The Old West
The Old West is a series of books about the fundamental founding of the American Old West, published by Time-Life Books from 1973 through 1980. Each book focused on a different topic, such as cowboys, American Indians, gamblers and gunfighters.
Each volume in the series is 240 pages long, and has many pictures and illustrations. They are bound in a padded imitation leather hardcover binding with the series name, title of the book, and publisher imprinted in gold on the spine of the book. The front cover of the book has a glued-on oval shaped picture. Beneath the picture embossed in the faux leather is a set of cattle horns with a rising sun depicted between the horns. The outline of the cover is embossed with a rustic rope. The back cover is blank. The series was issued without a dust jacket. There are 27 volumes in the series, of which volume 27, the "Master Index", was executed as a stapled 65-page soft cover release, not featuring any illustrations:
Overview[]
Title | General Consultant | Volume | Year published | ISBN[1] | Foreign edition[2] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Cowboys | William H. Forbis | 01 | 1973 | ISBN 0809414503 | de, fr, jp, se, yu |
The Indians | Benjamin Capps | 02 | 1973 | ISBN 0685288064 | de, fr, jp, yu |
The Trailblazers | Bil Gilbert | 03 | 1973 | ISBN 0809414589 | de, fr |
The Soldiers | David Nevin | 04 | 1973 | ISBN 0809414643 | de, fr, jp |
The Railroaders | Keith Wheeler | 05 | 1973 | ISBN 080941466X | de, fr, jp |
The Forty-Niners | William Weber Johnson | 06 | 1974 | ISBN 0809414708 | de, fr, jp, se, yu |
The Pioneers | Huston Horn | 07 | 1974 | ISBN 0809414775 | de, fr, jp, se |
The Gunfighters | Paul Trachtman | 08 | 1974 | ISBN 0809414791 | de, fr, jp, se, yu |
The Expressmen | David Nevin | 09 | 1974 | ISBN 0809414864 | jp, se |
The Townsmen | Keith Wheeler | 10 | 1975 | ISBN 0809414899 | jp |
The Great Chiefs | Benjamin Capps | 11 | 1975 | ISBN 0809414929 | de, fr, jp, se |
The Rivermen | Paul O'Neill | 12 | 1975 | ISBN 0809414961 | de, fr |
The Texans | David Nevin | 13 | 1975 | ISBN 0809415003 | se |
The Loggers | Richard Williams | 14 | 1976 | ISBN 0809415259 | de, fr |
The Chroniclers | Keith Wheeler | 15 | 1976 | ISBN 0809415291 | de, fr |
The Spanish West | William H. Johnson | 16 | 1976 | ISBN 080941533X | de, fr |
The Miners | Robert Wallace | 17 | 1976 | ISBN 0809415372 | de, fr |
The Canadians | Ogden Tanner | 18 | 1977 | ISBN 0809415410 | de, fr |
The Frontiersmen | Paul O'Neill | 19 | 1977 | ISBN 0809415453 | de, fr |
The Alaskans | Keith Wheeler | 20 | 1977 | ISBN 0809415062 | de, fr |
The Ranchers | Ogden Tanner | 21 | 1977 | ISBN 0809415089 | se |
The Mexican War | David Nevin | 22 | 1978 | ISBN 0809423022 | se |
The Women | Joan Swallow Reiter | 23 | 1978 | ISBN 0809415143 | de, fr, se |
The Scouts | Keith Wheeler | 24 | 1978 | ISBN 0809423065 | - |
The Gamblers | Robert Wallace | 25 | 1978 | ISBN 0809423081 | de, fr |
The End and The Myth | Paul O'Neill | 26 | 1979 | ISBN 0809423146 | de, fr |
Master Index | Gail Partoyan | 27 | 1980 | ISBN 0809423189[3] | - |
International editions[]
As an American-specific topic, this series was not widely translated into other languages, but two identically executed foreign-language editions were released by the Amsterdam "Time-Life International BV" branch nonetheless; the 1978-1980 German-language Der Wilde Westen edition, which was shy of six volumes (seven when counting the "Master Index"),[4] and the 1978-1981 French-language Le Far West edition, equally shy of six (or seven) volumes.[5] That the series was partially translated into these two languages was not only due to the historical ties France and Germany had with the era in question,[6] but also because the Western (genre) has never gone out of vogue in both countries, particularly in Germany where the popularity of the genre has since the days of Karl May remained unabated, unlike in native US.
Aside from these editions released by Time Life themselves, there were at least three additional, but far more obscure licensed international series editions known, all of them truncated; the oldest of these concerned the 1973-1974 Yugoslavian Resnična zgodovina divjega zahoda ("The true history of the Wild West"), which was licensed to Slovenian publisher Cankarjeva Založba. Being the most obscure of the three, the extent of this slightly differently executed hardcover edition is therefore not known.[7] Like in France and Germany, the Western had been a popular genre in Yugoslavia, before the outbreak of the wars that spelt the end of that nation. A ten-volume Japanese-language Daiseibu monogatari ("Large Western Story") edition is known to have been released by Tokyo-based publisher Taimuraihubukkusu in 1976, identical in exterior to the American source publications, but with Japanese-language interior texts.[8] The third edition concerned the Swedish-language ten-volume Wild West release, published in 1984-85 by Swedish publisher Bokorama and likewise greatly resembling the American source publication.[9]
Other language territories were offered the opportunity to acquire the original American version via mail through their nearest Time Life Books subsidiary, typically by series subscription.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ At the time of the series launch, ISBNs were not yet utilized. They only became commonplace during 1977, volume 20 becoming the first title provided with one from the very start. For the more popular older titles this meant they were only given one around their 5th-7th reprint runs. The colophons of these reprints incidentally, made it clear that a title was given a renewed ISBN with the original printing mentioned by a "retired" ISBN, when it was actually revised. Additionally, for several of the post-1976 titles there were additional ISBNs mentioned for "library binding", and "retail" editions.
- ^ de=Germany, fr=France, jp=Japan, se=Sweden, yu=Yugoslavia
- ^ A library binding edition is known with ISBN 0809423170, according to the colophon of the regular release
- ^ "Der Wilde Westen Time-Life-Bücher (20 Bände)". Amazon.de (in German). Retrieved 30 March 2021.; "Der Wilde Westen". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Collection "Le Far West" de Time-Life (complète en 20 volumes)". AbeBooks.com. Retrieved 30 March 2021.; "Le Far west". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ France had partaken in the conquest of the Old West and Canada prior to the Louisiana Purchase, whereas 19th-century US had seen a massive influx of German immigrants who left their noticeable mark in the history of the Old West – but which makes the absence of a Spanish language series edition all the more remarkable, considering the huge part the Spaniards/Mexicans played in the history of the Old West.
- ^ "Danes nabavil!". forum.striparna.com (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 30 March 2021.; only four titles are known to date.
- ^ "Daiseibu monogatari". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ "Wild West (Wiken/Bokorama)". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 30 March 2021.; "BOOKS, 10, Wild West, Bokorama". Auctionet.com. Retrieved 30 March 2021.; While achieving nowhere near the numbers the Germans did, Swedish immigrants too had left their mark in the history of the Old West.
- Series of non-fiction books
- Non-fiction books about outlaws of the American Old West
- Time Life book series