History in Your Hands

Stevenson's 2-volume Valima Letters rebound in burlap

We found this humble-looking set of books recently. They are the Vailima Letters: Being Correspondence Addressed by Robert Louis Stevenson to Sidney Colvin, November 1890 – October 1894. Three things grabbed our attention:  it was number 12 of a limited edition of 100, it was published in 1895, and it had a unique look — burlap-covered boards with leather title panels.

While these volumes are beautiful on the inside and numbered 12/100, they are somewhat sad on the outside, due to the strange (though carefully done) rebinding in burlap. Wondering about this led me to discover that the previous owner, “F.E. Hyde, Jr.,” may possibly be the same philanthropist who, with his brother B. Talbot Hyde, funded and attended the Hyde Expedition of 1895, which excavated the Pueblo Bonito Site in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Fred Hyde remained at the site until 1902, running a series of trading posts among the Navaho. He was an eccentric man, known to go on his own version of “walkabout” into the canyon, only to turn up miles away weeks later. One of his disappearances left everyone wondering until news came that he had arrived in London.

Signature of F.E. Hyde, Jr.

Perhaps these volumes of Stevenson’s letters accompanied him on this expedition, quickly suffered from drying in the sun, and had to be locally rebound in a format more suitable for dusty canyons. However, this is merely my own speculation. In any case, F.E. Hyde was one of the benefactors of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, providing both artifacts and monies for the museum’s new and growing collections. If this is indeed the F.E. Hyde, Jr. whose signature marks these volumes, that may provide an interest that overtakes their appearance.

Black House 1st Edition, the U.S. Uncorrected Proof, and a U.K. Uncorrected Partial Proof

From an idea in Stephen King’s mind, to the book you hold in your hand, here are three examples of a few of the steps a book goes through to make it to your shelf.

As a book is being prepared for publication, a proof of it is made. This is a mock up of the book done so that the author, editors, and proofreaders may review the book to find any mistakes. The first versions of these are unbound, but a publisher may decide to create a bound version to offer to reviewers and booksellers in order to elicit reviews and sales when the book is ready to go. This is often called an Advance Reading Copy, or ARC. It’s missing illustrations, usually has a plain cover, and may even contain editing marks and notes.

In our example in the photo, we have one book, Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub. The blue and white softcover is the uncorrected proof sent out by Random House in the U.S. Since Black House was published simultaneously in the U.K, the British publisher, HarperCollins, released a partial edition of the first 213 pages, but added some unique decoration by including a unique cutout through the cover. Backing up the two proofs is the actual first edition of the book, ready for sale.

Proofs are usually rare, first of all because they’re printed in small quantities. They are also often tossed out, used or not, since those who receive them are bound by the publisher not to reveal or share them, since this could interfere with the book’s marketing and promotion plan. Still, they are both available and rare enough to be considered a prize for many book collectors!