Day: March 30, 2014

Success

by
Variant edition B cover of "Success"
Edition B cover of “Success”

Success is a booklet of quotations in the Mosaic Essays series, compiled by Paul Elder. It was published in 1903 along with Happiness and Nature in response to the high sales of 1902’s Friendship. In 1905, Elder published the last booklet in the series, Love. In 1906 he issued the five booklets in a single volume called Mosaic Essays. As with the other booklets in the series, Success was published in three bindings:

  • Edition A: bound in flexible Omar sultan, with fly-leaves of Japan wood-fiber. Enclosed in uniform envelope. Price, 50 cents [“sultan” is a deep red color, and “Omar” is just a word Elder added for a flair of the exotic.]
  • Edition B: bound in flexible suede, with fly-leaves of imperial Japan vellum. Enclosed in box. Price, $1.25
  • Edition C: bound in full white calf by Miss Crane. Price, $5.00

I can find no further information about the bookbinder, “Miss Crane.”

Variant edition B title page of "Success"
Edition B title page of “Success” (note discoloration from wood-fiber endpapers)
Leather edition of "Success"
Variant edition B cover of “Success”, published c1907 when Elder was in New York
Edition B title page of "Success"
Variant edition B title page of “Success”, c1907
Variant edition A cover of "Success"
Edition A cover of “Success”
Pages 8-9 of "Success"
Pages 8-9 of “Success”
Ad from the Dec 1903 issue of The Argonaut
Ad from the Dec 1903 issue of The Argonaut