Early FL Leatherettes (1979)

I've read that Franklin Library's cheaper editions begin to appear in 1981 or even the mid-80's, however I have two leatherettes from 1979 (also without bookmarks and moire endpapers): The Odyssey, and Leaves of Grass.

They're beautifully made books (sewn binding, two color printing, quality paper, crisp illustrations, etc), but look out of place sitting next to leather FL and EPs.

Has anyone else encountered early FL leatherettes?

Nowsharing –

I have been trying to figure out what Franklin Library produced series wise for a number of years. I still have a great deal to learn and some of what I think I know may not be all that accurate as information is difficult to come by in this area. As far as I have been able to piece together, Franklin Library made four different series in faux leather or non-leather sometimes referred to as leatherette. 1) Collector’s Library of the World’s Great Books (1979 to about 1984). This series was advertised by Franklin Library as being 50 total volumes with a cost of $12.50 per volume. 2) World’s Greatest Books by the World’s Greatest Writers (1979? to 1985?). I have a list of books that were supposedly part of this series, but quite frankly I have only very sketchy information at best on this series. I believe this was a series of 100 volumes. If anyone out there has info on this I would appreciate it. 3) Franklin Library of Mystery Masterpieces (1988? to 1990?). This mirrored a series that was done in full leather. The books look nearly identical with only slight variances between the leather versions and the non-leather versions. You can always tell the difference if there is a sewed-in book marker. It marks it as a full leather version. Franklin Library advertised 50 volumes in this series although I have found 51 books in this series and three of the books within the series have two different versions (Day of the Jackal, Rebecca, and Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination). Why these three volumes had two different versions I don’t know. I suspect that there was an error in the printing and a second version was produced to replace the faulty versions. If anyone has info on this I would greatly appreciate it. The advertised price for the non-leather series books was $17.95. 4) The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1987?). This was 12 volumes and like the mystery series, it appeared in both a leather version and a non-leather version. I don’t have too much info on this series. Hope this helps.

That's great info to start from, thanks for consolidating it in your insightful post.

I have a non-leather copy of the FL/Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Egypt and the Near East" that lists the books in the series as:
Greece and Rome
Egypt and the Near East
Europe and The Middle Ages
The Renaissance in Italy and Spain
The Renaissance in the North
Europe in the Age of Monarchy
Europe in the Age of Enlightenment & Revolution
Modern Europe
USA
Asia
The Islamic World
The Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Americas

That's good information. Thanks! Franklin Library often provided information on their series and/or books within the books themselves. A case in point is what you have just described. Additionally, some of thier volumes have a page in the back of the book that tell information about that specific book such as the typeface used, the type and weight of the paper, who printed the book, etc... Also, Franklin Library use to communicate with subscribers via letters that also are a tremendous source of information. Often some of these letters will be left in the books when they come up for sale. I always look carefully through any new purchase to see if one of these old Franklin Library letters is tucked away in the book.