Book League of America

The Book League of America, Inc. was a US book publisher and mail order book sales club. It was established in 1930, a few years after the Book of the Month Club.[1] Its founder was Lawrence Lamm, previously an editor at Macmillan.[1] The company was located at 100 Fifth Avenue, New York City, New York[2] in a 240,000-square-foot (22,000 m2) office building that was constructed in 1906.[3] It printed and distributed a variety of volumes in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. A victim of the Great Depression,[1] the Book League of America was purchased by Doubleday in 1936.

Book League of America
Private
IndustryBook publishing/Bookselling
SuccessorLiterary Guild
Founded1930
Defunct1950s
Headquarters
New York City, New York, USA
Area served
United States
Key people
Lawrence W. Lamm
ProductsContemporary and world classic books
ServicesMail order book sales club
OwnerDoubleday, 1936

Products

Book League of America printed and published contemporary and classic books. The clothbound hardcover was commonly a dark navy-blue, though sometimes red or black. There was an embossed logo on the front. Depending upon a variety of exposure conditions and perhaps publishing years, the spine cloth faded differently, with some of the spines remaining dark navy, while others turned purple or navy-green. The spine featured book title and author in gold or silver gilt lettering, along with decorative scrolling, sometimes in an art deco motif.

Most of the pages were smooth-cut on the top and bottom edges, and deckled on the outer edge. Some books contained the note: "This book is standard length, complete and unabridged. Manufactured under wartime conditions in conformity with all government regulations controlling the use of paper and other materials." This explains the yellowed or tanning paper condition, more noticeable in some books than others. Some books were illustrated. Many of the books did not include a publish date. Dust jackets were not included.

Services

Approximately 5,000 subscribers received monthly fliers that offered a selection from a variety of contemporary and world classic literature choices.[1]

"The famous Board of Editors selects for you 2 books each month: the best new book -AND- one of the greatest classics. The Book League of America supplies these 2 books each month at 1/3 of the usual cost![4]

Some books, published by other companies but carrying the Book League of America imprint, were included in the club sales offerings. These publishers included:

  • A. S. Barnes & Company, New York
  • Bartholomew House, Inc., New York
  • Blakiston Company, Philadelphia
  • Caxton House Inc., New York
  • Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., New York
  • E. M. Hale and Company, Wisconsin
  • Everybody's Vacation Publishing Company, New York
  • Literary Classics Inc., New York
  • Puritan Publishing Company, Chicago & Philadelphia
  • William H. Wise & Co., New York

There was no membership fee to join the plan.[5] The subscription cost $16.68 and entitled the subscriber to twelve books each year.[6]

Partial list

A—G
  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain, 1917
  • Abe Lincoln of Pigeon Creek, by William E. Wilson, 1950
  • Across the Frontiers, by Sir Philip Gibbs, 1938
  • A History of New York & The Sketch Book, by Washington Irving
  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll, 1941
  • All Night Long, a Novel of Guerilla Warfare in Russia, by Erskine Caldwell, 1942
  • All that glitters, by Frances Parkinson Keyes, 1941
  • Always A River, by Drayton Mayrant, 1957
  • America Visited, by Dickens, Thackeray and Others; arranged by Edith I. Coombs, 1937
  • Areopagitica and Other Prose Writings, by John Milton; editor William Haller, 1929
  • A Tale of Two Cities & Christmas Carol & The Chimes, by Charles Dickens
  • At the Sign of the Reine Pedauque, by Anatole France, 1931
  • A Time Will Come, by Rachel McBrayer Varble, 1940
  • A Woman is Witness, a Paris Diary, by Ernst Lothar, 1941
  • Away All Boats, by Kenneth Dodson, 1954
  • Ben-Hur, a Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace
  • Bernard Shaw, by Frank Harris, 1931
  • Beyond Horizons, by Lincoln Ellsworth, 1938
  • Bless This House, by Norah Lofts, 1955
  • Camille, by Alexandre Dumas, 1937
  • Captain Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling
  • Captain Of The Medici, by John J. Pugh, 1955
  • Captain Lightfoot, by W.R. Burnett, 1955
  • Caravan for China, by Frank Stuart, 1941
  • Catch the Gold Ring, by John Stephen Strange, 1955
  • Chance, a Tale in Two Parks, by Joseph Conrad, 1921
  • Charlotte and Dr. James, by Guy McCrone, 1956
  • Christmas Holiday, by W. Somerset Maugham
  • Cimarron, by Edna Ferber
  • Cities of Refuge, a Novel, by Philip Gibbs, 1937
  • Comedies of Oscar Wilde, by Oscar Wilde
  • Comedies of Molière, selected by John Gassner; translation by Baker & Miller, 1946
  • Confessors of the Name, by Gladys Schmitt, 1953
  • Conquest of Mexico, by William H. Prescott, 1934
  • Conquest of Peru, by William H. Prescott
  • Coromandel!, by John Masters, 1956
  • Crocus, a Novel, by Neil Bell (pen name for Stephen Southwold), 1937
  • Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand
  • Dangerous Ground, by Francis Sill Wickware, 1946
  • Death of a Peer, by Ngaio Marsh, 1940
  • Demelza, by Winston Graham, 1953
  • Devil's Bridge, by Mary Deasy, 1953
  • Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes; translation by Richard Emery Roberts
  • Dr. Krasinski's Secret, by M. P. Shiel, 1929
  • Edgar Wallace, the Biography of a Phenomenon, by Margaret Lane, 1939
  • Ella Gunning, by Mary Deasy, 1951
  • Emma, by F.W. Kenyon, 1956
  • English Comedies, edited by John Gassner
  • Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Excelsior!, by Paul Hyde Bonner, 1956
  • False Witness, by Irving Stone, 1903
  • Family Fortunes, by Gwen Davenport, 1949
  • Famous French Novels, Seven Modern Condensations, editor Cameron Hyde
  • Fathers and Sons, by Ivan Turgenev
  • Farewell to Valley Forge, by David Taylor,[7] 1956
  • Favorite Works of Sir Walter Scott, by Sir Walter Scott, 1942
  • Fetish, by Christine Garnier, 1953
  • Flamenco, by Lady Eleanor Smith, 1931
  • For My Great Folly, a Novel, by Thomas B. Costain, 1942
  • Gladiator, by Philip Gordon Wylie, 1930
  • Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
  • Great Novels of Anatole France by Anatole France, 1918
  • Green Mansions, by William Henry Hudson
  • Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, 1937

H—S

T—Z

See also

References
  1. Van Gelder, Lawrence (1995-08-30). "Lawrence Lamm, 99, Pioneer in Book Packaging". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  2. "Book Clubs". Profitfrog.com. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  3. "Atlas flips 100 Fifth Avenue for $152M". therealdeal.com. The Real Deal Online. February 21, 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  4. "1930s - The Book league of America ad". tias.com. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  5. "1948 Book League of America Club Ad". adsvintageads.com. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
  6. Welky, David (2008-05-02). Everything Was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression (History of Communication). University of Illinois Press. p. 157. ISBN 0-252-07504-8.
  7. "David Taylor (3) [1900–1965]". librarything.com. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
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