Ernest Hemingway THE MASTERPIECES

E/P is re-printing several of Hemingway's novels in a 5-volume set. The included books are: 'The Sun Also Rises', 'A Farewell to Arms', 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', 'The Old Man and the Sea', and 'The Complete Short Stories'. I know that in the past E/P printed a much larger series of Hemingway's novels/stories, so maybe they just picked the most popular and condensed some into the Short Stories volume (not sure if this has been printed before). There are a few things that concern me about the set.

First, 'The Sun Also Rises' and 'A Farewell to Arms' are already included in the Greatest Books Ever Written and Great Books of the 20th Century series. I've never tried to buy multi-volume sets from E/P before with books in them that I already own. Will E/P only send me 3 of the 5 books or will I have to buy all 5 and eBay the duplicates?

Second, it could be a typo, but these books are listed as being 6.25"x 9.25" and my copies of 'The Sun Also Rises' and 'A Farewell to Arms' measure at 6.25"x9.5". Although maybe a bit nit-picky, it would be somewhat annoying to have books of varying size (although it would only be 0.25"). I'll check with E/P later, but I know for the Dune series they reduced the size, but this was by >1 mortalalliance:".

Third, as we saw with the Dune series, the price to play (or read) has gone up apparently. Though not quite as steep as the Dune books ($110 each) these are $100 each...which is nearly twice the price if you were to have purchased two of the books through the Greatest Books/20th Century series (you can still buy a Farewell to Arms on E/Ps site for $65). The editions don't seem to have anything special to justify the price hike. Especially considering how short of a novel The Old Man and the Sea is.

I really want the this set but I already own 3 of the 5 books; 2 from the other E/P series and another from eBay. Unless there's a way to only order 2 of the 5 books and I can convince myself to drop 100 bones per book I think I'm going to have to pass on this series. It might be cheaper to try and pick up the missing books from eBay sellers who had purchased the previous series and are piecing them out. Although like I said, I'm not sure I've seen a 'The Complete Short Stores' book before (maybe someone more knowledgeable an enlighten me).

>1 mortalalliance:
Easton will sometimes let you buy only a part of a set if you purchased the other books from them. They do not seem to be consistent with this policy, though, so you had best check with customer service.

Several of the groups here on librarything.com are reporting quality and pricing issues recently, and this does not bode well for their future. Folio Society recently raised their prices considerably even on existing stock, and Easton seems to be doing so on their new books. Everyman's Library recently acknowledged that they are now gluing their bindings rather than sewing them in books of fewer than 400 pages, and members are reporting quality issues with Easton as well.

The only quality publisher that seems to be holding its own is Library of America. Perhaps it is because, as a nonprofit, they are able to attract donations and grants, or perhaps it is because they have embraced today's reading trends by publishing some of their books in paperback and e-book formats as well as in hardcover.

Years ago, EP released a complete 20-volume set of Hemingway. It was quite beautiful. On ebay, the lowest price I have seen for a complete set is $1700, which amounts to $85 a volume. Relatively speaking, not a bad price! However, it's still a lot of money at once and you have to make room for 20 new volumes :)

I've seen the multi-colored 19-volume Hemmingway set for sale on eBay for less than $1000 several times in the last year, in very good condition, no less. You can also get partial sets, say 12-16 of the 19, for not much more than what EP is charging for the new 5-volume rip off.

If the 19-20 volume sets are truly comprehensive sets, the new short stories volume must be comprised from that existing content. It's not like Hemmingway is alive and publishing new material...

Get the full set used from eBay or wherever. Even if you don't read everything, you can still take solice in knowing EP didn't get to rob you on the 5-volume set.

4: I don't think Easton Press is "robbing" anyone. Prices for books keeps climbing, and every company from Easton Press to Folio Society to Arion Press are raising their prices. That's how it goes. The original Hemingway set is a good deal IF you can find it for cheap and IF you want all the volumes.

If you are a current subscriber to the 100 Greatest Books series, each book costs $44.95, including any additional copies, duplicates, or new-old-stock that isn't currently part of the series but which some are still available. If you are not a current subscriber, the default cost is $65. For what are the same quality books, two of which are actually part of the 100 Greatest series, $100/book is quite ridiculous.

I agree that inflation happens but when I see a disparity of $45 versus $100 for the same book or type of book sold within the same period of time, I can't simply let inflation take all the blame. You're correct, EP isn't robbing anyone who chooses to pay that much, but given the above disparity, or the good odds of finding new copies for less money on the secondary market, makes it feel like EP would be ripping me off big if I were to buy this new set.

Full disclosure: I already have the 19 volume set plus the extra 20th volume from the later set, so I don't need the new 5 volume set.

Also, also, I still really wish EP would go back to its old approach of selling larger subscriptions, not these small partial sets.

I have always had this problem since I have been collecting EP and Franklin for 40 years. In the past EP required me to get the whole set and return the books I do not need. Regarding Hemingway what's wrong with cherry picking from EP, eBay, Abe and Amazon and mixing EP and Franklin? I picked up 11 Hemingway this way.....much lower than retail. Quite frankly I would prefer different sizes, colors and designs. My 11 volume tan Durant is boring looking! I would have preferred a design to match the historical period.

>7 HugoDumas:: The Durants had nice, different-colored dust jackets, originally. You have a set without them?

I have the EP leather version which is tan. Yes I used to have the ones with dust jacket but gave it away when I got the leather version.

>6 treereader: I, too, wish that EP would go back to producing larger subscriptions. I assume the reason they don't is they were not selling. I really liked getting 1 volume a month and receiving an entire set or the entire category, instead of searching Ebay for them.

> 2

There are other quality publishers -- mostly small press. I assume you're referring
to the larger publishing concerns.

> Bumping up this 5+ year old thread due to a pending reprint (Item#2987), especially for those Hemingway fans who are still looking for their copy of The Complete Short Stories: The Finca Vigia Edition:

https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/literature/ernest-hemingway-the-maste...

>3 astropi: Postage is also a problem, depending on where you live.

love my complete 19 vol colorful set. but does require shelf space