I recently found six 1928 volumes of the Roycrofter's Little Journeys Books. Are these of any significance when it comes to the A&C movement? Is there an entire series of these? The ones I found were in good to very good cond. many had original dust jackets. They were asking $12. apiece for them. Thanks in advance!

There's either 14 or 16 in the series, I forget. The early ones are the most desirable I think, with leather covers - by the 20s things were in decline for the Roycrofters and I don't think they were actually doing their own publishing or printing anymore. These come up semi-regularly on eBay so do a search for past listings to get an idea of year and value.

I suspect they are William Wise printings and they do not demand much on the market. They are of little significance to the Movement except for the fact that they were written by a man who had an impact on the proliferation of the Movement. I would pass on the books unless you wish to read them.

Fred

The Little Journeys are pretty dull reading and really don't contribute much to the movement. However, the earlier leather books have got some really nice covers and they make nice shelf candy.

Of course, if you have a Roycroft Little Journeys shelf, these fit in it beautifully as it was made for them.

There are lots of different printings. Some hard covers with cloth boards and some are leather bound. You can easily find the original paperbacks that the later bound books were based on as well.

Interestingly enough, I have seen the shipping crate that these showed up in sell on eBay for more than the set of books. I have only seen a few of these crates and actually have my set in the original crate.

Another thing of note is the Roycroft orb on the spine. The Elbert Hubbart memorial edition was published in 1916 and has the orb with a lot of flourish and is harder to come by as a complete set than the others. (Hubbard was aboard the Lusitania when the Germans sank it with a torpedo).

Hope my rambling helps.
David