So what set of books would you spend hundreds (or thousands) for?
For me it has always been the Horatio Hornblower series.
The other day I spotted a hard-to-find set of 11 leather-bound volumes of C.S. Forester’s works from Easton Press in unread condition for sale for several hundred dollars (quite reasonable–usually this set goes well north of $1000).
As an avid "Hornblower fan I have been looking for this set for many years now and was absolutely tickled to find them. They arrived today and I am super pleased with the quality and condition.
Occasionally, one of the early prints of Ulysses goes on sale at auction, and I have a vague feeling of temptation even though I know it’s going to sell for something like $15,000-$20,000, or even way more than that for one of the first editions. Last month a version with art by Henri Matisse, signed by both of them, sold for around $18,000.
That’s not leather bound, but in your post you seem to open it up to other options. I definitely find that worthwhile, I just don’t have the scratch for it at the moment
I have a partial leather-bound set of O Henry stories that is over 100 years old. I started out with four volumes out of seven, and then I found one more (due to aging differences, it is easy to pick out which one was the most recent acquisition, but at least they were originally the same). I have faint hope, but I would really like to be able to complete the set. But I’m old enough I probably wouldn’t want to spend even a small fortune for them.
I also have a complete set of Oscar Wilde, but it was originally a fairly inexpensive set, cloth bound, and some of the volumes are not in good shape. A complete leather-bound series would be a very nice to have, but as above it would have to be not too extravagant.
I once considered buying a leather-bound Tolkien set, back when it was just the LotR and Hobbit books. I decided not to, I forget why. When I was in high school, a friend of mine offered to re-bind my paperback LotR books into one book, so I let her have them. Weeks later she came and apologized that she had not been able to do it, and had ruined them in the process. I know enough now to wonder what the hell she was thinking in the first place.
I have a set of the O/Hery stories, hardbound, but not in fine leather. If I found it I’d buy it.he is one of my favorite authors. I like all of the stories, but perhaps my favorite is “A Retrieved Reform”
I dunno, it seems like you should wait 75 years or so. I’d cheerfully shell out for a nice edition of PG Wodehouse’s works, or early W. Somerset Maugham. I’m not ready for a really luxurious edition of The Stand or It.
I recently bought the first Hornblower book and found him rather boring. Far too full of angst for me. I much prefer Aubrey and Maturin. In fact, I think Hornblower’s problems arise from his lack of a confidant.
I would love a nice, leatherbound set of Hornblower books.
I’d also love a nice leatherbound set of the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian.
Hornblower’s sort of the prototype/archetype of the self-doubting action hero. I get the impression that when C.S. Forester first wrote him, he was more or less revolutionary, in that he wasn’t so confident and self-assured when he really had every reason to be. Between that and other personality traits, Hornblower’s a much more relatable hero than many. And in later books, Bush more or less becomes his confidant.
I’m currently working my way back through the first Aubrey/Maturin book and am finding the style doesn’t fit me as well as Hornblower. I never made it through the second book–I regularly complain here about it being a Jane Austin bait-and-switch–but that isn’t because of a fault of the books; rather, it is that I find the deep pensive sections a little heavy for a swashbuckler IMHO.
It doesn’t help that I normally only read via audiobooks on my daily run. Reading material that requires deep thought just doesn’t work that well three or four miles into a run. It’s like trying to run while listening to Brahms vs. rock with a solid beat.
I want, to start with, the complete Sunday newspaper comics of George Herriman and Winsor Mccay. They have to be crazy oversized so details show. I have the three volume hardcover Krazy Kat, and they’re very cumbersome. Maybe print them by decade. Other artists can follow.
My fantasy set is the complete works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Each of the Barsoom novels would have Gino d’Achille’s cover painting as a frontispiece, and Frank Frazetta’s drawings illustrating the interior.
