Since '79, Library of America has safe-guarded nation's literature
-
Cheryl Hurley -- Bridgeville native runs book nonprofit publisher.
Share with others:
NEW YORK -- This is a year for celebrations, from the centennials of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin to the 30th anniversary of The Library of America.
While those black-jacketed books with their simple, elegant type didn't appear until 1982, the nonprofit publisher with the lofty goal of republishing the literature of a nation began in 1979 with seed money from the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Cheryl Hurley, then a 32-year-old native of Bridgeville, was charged with getting the operation up and running. Thirty years and nearly 200 books later, Hurley is now president and chief executive officer of LOA.
In her pleasant, bright office here with a wall of shelves holding every library title, she affirms that the goal is not only still going strong, but expanding.
"Library of America isn't in business just to publish 'the greatest hits' of American writers," she said, "but to capture the whole range of books that have made important contributions to our culture."
The library's first book was Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick." Its 200th book, a collection of travel writing by Mark Twain, will be released next year on April 21, the centennial of the author's death.
Between those bookends is an impressive variety of subjects from the classic novels to the lyrics of Ira Gershwin, from a deep selection of poetry to a wide range of war journalism.
"Every book is still in print," Hurley added. While the books are priced from $35 to $40, well above the average new hardcover, the prices "never reflect the true cost of our operation," she said.
"We earn about $7 million a year and our costs are more than $8 million. The fact is that we are really a small and fragile nonprofit outfit."
The difference is usually covered by fund-raising efforts and individual contributions, Hurley said. The publisher also depends on about 18,000 subscribers, including 90 in Western Pennsylvania, for yearly sales.
While many of the LOA's titles represent mainstream American writers from James Fenimore Cooper to Philip Roth, the publisher has been adding anthologies to its list as well.
This fall it will release "American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s Until Now" and "Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing."
Hurley said her best-selling book was the 2007 release of the novels of science fiction legend Philip K. Dick. The LOA is now publishing eight books a year.
The books are selected through recommendations from a panel of "scholars, historians and consultants" in various fields, she said.
For example, coordinating with Alfred Knopf, publisher of Blake Bailey's recent biographer of John Cheever, the LOA released a two-volume set of the writer's short stories and novels edited by Bailey.
The set was invaluable for reviewers, including me, of the biography.
"We really try to balance our books using a lot of considerations -- anniversaries, publishing connections and a variety of other things," Hurley said. "It's the way we define our scope."
Set for September release is "Raymond Carver: Collected Stories," edited by Carver scholars William Stull and Maureen Carroll.
Rather than republish the highly regarded short stories in their earlier published form, the volume contains Carver's unedited work alongside the extensively edited versions by Gordon Lish.
"We did it that way because both versions have literary legitimacy," said Hurley. "The Carver book is just an example of how every title we do has a different story to it. It's not just republishing."
First Published March 24, 2009 12:00 am
