Original message included below.
1) ---
From: "Steven Harris" <srharris_at_unm.edu>
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:37:48 -0600
I would be careful about buying any old durable edition. It might not matter much to students, but faculty usually want the recognized scholarly or critical edition of classic works (and they would prefer that their students use the same). You would be hard-pressed, for example, to call a Barnes & Noble edition or even a Heritage edition "scholarly." Scholarly editions too will sometimes be hard to identify or may have gone out of print. The Modern Language Association does maintain a list of "approved" editions, although it does not include everything that might be considered the standard edition by scholars.
I have gone the other direction concerning durability. I buy paperback editions that I consider consumable. Oxford World Classics, Penguin Classics, and Broadview Editions and a lot of editions from Cambridge U. P. are intended as study copies, but they are usually based on the standard edition accepted by scholars. Lacking any of these, I'd look for other university press editions. A lot of Oxford and Cambridge editions are available in hardback as well. I usually avoid any edition that does not have a note about the source of the text. Probably not up to snuff regarding current editorial practice. But might be hard to tell that from an online booksellers catalog.
--Steven Harris
2) ---
From: "Helen P. Mack" <hpm0_at_Lehigh.EDU>
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2012 08:40:58 -0400
Or use http://www.addall.com/Used/ and specify the binding to see what "everybody" has.
--
Helen P. Mack, Acquisitions Librarian
Lehigh University, Linderman Library
30 Library Drive
Bethlehem, PA 18015-3013 USA
Phone 610 758-3035 * Fax 610 758-5605
E-mail hpm0_at_lehigh.edu
---- Original Message ----
On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 2:23 PM, <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:
Hello,
Over the years, our library has lost many of the classic titles that often appear on English literature syllabuses. This leaves us in the awkward situation of having the criticism, but not the underlying texts. Replacing them has proven less then straightforward. Although you can find an inexpensive paperback of these novels in nearly every bookstore in the country, finding durable editions that will hold up in a library is not very easy.
Please send me your ideas on how to identify hardcover versions of classic novels. My preference is for new books, but I am open to buying second hand.
Thanks,
--Ken Smith
Acquisitions Librarian
Valdosta State University
1500 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31698
kensmith_at_valdosta.edu
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Received on Wed Jun 27 2012 - 14:49:12 EDT