Leatherstocking Tales

This is a very nice Leatherstocking set from EP by James Fenimore Cooper. It is not a DLE.

http://www.eastonpress.com/prod/213/THE-LEATHERSTOCKING-TALES_3103

I have 4/5 plus The Spy and The Pilot in leather, so regretfully will take a pass.

For those interested, here is a link to the Cooper fan website with suggested order in reading these tales.

http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/introduction.html

I am a fan of Cooper, and that does look like a nice set.

I too have 4/5 of them in other editions (two are EP, Wyeth illustrated, two are HP).

So will have to consider what to do. It would be nice to have a complete matching set.

I think I just may as well get use to the increased prices of EP books. They definitely aren't going to get cheaper.

Nice set!

I enjoy reading Cooper and I'm sure the illustrations are nice, but at $500 I think I'll enjoy my Library of America editions instead.

$99 seems to have become the standard for signed regular editions (Gaiman, Anne Rice)
Tolkien set is at $74/each.
Percy Jackson set is at $99/each.
Vampire Chronicles is at $79/each.

$99 does seem about $20 above the norm for older novels such as these. I wonder how many illustrations are in each book, and if that is contributing to the cost?

Yes, I forgot to add EP prices are $100 a book (non-DLE), not unlike FS by the way; beyond the reach of all but the wealthy. Like >2 sdawson: My Mohicans is Wyeth, and I am happy with what I have. I see that I am missing "The Pioneers"; not sure if this was ever published by Franklin or EP as a stand alone. Nevertheless if you had none and had the money I would say get it. I forked over the cash for the 5 volume Les Miserables and Count of Monte Cristo with no regrets (granted higher quality DLE and larger)...so the price is not bad given the enjoyment and beauty of this set! In short, if I had none I would beg, borrow and steal to get this set. By the way grab EP's The Spy and The Pilot on eBay....they are gorgeous!

>5 sdawson:
Reproducing illustrations is not expensive, although Easton would like us to think so. I recently purchased the "150th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of The Annotated Alice," published by W. W. Norton with the annotations of the late Martin Gardner. It contains all 100 or so of Tenniel's illustrations and more than 100 others, including Dali, Beatrix Potter, etc., many of them in color.

From the preface: "The Tenniel illustrations are of the highest quality, being taken from the restriking of the original plates engraved by the Brothers Dalziel, found in a bank vault in 1985. For other illustrators, digitizations of their artwork are from the original art wherever possible; when not, they're from printed books."

This book can be purchased new from Amazon for $22.42.

http://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Alice-150th-Anniversary-Deluxe/dp/0393245438/ref...

>7 jroger1: thank you so much. I just ordered this. I wish this treasure was in leather!

>8 HugoDumas:
You're welcome, and a treasure it is. Compare EP's DLE with just 13 illustrations and no annotations for $400.

>1 HugoDumas: For some reason, the LEC only published four of this series (missing The Pioneers). I've also got the LOA two volume collection, so I'll pass on the EP set.

>7 jroger1: Just received my copy Amazon.

So it looks like the attraction for this set is that it is a complete matching set. One can't get this through the George Macy books, nor Franklin Library, nor Folio Society.

Are other fine (or semi-fine) press editions of the Leatherstocking tales other than the one by EP?

-Shawn

>11 sdawson:
Easton has published this set at least twice before, once in red leather and once in brown. Anyway I think they had the same contents - but not sure.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=James+fenimore+cooper&bi=0&...

9: Not really a fair comparison, since the EP DLE is a reproduction of the original Rackham edition and is far higher quality than this W. W. Norton & Company edition -which I believe is printed in China (please correct me if I'm wrong). That said, annotated editions are often wonderful reads. Now, it's always possible (although unlikely) that EP would print this as a DLE (they did print a signed edition of the annotated Double Helix)! However, I imagine the cost of reproducing all the illustrations will be extremely high.

>13 astropi:
Yes, it was printed in China, and I applaud the printer for doing such a splendid job.

EP sold the brown set back in 2011, which I picked up and posted pictures of, here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/117013. I believe they were $60 - $70.00 a piece.

>15 Arknight:

Beautiful brown set, thanks for posting. I think it looks nicer than the current green set offering.

Here is a red set dated 1970.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GZQPGRK/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&...

>17 jroger1:
That is the same set. The picture may make it look red but it's quite brown in person. There is no red version with those covers.

>18 UK_History_Fan:
Thanks for correcting me. They look redder on my iPhone than they do on my computer. That's why I don't trust photos - too much depends on the photographer, the camera, the lighting, and the receiving device!

Maybe I'm out of my mind but I swore EP had published a set that matched the version of Last of the Mohicans in 100 greatest, brown leather with a feather motif (I think this is a really elegant binding)? It was nice when you could pick up a portion of a set (like dickens, three included in 100 greatest) for a lower price as part of the series. You still can I suppose for Jane Austen and the Sherlock Holmes set. Not to get off topic but I wish EP still did more complete author sets or even smaller greatest works sets. The gorgeous Fitzgerald set of a few years ago comes to mind... would much rather see something like that than some of the coffee table offerings!

>15 Arknight: Thanks for sharing pics of the brown set. It does look quite nice, has a themed rather than generic cover design and at least some color illustrations.

At first I was excited by the new set EP is coming out with, as Cooper is one of my favorite authors, but after looking at the illustrations on the website and the $99/book price tag, I will take a pass. I too have 4/5 in this set, all LECs. In fact one can get all four (The Pioneers is the one not published by LEC/HP) in LEC editions (letterpress printing, beautiful color illustrations, signed by illustrator) for well less than the $400 EP is charging for 4/5 books in this edition. I agree $99 is the new standard price for EP. In comparison the 100 greatest books cost only $40 each, and the Great Books of the 20th Century are $65 each. I'm sure the per book cost is higher on smaller runs, but is it really that much higher? Many of the books in the 100 G have color illustrations, which certainly is more expensive to produce. To me, this is 100% marketing, and this set is overpriced. I'd rather have the brown set from a few years ago, but even then I'd be paying just to get The Pioneers in a higher quality book, since I already have all the others in a fine press edition.

I agree with Shochkin, EP books that don't come in a series are becoming more for the wealthy than the middle class buyer. The gap between the 100 G series and the rest of their offerings is just getting too large.

>20 asburytr: A while back I was interested in only one book that came in a Benjamin Franklin set. I contacted EP about getting just the one book, but they said these were only sold in sets; however, I could return the books I didn't want from the set for a refund! I don't know if they still do this, but one could ask.

All of the books in the Leatherstocking set were sold separate by EP over the years and can be found used on ebay or Abe, etc. except for The Pioneers. All of the separate sale EP books were reprints of HP editions.

As an update for those, who want to complete their Leatherstocking set with just The Pioneers, EP just informed me they will not break up the set to just sell the one book. They used to do this with complete Dickens and Austen sets. But no longer.

> 23 Skochkin

Yea they told me the same when I asked about breaking up the Percy Jackson set. Seems to be a new policy.

Full brown set just posted on Amazon for $300. That is a good price.

From my interactions with customer service it seems that they will sell you a partial set in the case of the Sherlock Holmes or Austen sets or others whose volume you don't want is already part of a series. For example they make more copies of Pride and Prejudice because it is part of the 100 greatest series so If you want the remaining five they are just left with an extra P and P that they can easily sell as part of the series. They are less inclined to break up other sets to which this does not apply

>25 HugoDumas:

Do you have the link?

Some Pictures / Photos of the "The Deerslayer" for EP 3103 The Leather Stocking Tales. This Deerslayer volume of the 3103 set has 40 illustrations by H.M Brock:



EP 3103 The Leatherstocking Tales (5) Volume Set, The Deerslayer Volume, Title Page



EP 3103 The Leatherstocking Tales (5) Volume Set, The Deerslayer Volume, List of Illustrations page 1 of 2



EP 3103 The Leatherstocking Tales (5) Volume Set, The Deerslayer Volume, List of Illustrations page 2 of 2



EP 3103 The Leatherstocking Tales (5) Volume Set, The Deerslayer Volume, Chapter 1 Page 3

The Last of the Mohicans volume of the 3103 set has 25 illustrations by H.M Brock.

Easton has brought back the Leatherstocking Tales (5) volume set, due out November 2021:

https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/literature/the-leatherstocking-tales-...

Would be a nice Christmas gift for someone

>31 sdawson: me lol

As a follow-up EP broke up the set and sold me a copy of just the Pioneers because I already had 4/5 of the novels. At a $100 a piece they are severely overpriced. Nevertheless I read this work and sold it on eBay to a collector who was just missing the Pioneers.

>33 HugoDumas: I really want it but have to wait for my birthday

>33 HugoDumas:
I coveted this overpriced set for several years before finally purchasing it when they put it on sale. It’s still overpriced, but congratulations on getting them to sell you a single volume.

I find Cooper’s writing to be somewhat tedious in places, making the 400-500 page novels a lengthy read, but the stories are good and the illustrations appropriate.

>35 jroger1: yes he likes to describe things a lot.

>35 jroger1: the Pioneers was exceptionally tedious, and glad to get my money back!

It was probably already mentioned earlier in this thread but I'm being lazy - is there a correct reading order for these? I was thinking about reading one of them soon but hadn't decided which to start first.

>38 treereader:
1. The Deerslayer
2. The Last of the Mohicans
3. The Pathfinder
4. The Pioneers
5. The Prairie

>39 EPsonNY:
Thanks!!

>39 EPsonNY: right, you read them in alphabetical order.

>41 HugoDumas: LOL!!!

A welcome comeback for some:

https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/literature/the-leatherstocking-tales-...

Accounting for inflation, that’s probably reasonably priced at $500.

>44 treereader: Agreed. From $325 to $500 in 7+ years is a 50%+ increase, but consistent with recent pricing of around $100 per single regular edition volumes. It is definitely not as bad as The Founding Fathers set more than doubling in price...