Arion Press vs. LEC Great Gatsby?

One item on my wish list is a Fine Press Great Gatsby - I'm considering either the Arion Press or the LEC. Any thoughts on plusses or minuses of either edition?

>1 ChrisG1: if you haven’t seen the following post, it compares these two editions quite extensively:

https://booksandvines.com/2016/05/16/the-great-gatsby-by-f-scott-fitzgerald-ario...

(I’ve never seen either edition in person, and the novel itself didn’t leave much of an impression on me, though I did have the misfortune of encountering it first as a high school English assigned reading.)

>2 abysswalker: Thanks for that - I had actually read that article some time ago and rereading it helped to crystalize my thinking. I'm going to go for the LEC, for a few reasons:

1. Cost - I can get it for half or less than the Arion Press version.
2. Aesthetics - I love the cover and the interior artwork, to my taste, captures the essence of the period and characters. The Arion Press edition was illustrated by an architect & just were not as appealing.
3. Furthering my LEC collection - I'm very early in accumulating LECs. This is a minor consideration, but adds to it. I'd like to branch out to other Fine Press publishers, but there would need to be a compelling advantage over an LEC for now. No doubt I'll do so before too terribly long.

For any interested, the Arion Press edition is in the online auction linked below:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/105096207_arion-press-fitzgerald-f-scott-th...

I know this doesn't come available too often & this looks to be in nice condition. Lots of other interesting books in the auction, many first editions, but only a handful of Fine Press.

>3 ChrisG1: That AP edition is in much better shape than the few I've seen in the wild. Seems like many of them have not held up well.

>4 LBShoreBook: I watched the online auction & the bidding was initially slow - I slipped in a bid at $450, when the auctioneer was calling "going once, going twice" - and then it took off, selling for $1500 (plus 30% buyer premium, so $1950).

>5 ChrisG1: wow, I would say LEC is a much better proposition given the AP price.

>5 ChrisG1:
Whoa! I didn’t pay anything close to that for my copy. Is this an anomaly, or is the current market price?

>7 kermaier: The auction environment can definitely create an occasional anomaly - it did look like an exceptionally fine copy. I think two people got into a bidding war who both really wanted it.

>8 ChrisG1:
If the loser of that bidding war is here, and still wants to pay $1500 for a copy in Fine condition, let me know. ;-)

The Thornwillow edition is, in my opinion, nicer than AP or LEC. Especially the half leather, but I'm biased...

Beautiful illustrations... It beats AP and LEC hands down They both feel gimicky. The Thornwillow edition is elegant.

https://thornwillow.com/the-great-gatsby-by-f-scott-fitzgerald

>10 FvS: What is your bias?

>10 FvS: I love the Thornwillow half-leather, as well. In fact, the half-cloth is pretty nice, also.

>12 whytewolf1: I prefer the half cloth to the half leather, even before the price

>13 gmacaree: The spine label on the half-cloth edition is very art deco.

>11 ultrarightist: I collect Thornwillow's work and am a fan of what they are doing (that's the bias). I love their title selection... their design... and their mission... One of my favorite things they do is the Dispatch
https://thornwillow.com/thornwillow-dispatch
It's like crack for fine printing...

Back to Gatsby...
>12 whytewolf1: whytewolf1: I agree the cloth is beautiful. I don't have it, but really like the spine label. I didn't like the idea of the uncut pages on the paper and cloth copies (I know this is an intentional tip of the hat to the moment in the novel in Gatsby's library when it's pointed out that the books are all uncut ... and therefore never had been read...)... I would suffer about cutting the pages open... to cut or not to cut... keep a pure copy... vs reading it! It's a dilemma I have with some older books I've bought that have uncut pages...

Anyhow... if one gets the cloth Gatsby (and are aware of this), it's a fun idea and you'll be very happy with the book... but do you cut the pages ????

>15 FvS: “Anyhow... if one gets the cloth Gatsby (and are aware of this), it's a fun idea and you'll be very happy with the book... but do you cut the pages ????”

For me the answer is always yes. I buy to read.

Doubly so with Gatsby, as otherwise the owner becomes the butt of Fitzgerald’s mockery!

I find the idea that uncut is somehow more valuable to be silly. Probably true to a small degree, but still silly. (I imagine the price differential is small.)

There is a danger of opening the pages roughly and in so doing damaging the book. So one should practice before operating on a book that one cares about. But the same concern about potential damage is true about reading a book; one can also read a book roughly and in so doing damage the book. There are several conversations about how to open gatherings on LibraryThing (including one I started the first time I had to do this recently).

To avoid opening the pages of a book sacrifices the point of the existence of the object to its nature as a commodity, in my opinion, which only makes sense if the goal is to speculate on the commodity price.

I’ve been a bit back and forth wrt which edition to get. Partly because I don’t have anything from Thornwillow yet, I finally decided on the their half-leather edition. Hopefully, it won’t take too long before it arrives…

>16 abysswalker:
I believe Thornwillow will open the pages for you, on request, before shipping the book.

>Dr.Fiddy Eager to hear what you think when it arrives.

>19 FvS: I received my half-leather copy today and my first impression is that this is a truly beautiful book. I really like the black Morocco leather binding and engraved paste paper boards as well as the letterpress printing and the heavy paper. I'm also fine with the art deco inspired, speckled off-white colour they used for paper, although it might not be to everyone’s liking. I think the letterpress printed illustrations work very well too.

It's my first, but definitely not my last half-leather Thornwillow 😊