


    • Perec, Georges. Œuvres I : Les Choses - Quel petit vélo à guidon chromé au fond de la cour? - Un homme qui dort - La Disparition - Les revenentes - Espèces d'espaces - W ou Le souvenir d'enfance - Je me souviens. Ed. Christelle Reggiani, with Dominique Bertelli, Claude Burgelin, Florence de Chalonge, Maxime Decout & Yannick Séité. 2 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 623. Paris: Gallimard, 2017.
    • Parution le 11 Mai 2017, 1184 pages, 61.50 €



      Georges Perec : Œuvres: Tome II (2017)


    • Perec, Georges. Œuvres II : La Vie mode d'emploi - Un cabinet d'amateur - La Clôture et autres poèmes - L'Éternité. Appendice : Tentative d'épuisement d'un lieu parisien - Le Voyage d'hiver - Ellis Island - L'art et la manière d'aborder son chef de service pour lui demander une augmentation - L'Augmentation. Ed. Christelle Reggiani, with Claude Burgelin, Maxime Decout, Maryline Heck et Jean-Luc Joly. 2 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 624. Paris: Gallimard, 2017.
    • Parution le 11 Mai 2017, 1280 pages, 63.50 €



      Claude Burgelin : Album Georges Perec (2017)


    • Burgelin, Claude. Album Georges Perec : Iconographie commentée. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Albums de la Pléiade, n° 56. Paris: Gallimard, 2017.
    • Parution le 11 Mai 2017, 256 pages, 202 ill.


  32. Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa (1888-1935)




  33. Fernando Pessoa : Œuvres poétiques (2001)


    • Pessoa, Fernando. Œuvres poétiques : Alberto Caeiro : Le Gardeur de troupeaux - Le Berger amoureux - Poèmes non assemblés. Ricardo Reis : Odes. Livre premier - Odes publiées dans la revue «Presença» - Odes éparses. Álvaro de Campos : Premiers poèmes - Les Grandes odes - Autour des grandes odes - Derniers poèmes. Fernando Pessoa : Poèmes paülistes, sensationnistes et intersectionnistes - Pour un «Cancioneiro» - Sonnets - Quatrains - Rubayat - Poèmes politiques - Poèmes ésotériques et métaphysiques - Message - En marge de «Message» - Praça da Figueira - Un Soir à Lima - Poésie humoristique et vers de circonstance. Poésie anglaise : Poèmes d'Alexander Search - Épithalame - Antinoüs - Trente-cinq sonnets - Inscriptions - Le Violoneux fou - Poèmes anglais épars. Appendices : Poèmes de jeunesse - Aux frontières de la littérature : les poèmes français. Ed. Patrick Quillier. Trans. Olivier Amiel, Maria Antónia Câmara Manuel, Michel Chandeigne, Pierre Léglise-Costa et Patrick Quillier. Préface de Robert Bréchon. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 482. Paris: Gallimard, 2001.
    • Parution le 14 Novembre 2001, 2176 pages, 76.00 €


  34. Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (1871-1922)




  35. Marcel Proust : À la recherche du temps perdu: Tome I (1954)


    • Proust, Marcel. À la recherche du temps perdu. Tome 1 : Du Côté de chez Swann - À l’Ombre des jeunes filles en fleur. Preface by André Maurois. Ed. Pierre Clarac & André Ferré. 3 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 100. 1954. Paris: Gallimard, 1964.
    • Épuisé, Parution le 30 Novembre 1954, 1056 pages



      Marcel Proust : À la recherche du temps perdu: Tome II (1954)


    • Proust, Marcel. À la recherche du temps perdu. Tome 2 : Le Côté de Guermantes - Sodome et Gomorrhe. Ed. Pierre Clarac & André Ferré. 3 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 101. 1954. Paris: Gallimard, 1973.
    • Épuisé, Parution le 30 Novembre 1954, 1232 pages



      Marcel Proust : À la recherche du temps perdu: Tome III (1954)


    • Proust, Marcel. À la recherche du temps perdu. Tome 3 : La Prisonnière - La Fugitive - Le Temps retrouvé. Ed. Pierre Clarac & André Ferré. 3 vols. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 102. Paris: Gallimard, 1954.
    • Épuisé, Parution le 30 Novembre 1954, 1344 pages



    • Proust, Marcel. Jean Santeuil précédé de Les Plaisirs et les Jours. Ed. Pierre Clarac & Yves Sandre. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 228. Paris: Gallimard, 1971.
    • Release on 29 Septembre 1971, 1136 pages, 49.00 €



    • Proust, Marcel. Contre Sainte-Beuve précédé de Pastiches et mélanges et suivi de Essais et articles. Ed. Pierre Clarac & Yves Sandre. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 229. Paris: Gallimard, 1971.
    • Release on 29 Septembre 1971, 1040 pages, 49.70 €


  36. Jean Racine (1639-1699)




  37. Jean Racine : Œuvres complètes: Tome I (1931)


    • Racine. Oeuvres complètes I : Théâtre : La Thébaïde ou les frères ennemis - Alexandre Le Grand - Andromaque - Les Plaideurs - Britannicus - Bérénice - Bajazet - Mithridate - Iphigénie - Phèdre - Esther - Athalie. Poésies : Épigrammes - Cantiques spirituels - Paysage ou les promenades de Port-Royal-Des-Champs - Poésies latines. Ed. Raymond Picard. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 50. 1931. Paris: Gallimard, 1964.
    • Épuisé, Parution en Décembre 1931, 1216 pages


  38. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944)




  39. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry : Œuvres (1953)


    • Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de. Œuvres : Courrier Sud - Vol de nuit - Terre des hommes - Pilote de guerre - Lettre à un otage - Le Petit Prince - Citadelle. Preface de Roger Callois. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 98. 1953. Paris: Gallimard, 1959.
    • Épuisé, Parution en Novembre 1953, 1056 pages, ill.


  40. Alexis Leger [Saint-John Perse] (1887-1975)




  41. Saint-John Perse : Œuvres complètes (1972)


    • Saint-John Perse. Œuvres complètes : Œuvre poétique : Éloges - La Gloire des rois - Anabase - Exil - Vents - Amers - Chronique - Oiseaux - Chanté par celle qui fut là - Chant pour un équinoxe. Prose : Discours - Hommages - Témoignages. Correspondance : Lettres de jeunesse - Lettres d'Asie - Lettres d'exil. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 240. 1972. Paris: Gallimard, 2004.
    • Parution le 27 Novembre 1972, 1472 pages, 56.00 €


  42. Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (1905-1980)




  43. Jean-Paul Sartre : Œuvres romanesques (1982)


    • Sartre, Jean-Paul. Œuvres Romanesque : La Nausée - Le Mur. Les Chemins de la liberté : L'Âge de raison - Le Sursis - La Mort dans l'âme - Drôle d'amitié. Appendices : Dépaysement - La Mort dans l'âme [Fragments de journal] - La Dernière chance [Fragments]. Ed. Michel Contat & Michel Rybalka, with Geneviève Idt & George H. Bauer. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 295. Paris: Gallimard, 1981.
    • Parution le 13 Janvier 1982, 2304 pages, 73.50 €


  44. Somadeva (c.11th century)




    • Somadeva. Océan des rivières de contes. Ed. Nalini Balbir, with Mildrède Besnard, Lucien Billoux, Sylvain Brocquet, Colette Caillat, Christine Chojnacki, Jean Fezas & Jean-Pierre Osier. Traduction des ‘Contes du Vampire’ par Louis & Marie-Simone Renou, 1963. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 438. Paris: Gallimard, 1997.
    • Parution le 5 Septembre 1997, 1792 pages, ill., 76.00 €


  45. Marie-Henri Beyle ['Stendhal'] (1783-1842)




  46. Stendhal : Voyages en Italie (1973)


    • Stendhal. Voyages en Italie : Rome, Naples et Florence en 1817 - L'Italie en 1818 - Rome, Naples et Florence (1826) - Promenades dans Rome. Suppléments : Les Marionnettes - Lettres de Rome à Romain Colomb - Les Ambassadeurs, etc. Ed. V. Del Litto. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 249. Paris: Gallimard, 1973.
    • Parution le 26 Octobre 1973, 1920 pages, 60.00 €


  47. Paul-Marie Verlaine (1844-1896)




  48. Paul Verlaine : Œuvres poétiques complètes (1938)


    • Verlaine, Paul. Œuvres poétiques complètes : Premiers vers - Poèmes saturniens - Fêtes galantes - Poèmes contemporains des «Poèmes saturniens» et des «Fêtes galantes» - La Bonne chanson - Contribution à l'«Album zutique» - Romances sans paroles - Poèmes contemporains de «La bonne chanson» et des «Romances sans paroles» - Sagesse - Reliquat de «Cellulairement» et poèmes contemporains de «Sagesse» - Jadis et naguère - Amour - Parallèlement - Poèmes contemporains de «Parallèlement» - Dédicaces - Bonheur - Chansons pour elle - Liturgies intimes - Odes en son honneur - Élégies - Le Livre posthume - Dans les limbes - Épigrammes - Chair - Invectives - Biblio-sonnets - Poèmes divers. Œuvres libres : Femmes - Hombres. Ed. Y.-G. Le Dantec. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 47. 1938. Paris: Gallimard, 1954.
    • Parution en Juillet 1938, 1600 pages, 61.00 €


  49. Blessed Jacobus de Varagine / Voragine [Giacomo da Varazze / Jacopo da Varazze] (c.1230–1298)




  50. Jacques de Voragine : La Légende dorée (2004)


    • Voragine, Jacques de. La Légende dorée. Preface by Jacques Le Goff. Ed. Alain Bouveau, Monique Goullet, Pascal Colomb, Laurence Moulinier, & Stefano Mula. ‘La Legende dorée et ses images’, by Dominique Donadieu-Rigaut. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 504. Paris: Gallimard, 2004.
    • Parution le 11 Mars 2004, 1664 pages, 197 ill., 69.00 €


Friday, May 31, 2019

James Thin & the Library of America



James Thin Bookshop (Edinburgh, 1848-2002)


I first encountered the delights of James Thin's signature Bookshop on Edinburgh's South Bridge in 1981, five years before I went to study there. My father wanted to revisit his Scottish roots and do a bit of a European tour as well, and my sister and I decided to accompany my parents. My elder brothers, anticipating trouble, elected to stay at home. In some ways they may have made the right choice.

Despite the many perplexities associated with still travelling with one's family at the age of 18, I have to count one of indisputable triumphs of the trip a day spent wandering around Edinburgh. It was (and is) visually spectacular. But more than that, it seemed to make sense to me as a city, unlike such tangles of motorised mayhem as Rome or Paris - let alone London.

Strangely enough, the main thing I wanted to do there was to locate a copy of Ossian.



James Macpherson: The Works of Ossian (1765)


Why? you may ask. It's hard to say. I guess because I'd read so many allusions to it, without ever being able to locate a copy. It was (allegedly) Napoleon's favourite book, and there was a time when James Macpherson was one of the best-known and most successful authors in Europe.

In any case, I wanted to check it out for myself, and everyone had told me that this was the place to go.



Now things are different. Now there are many editions available, including the one below. But we live in an age when virtually anything in print is available through Amazon.com and other sites. That was not the case in 1981.



James Macpherson: The Poems of Ossian (1995)


  • Macpherson, James. Poems of Ossian: A Facsimile of the 1805 Edition. Introduction by John MacQueen. 2 vols. Edinburgh: James Thin / The Mercat Press, 1971.

  • Macpherson, James. The Poems of Ossian, with Dissertations on the Era and Poems of Ossian; and Dr. Blair’s Critical Dissertation. Edinburgh: John Grant, 1894.

  • Macpherson, James. The Poems of Ossian. Ed. William Sharp. Edinburgh: John Grant, 1926.

  • Macpherson, James. The Poems of Ossian, and Related Works. Ed. Howard Gaskill. Introduction by Fiona Stafford. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996.

The first in the list above was the one I bought that day. It was not an easy task. I asked, first, at the front desk, was directed down to the basement, then up to the top floor, then down to the basement again. One volume was finally located up above, the other on another floor, but nevertheless I walked out with an odd facsimile edition of the 1805 text clasped tight in my hot little hands!

Yet this inefficiency did not put me off the place. I'd already had a chance on this trip to check out the exciting deeps of Foyle's Bookshop in London, but there was something in the light airiness of Edinburgh which seemed to me just right. I wanted to live there.

And so, in due course, I did. I went back in 1986 to study for my Doctorate in the English Department of the University of Edinburgh. And many things happened. I did, eventually, get my thesis written - an agonising experience which has stood me in good stead ever since when sympathising with others caught in the same trap.



I spent many long hours in the city's libraries: the University Library most of all, I suppose, but also the weirdly arranged City Library, and - best of all - the National Library of Scotland (the former Advocate's Library), a copyright library with access to satellite repositories of books all over the city ...

And, of course, I found my way back to James Thin - as well as all the other bookshops, new and second-hand, in that city of books. But it was in James Thin that I first made acquaintance with the Library of America. It wasn't strictly relevant to my studies, I suppose. I was working on South America not North America (don't ask why a New Zealander should choose to go to Scotland in order to study books about South America - all I can say is that it seemed to make some precarious sense at the time, though less and less in retrospect).

The first volumes in the series were published in 1982, and Thin's must have ordered in a huge number of them, because when I arrived in the mid-1980s, they had a whole wall of them on sale for some small amount. Was it five pounds each? Something like that. Of course I wanted them all, but I tried to make judicious choices of the most indipensable classics: a complete Hawthorne in two volumes, a complete Poe in ditto, the two volumes of Melville then available, Parkman, Whitman, Stephen Crane ...



I've been collecting them ever since. Thirty years on, I'm about to complete the set of Melville I started to assemble that day. Bibliomania is a long-drawn-out disease, which takes you to some pretty odd places. But there's a magic to American books which continues to obsess me.

They're now scattered in different places throughout the house, though. I used to have them all together in one long sequence till a friend told me he thought it looked pretentious. I suppose they do have the air of display books, rather than ones which one is in the habit of reading regularly, but actually nothing could be further from the truth. I read them all the time, and have found them ideal to take on long trips where one needs the assurance of lots of pages in one convenient compass.

Since those early days in Edinburgh, mind you, the series has branched out in many ways. It now includes SF writers such as Philip K. Dick, Ursula Le Guin and Kurt Vonnegut - H. P. Lovecraft is there, as well as many canonical twentieth century poets: Ashbery, Bishop, Merwin, Pound, and Stevens.



Edmund Wilson (1895-1972)


I think it's safe to say that Edmund Wilson's dream of a compendious series of American classics has now thoroughly vindicated itself. His works, too, have finally made the cut. It will continue to serve as a gateway rather than a full stop to the literature of the Americas, but it's hard to imagine its ever being superseded as a series. And, given the severely reduced nature of the critical apparatus in each book, it doesn't need to be re-edited every few decades, unlike its model, the frighteningly comprehensive French Bibliothèque de la Pléiade.

Here's a list of the 85 volumes in the now more than 300-strong series I myself have collected so far. it's arranged under authors, but - further down - I've included another chronological, last-to-first list, with pictures as well as links to each book.





Making Book (2014)

The Library of America
(1979-2023)
(listed alphabetically by authors):


    Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918)

  1. Adams, Henry. Novels / Mont Saint Michel / The Education. Democracy: An American Novel; Esther: A Novel; Mont Saint Michel and Chartres; the Education of Henry Adams; Poems. 1880, 1884, 1904, 1918. Ed. Earl N. Harbert. The Library of America, 14. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1983.

  2. Adams, Henry. History of the United States of America During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809. 1889-91. Ed. Earl N. Harbert. The Library of America, 31. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1986.

  3. Adams, Henry. History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison, 1809-1817. 1889-91. Ed. Earl N. Harbert. The Library of America, 32. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1986.


  4. American Poetry (19th & 20th Century)

  5. American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century. Vol. 1: Philip Freneau to Walt Whitman. Ed. John Hollander. The Library of America, 66. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1993.


  6. Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941)

  7. Anderson, Sherwood. Collected Stories: Winesburg, Ohio / The Triumph of the Egg / Horses and Men / Death in the Woods / Uncollected Stories. Ed. Charles Baxter. The Library of America, 235. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2012.


  8. John Ashbery (1927-2017)

  9. Ashbery, John. Collected Poems: 1956-1987. Ed. Mark Ford. The Library of America, 187. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2008.

  10. Ashbery, John. Collected Poems: 1991-2000. Ed. Mark Ford. The Library of America, 301. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2017.


  11. Jean-Jacques Rabin [John James Audubon] (1785-1851)

  12. Audubon, John James. Writings and Drawings. Ed. Christoph Irmscher. The Library of America, 113. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1999.


  13. James Arthur Baldwin (1924-1987)

  14. Baldwin, James. Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. The Library of America, 98. [‘Notes of a Native Son’, 1955; ‘Nobody Knows My Name,’ 1961; ‘The Fire Next Time’, 1963; ‘No Name in the Street’, 1972; ‘The Devil Finds Work’, 1976]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1998.

  15. Baldwin, James. Early Novels & Stories. Ed. Toni Morrison. The Library of America, 97. [‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’, 1953; ‘Giovanni's Room’, 1956; ‘Another Country’, 1962; ‘Going to Meet the Man’, 1965]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1998.

  16. Baldwin, James. Later Novels. Ed. Darrell Pinckney. The Library of America, 98. [‘Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone’, 1968; ‘If Beale Street Could Talk', 1974; ‘Just Above My Head’, 1979]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2015.


  17. Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)

  18. Bishop, Elizabeth. Poems, Prose and Letters. Ed. Robert Giroux & Lloyd Schwartz. The Library of America, 180. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2008.


  19. Ray Douglas Bradbury (1920-2012)

  20. Bradbury, Ray. Novels & Story Cycles. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller. The Library of America, 347. [‘The Martian Chronicles’, 1950; ‘Fahrenheit 451’, 1953; ‘Dandelion Wine’, 1957; ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’, 1962]. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2021.

  21. Bradbury, Ray. The Illustrated Man, The October Country & Other Stories. Ed. Jonathan R. Eller. The Library of America, 360. 1951, 1955. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2022.


  22. Joe Brainard (1942-1994)

  23. The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard. Ed. Ron Padgett. Introduction by Paul Auster. A Special Publication of The Library of America. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2013.


  24. Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964)

  25. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring & Other Writings on the Environment. Ed. Sandra Steingraber. The Library of America, 307. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2018.


  26. Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. (1938-1988)

  27. Carver, Raymond. Collected Stories. Ed. William L. Stull & Maureen P. Carroll. The Library of America, 195. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2009.


  28. John William Cheever (1912-1982)

  29. Cheever, John. Collected Stories and Other Writings. 1943, 1978. Ed. Blake Bailey. The Library of America, 188. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2009.

  30. Cheever, John. Complete Novels: The Wapshot Chronicle / The Wapshot Scandal / Bullet Park / Falconer / Oh What a Paradise It Seems. 1957, 1964, 1969, 1977, 1982. Ed. Blake Bailey. The Library of America, 189. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2009.


  31. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)

  32. Cooper, James Fenimore. The Leatherstocking Tales, vol. 1. Ed. Blake Nevius. The Library of America, 26. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1985.

  33. Cooper, James Fenimore. The Leatherstocking Tales, vol. 2. Ed. Blake Nevius. The Library of America, 27. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1985.


  34. Harold Hart Crane (1899-1932)

  35. Crane, Hart. Complete Poems and Selected Letters. Ed. Langdon Hammer. The Library of America, 168. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2006.


  36. Stephen Crane (1871-1900)

  37. Crane, Stephen. Prose and Poetry: Maggie: a Girl of the Streets; The Red Badge of Courage; Stories, Sketches, and Journalism; Poetry. Ed. J. C. Levenson. The Library of America, 18. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.


  38. Philip Kindred Dick (1928-1982)

  39. Dick, Philip K. Four Novels of the 1960s: The Man in the High Castle / The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch / Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? / Ubik. 1962, 1964, 1968, 1969. Ed. Jonathan Lethem. The Library of America, 173. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2007.

  40. Dick, Philip K. Five Novels of the 1960s and 1970s: Martian Time Slip / Dr. Bloodmoney / Now Wait for Last Year / Flow My Tears the Policeman Said / A Scanner Darkly. 1964, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977. Ed. Jonathan Lethem. The Library of America, 183. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2008.

  41. Dick, Philip K. VALIS and Later Novels: A Maze of Death / VALIS / The Divine Invasion / The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. 1970, 1981, 1981, 1982. Ed. Jonathan Lethem. The Library of America, 193. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2009.


  42. John Roderigo Dos Passos (1896-1970)

  43. Dos Passos, John. U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel / Nineteen Nineteen / The Big Money. Ed. Daniel Aaron & Townsend Ludington. The Library of America, 85. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.


  44. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963)

  45. DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. 1903. Ed. Nathan Huggins, 1986. Introduction by John Edgar Wideman. New York: Vintage Books / The Library of America, 1990.


  46. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

  47. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Collected Poems and Translations. Ed. Harold Bloom and Paul Kane. The Library of America, 70. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1994.


  48. William Cuthbert Faulkner (1897-1962)

  49. Faulkner, William. Novels 1926-1929: Soldiers’ Pay / Mosquitoes / Flags in the Dust (Sartoris) / The Sound and the Fury. 1926, 1927, 1929 & 1929. Ed. Joseph Blotner & Noel Polk. The Library of America, 164. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2006.

  50. Faulkner, William. Novels 1930-1935: As I Lay Dying / Sanctuary / Light in August / Pylon. 1930, 1931, 1932 & 1935. Ed. Joseph Blotner & Noel Polk. The Library of America, 25. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1985.

  51. Faulkner, William. Novels 1936-1940: Absalom, Absalom! / The Unvanquished / If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem (The Wild Palms) / The Hamlet. 1936, 1938, 1939 & 1940. Ed. Joseph Blotner & Noel Polk. The Library of America, 48. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1990.

  52. Faulkner, William. Novels 1942-1954: Go Down, Moses / Intruder in the Dust / Requiem for a Nun / A Fable. 1942, 1948, 1951 & 1954. Ed. Joseph Blotner & Noel Polk. The Library of America, 73. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1994.

  53. Faulkner, William. Novels 1957-1962: The Town / The Mansion / The Reivers. 1957, 1959 & 1962. Ed. Joseph Blotner & Noel Polk. The Library of America, 112. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1999.


  54. Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963)

  55. Frost, Robert. Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays: Complete Poems 1949; In the Clearing; Uncollected Poems; Plays; Lectures, Essays, Stories, and Letters. Ed. Richard Poirier & Mark Richardson. The Library of America, 81. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1995.


  56. Hiram Ulysses [Ulysses S.] Grant (1822-1885)

  57. Grant, Ulysses S. Personal Memoirs and Selected Letters. Ed. Mary Drake McFeeley & William S. McFeeley. The Library of America, 50. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1990.


  58. Samuel Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961)

  59. Hammett, Dashiell. Complete Novels: Red Harvest; The Dain Curse; The Maltese Falcon; The Glass Key; The Thin Man. 1929, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934. Ed. Steven Marcus. The Library of America, 110. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1999.

  60. Hammett, Dashiell. Crime Stories and Other Writings. Ed. Steven Marcus. The Library of America, 125. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2001.


  61. Harlem Renaissance Novels (1920s & 1930s)

  62. Harlem Renaissance: Five Novels of the 1920s. ['Cane', by Jean Toomer (1923); 'Home to Harlem', Claude McKay (1928); 'Quicksand', Nella Larsen (1928); 'Plum Bun', Jessie Redmon Fauset (1928); 'The Blacker the Berry', Wallace Thurman (1929)]. Ed. Rafia Zafar. The Library of America, 217. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2011.

  63. Harlem Renaissance: Four Novels of the 1930s. ['Not Without Laughter', Langston Hughes (1931); 'Black No More', George Schuyler (1931); 'The Conjure-Man Dies', Rudolph Fisher (1932); 'Black Thunder', Arna Bontemps (1936)]. Ed. Rafia Zafar. The Library of America, 218. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2011.


  64. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

  65. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Tales and Sketches. Ed. Roy Harvey Pearce. The Library of America, 2. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1982.

  66. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Collected Novels: Fanshawe; The Scarlet Letter; The House of the Seven Gables; The Blithedale Romance; The Marble Faun. Ed. Millicent Bell. The Library of America, 10. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.


  67. William Dean Howells (1837-1920)

  68. Howells, William Dean. Novels 1875-1886. Ed. Edwin M. Cady. The Library of America, 8. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1982.


  69. Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)

  70. Hurston, Zora Neale. Novels and Stories: Jonah’s Gourd Vine; Their Eyes Were Watching God; Moses, Man of the Mountain; Seraph on the Suwanee; Selected Stories. Ed. Cheryl A. Wall. The Library of America, 74. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1995.

  71. Hurston, Zora Neale. Folklore, Memoirs, & Other Writings: Mules and Men; Tell My Horse; Dust Tracks on a Road; Selected Articles. Ed. Cheryl A. Wall. The Library of America, 75. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1995.


  72. Washington Irving (1783-1859)

  73. Irving, Washington. History, Tales, and Sketches: Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.; Salmagundi or The Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. & Others; A History of New York, From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty; The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Ed. James W. Tuttleton. 1802, 1807-08, 1809, 1819-20. The Library of America, 16. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1983.

  74. Irving, Washington. Bracebridge Hall; Tales of a Traveller; The Alhambra. 1822, 1824, 1832. Ed. Andrew Myers. The Library of America, 52. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1991.

  75. Irving, Washington. Three Western Narratives: A Tour on the Prairies; Astoria; The Adventures of Captain Bonneville. 1835, 1836, 1837. Ed. James P. Ronda. The Library of America, 146. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2004.


  76. Shirley Jackson (1916-1965)

  77. Jackson, Shirley. Novels and Stories: The Lottery / The Haunting of Hill House / We Have Always Lived in the Castle / Other Stories and Sketches. Ed. Joyce Carol Oates. The Library of America, 204. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2010.

  78. Jackson, Shirley. Four Novels of the 1940s & 50s: The Road Through the Wall / Hangsaman / The Bird’s Nest / The Sundial. 1948, 1951, 1954, 1958. Ed. Ruth Franklin. The Library of America, 336. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2020.


  79. Henry James (1843-1916)

  80. James, Henry. Novels 1871-1880: Watch and Ward / Roderick Hudson / The American / The Europeans / Confidence. Ed. William T. Stafford. The Library of America, 13. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1983.

  81. James, Henry. Novels 1881-1886: Washington Square / The Portrait of a Lady / The Bostonians. Ed. William T. Stafford. The Library of America, 29. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1985.

  82. James, Henry. Novels 1886-1890: The Princess Casamassima / The Reverberator / The Tragic Muse. Ed. Daniel Mark Fogel. The Library of America, 43. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1989.

  83. James, Henry. Novels 1896-1899: The Other House / The Spoils of Poynton / What Maisie Knew / The Awkward Age. Ed. Myra Jehlen. The Library of America, 139. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2003.

  84. James, Henry. Novels 1901-1902: The Sacred Fount / The Wings of the Dove. Ed. Leo Bersani. The Library of America, 162. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2006.

  85. James, Henry. Novels 1903-1911: The Ambassadors / The Golden Bowl / The Outcry / Appendix: “The Married Son.” Ed. Ross Posnock. The Library of America, 215. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2011.

  86. James, Henry. Complete Stories, Volume 1: 1864-1874. Ed. Jean Strouse. The Library of America, 111. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1999.

  87. James, Henry. Complete Stories, Volume 2: 1874-1884. Ed. William L. Vance. The Library of America, 106. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1999.

  88. James, Henry. Complete Stories, Volume 3: 1884-1891. Ed. Edward Said. The Library of America, 107. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1999.

  89. James, Henry. Complete Stories, Volume 4: 1892-1898. Ed. David Bromwich and John Hollander. The Library of America, 82. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.

  90. James, Henry. Complete Stories, Volume 5: 1898-1910. Ed. Denis Donoghue. The Library of America, 83. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.

  91. James, Henry. Collected Travel Writings. Great Britain and America: English Hours; the American Scene; Other Travels. Ed. Richard Howard. The Library of America, 64. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1993.

  92. James, Henry. Collected Travel Writings. The Continent: A Little Tour in France; Italian Hours; Other Travels. Ed. Richard Howard. The Library of America, 65. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1993.

  93. James, Henry. Literary Criticism: Essays on Literature; American Writers; English Writers. Ed. Leon Edel & Mark Wilson. The Library of America, 22. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.

  94. James, Henry. Literary Criticism: French Writers; Other European Writers; The Prefaces to the New York Edition. Ed. Leon Edel & Mark Wilson. The Library of America, 23. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.

  95. James, Henry. Autobiographies: A Small Boy and Others / Notes of a Son and Brother / The Middle Years / Other Writings. 1913, 1914, 1917. Ed. Philip Horne. The Library of America, 274. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2016.


  96. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

  97. Jefferson, Thomas. Writings. Ed. Merrill D. Peterson. The Library of America, 17. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.


  98. Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (1929-2018)

  99. Le Guin, Ursula K. The Complete Orsinia: Malafrena; Stories and Songs. Ed. Brian Attebery. The Library of America, 281. 1979, 1976. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2016.

  100. Le Guin, Ursula K. The Hainish Novels & Stories, vol. 1: Rocannon's World; Planet of Exile; City of Illusions; The Left Hand of Darkness; The Dispossessed; Stories. 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974. Ed. Brian Attebery. The Library of America, 296. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2017.

  101. Le Guin, Ursula K. The Hainish Novels & Stories, vol. 2: The Word for World is Forest; Five Ways to Forgiveness; The Telling; Stories. 1977, 1995, 2000. Ed. Brian Attebery. The Library of America, 297. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2017.

  102. Le Guin, Ursula K. Always Coming Home: Author’s Expanded Edition. 1985. Ed. Brian Attebery. The Library of America, 315. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2019.

  103. Le Guin, Ursula K. Annals of the Western Shore. Gifts; Voices; Powers. Ed. Brian Attebery. 2004, 2006, 2007. The Library of America, 335. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2020.

  104. Le Guin, Ursula K. Collected Poems. Ed. Harold Bloom. The Library of America, 368. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2023.


  105. Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

  106. Lincoln, Abraham. Speeches and Writings 1832-1858: Speeches, Letters and Miscellaneous Writings / The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Ed. Don E. Fehrenbacher. 1989. The Library of America, 45. The Bicentennial Edition. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2009.

  107. Lincoln, Abraham. Speeches and Writings 1859-1865: Speeches, Letters and Miscellaneous Writings / Presidential Messages and Proclamations. Ed. Don E. Fehrenbacher. 1989. The Library of America, 46. The Bicentennial Edition. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2009.

  108. The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now. Ed. Harold Holzer. The Library of America, 192S. The Bicentennial Edition. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2009.


  109. John [Jack] London (1876-1916)

  110. London, Jack. Novels and Stories: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea-Wolf, Klondike and Other Stories. 1903, 1904, 1906. Ed. Donald Pizer. The Library of America, 6. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1982.


  111. Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937)

  112. Lovecraft, H. P. Tales. Ed. Peter Straub. The Library of America, 155. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2005.


  113. Carson McCullers (1917–1967)

  114. McCullers, Carson. Complete Novels: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter; Reflections in a Golden Eye; The Ballad of the Sad Café; The Member of the Wedding; Clock Without Hands. 1940, 1941, 1946, 1951, 1961. Ed. Carlos L. Dews. The Library of America, 128. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2001.

  115. McCullers, Carson. Complete Stories; The Member of the Wedding: A Play; The Sojourner; The Square Root of Wonderful; Essays, Poems & Autobiography. 1950, 1953, 1958. Ed. Carlos L. Dews. The Library of America, 287. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2017.


  116. Herman Melville (1819-1891)

  117. Melville, Herman. Typee, Omoo, Mardi. 1846, 1847, 1849. Ed. G. Thomas Tanselle. The Library of America, 1. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1982.

  118. Melville, Herman. Redburn, White Jacket, Moby-Dick. 1849, 1850, 1851. Ed. G. Thomas Tanselle. The Library of America, 9. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1983.

  119. Melville, Herman. Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence-Man, Tales & Billy Budd. 1852, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1922 & 1924. Ed. Harrison Hayford. The Library of America, 24. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1985.

  120. Melville, Herman. Complete Poems: Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War / Clarel / John Marr and Other Sailors / Timoleon / Posthumous & Unpublished. 1866, 1876, 1888 & 1891. Library of America Herman Melville Edition, 4. Ed. Hershel Parker. The Library of America, 320. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2019.


  121. William Stanley Merwin (1927-2019)

  122. Merwin, W. S. Collected Poems 1952-1993. Ed. J. D. McClatchy. The Library of America, 240. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2013.

  123. Merwin, W. S. Collected Poems 1996-2011. Ed. J. D. McClatchy. The Library of America, 241. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2013.


  124. Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (1899-1977)

  125. Nabokov, Vladimir. Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight / Bend Sinister / Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited. 1941, 1947, 1951. Ed. Brian Boyd. The Library of America, 87. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.

  126. Nabokov, Vladimir. Novels 1955-1962: Lolita / Pnin / Pale Fire / Lolita: A Screenplay. 1955, 1957, 1962, 1974. Ed. Brian Boyd. The Library of America, 88. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.

  127. Nabokov, Vladimir. Novels 1969-1974: Ada, or Ardor: a Family Chronicle / Transparent Things / Look at the Harlequins!. 1969, 1972, 1974. Ed. Brian Boyd. The Library of America, 89. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.


  128. Mary Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)

  129. O’Connor, Flannery. Collected Works: Wise Blood; A Good Man is Hard to Find; The Violent Bear It Away; Everything That Rises Must Converge; Essays and Letters. Ed. Sally Fitzgerald. The Library of America, 39. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1988.


  130. Francis Parkman (1823-1893)

  131. Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America, vol. 1: The Pioneers of France in the New World; The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century; La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West; The Old Régime in Canada. 1865, 1867, 1869, 1874. Ed. David Levin. The Library of America, 11. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1983.

  132. Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America, vol. 2: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV; A Half Century of Conflict; Montcalm and Wolfe. 1877, 1892, 1884. Ed. David Levin. The Library of America, 12. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1983.

  133. Parkman, Francis. The Oregon Trail / The Conspiracy of Pontiac. 1849, 1851. Ed. William R. Taylor. The Library of America, 53. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1991.


  134. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

  135. Poe, Edgar Allan. Poetry and Tales. Ed. Patrick F. Quinn. The Library of America, 19. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.

  136. Poe, Edgar Allan. Essays and Reviews. Ed. G. R. Thompson. The Library of America, 20. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.


  137. Charles Portis (1933–2020)

  138. Portis, Charles. Collected Works: Norwood / True Grit / The Dog of the South / Masters of Atlantis / Gringos / Stories & Other Works. 1966, 1968, 1979, 1985, 1991. Ed. Jay Jennings. The Library of America, 369. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2023.


  139. Dawn Powell (1896–1965)

  140. Powell, Dawn. Novels 1944-1962: My Home is Far Away / The Locusts Have No King / The Wicked Pavilion / The Golden Spur. 1944, 1948, 1954, 1962. Ed. Tim Page. The Library of America, 127. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2001.


  141. Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (1885-1972)

  142. Pound, Ezra. Poems & Translations. Ed. Richard Sieburth. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2003.


  143. Cornelius Ryan (1920-1974)

  144. Ryan, Cornelius. The Longest Day / A Bridge Too Far / Other World War II Writings. 1959, 1974. Ed. Rick Atkinson. The Library of America, 318. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2019.


  145. Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991)

  146. Singer, Isaac Bashevis. Collected Stories. One Night in Brazil to The Death of Methuselah: Old Love / The Collected Stories / The Image & Other Stories / Gifts / The Death of Methuselah & Other Stories / Uncollected Stories. Ed. Ilan Stavans. Vol. 3 of 3. The Library of America, 151. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2004.


  147. Slave Narratives (1772-1864)

  148. Slave Narratives. Ed. William L. Andrews & Louis B. Gates, Jr. The Library of America, 114. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2000.
    1. James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw: Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, An African Prince, As related by Himself (1772)
    2. Olaudah Equiano: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself (1789)
    3. Nat Turner: The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southhampton, VA. (1831)
    4. Frederick Douglass: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845)
    5. William Wells Brown: Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave. Written by Himself (1847)
    6. Henry Bibb: Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by Himself. With an Introduction by Lucius C. Matlack (1849)
    7. Sojourner Truth: Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave, Emancipated from Bodily Servitude by the State of New York, in 1828 (1850)
    8. William and Ellen Craft: Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery (1860)
    9. Harriet Ann Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself (1861)
    10. Jacob D. Green: Narrative of the Life of J.D. Green, a Runaway Slave, from Kentucky. Containing an Account of His Three Escapes, in 1839, 1846, and 1848 (1864)


  149. Susan Sontag (1933-2004)

  150. Sontag, Susan. Essays of the 1960s and 70s: Against Interpretation / Styles of Radical Will / On Photography / Illness as Metaphor / Uncollected Essays. Ed. David Rieff. The Library of America, 246. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2013.


  151. John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (1902–1968)

  152. Steinbeck, John. Novels and Stories, 1932-1937: The Pastures of Heaven; To a God Unknown; Tortilla Flat; In Dubious Battle; Of Mice and Men. 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936 & 1937. Ed. Robert DeMott & Elaine A. Steinbeck. The Library of America, 72. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1994.

  153. Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings, 1936-1941: The Long Valley; The Grapes of Wrath; The Log from the Sea of Cortez; The Harvest Gypsies. 1938, 1939, 1941 & 1951, 1936 & 1938. Ed. Robert DeMott & Elaine A. Steinbeck. The Library of America, 86. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.

  154. Steinbeck, John. Novels, 1942-1952: The Moon Is Down; Cannery Row; The Pearl; East of Eden. Library of America. 1942, 1945, 1947, 1952. Ed. Robert DeMott. The Library of America, 132. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2002.


  155. Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)

  156. Stevens, Wallace. Collected Poetry & Prose. Ed. Frank Kermode & Joan Richardson. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1997.


  157. Peter Taylor (1917-1994)

  158. Taylor, Peter. Complete Stories: 1938-1959. Ed. Ann Beattie. The Library of America, 298. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2017.

  159. Taylor, Peter. Complete Stories: 1960-1992. Ed. Ann Beattie. The Library of America, 299. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2017.


  160. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

  161. Thoreau, Henry David. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers; Walden: or, Life in the Woods; The Maine Woods; Cape Cod. Ed. Robert F. Sayre. The Library of America, 28. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1985.

  162. Thoreau, Henry David. Collected Essays and Poems. Ed. Elizabeth Hall Witherell. The Library of America, 124. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2001.


  163. James Grover Thurber (1894-1961)

  164. Thurber, James. Writings and Drawings. Ed. Garrison Keillor. The Library of America, 90. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.


  165. Samuel Langhorne Clemens ['Mark Twain'] (1835-1910)

  166. Twain, Mark. Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches & Essays 1852-1890. Ed. Louis J. Budd. The Library of America, 60. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1992.

  167. Twain, Mark. Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches & Essays 1891-1910. Ed. Louis J. Budd. The Library of America, 61. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1992.


  168. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922–2007)

  169. Vonnegut, Kurt. Novels & Stories 1963-1973: Cat's Cradle; God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; Slaughterhouse-Five; Breakfast of Champions; Stories. Ed. Sidney Offit. Library of America Kurt Vonnegut Edition, 2. The Library of America, 216. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2011.

  170. Vonnegut, Kurt. Novels & Stories 1987-1997: Bluebeard; Hocus Pocus; Timequake. Ed. Sidney Offit. Library of America Kurt Vonnegut Edition, 4. The Library of America, 273. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2016.


  171. Eudora Alice Welty (1909-2001)

  172. Welty, Eudora. Stories, Essays, & Memoir. ['A Curtain of Green' (1941); 'The Wide Net' (1943);'The Golden Apples' (1949);'The Bride of the Innisfallen' (1955);'Selected Essays';'One Writer's Beginnings' (1984)]. Ed. Richard Ford & Michael Kreyling. The Library of America, 102. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1998.


  173. The Western (1940s & 1950s)

  174. The Western: Four Classic Novels of the 1940s & 50s. ['The Ox-Bow Incident', by Walter Van Tillburg Clark (1940); 'Shane', by Jack Schaefer (1949); 'The Searchers', by Alan Le May (1954); 'Warlock', by Oakley Hall (1958)]. Ed. Ron Hansen. The Library of America, 331. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2020.


  175. Walter [Walt] Whitman (1819-1892)

  176. Whitman, Walt. Poetry and Prose. Ed. Justin Kaplan. The Library of America, 3. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1982.



The Library of America
(2022-1979)
(listed in chronological order, most recent to earliest):

Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels & Stories, Volume One LOA N°296  

 
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Complete Orsinia LOA N°281


































Henry James: Literary Criticism: French Writers, Other European Writers, Prefaces to the New York Edition LOA N°23



Herman Melville: Typee, Omoo, Mardi LOA N°1  


[92 titles]