"The Best Known Works, including The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, the best of the Twice-Told Tales", by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published by Literary Classics, Inc, New York, undated [c.1941]. Designed and distributed by the Book League of America with BLA logo embossed on the front board.

No dust jacket as issued, hard boards, dark-blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine [a little wear]; 5.1/2" x 8"; 379 pages, untrimmed vertical page edges, very good condition.

The Book League of America, Inc. was a US book publisher and mail order book sales club. It was established in 1930. Its founder was Lawrence Lamm, previously an editor at Macmillan Inc. The company was located at 100 Fifth Avenue, New York City office building that was constructed in 1906. It printed and distributed a variety of volumes in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. A victim of the Great Depression, the Book League of America was purchased by Doubleday in 1936.

Book League of America printed and published contemporary and classic books. The cloth bound hardcover was commonly a dark navy-blue, though sometimes red or black. There was an embossed logo on the front. Depending upon a variety of exposure conditions and perhaps publishing years, the spine cloth faded differently, with some of the spines remaining dark navy, while others turned purple or navy-green. The spine featured book title and author in gold or silver gilt lettering, along with decorative scrolling, sometimes in an Art Deco motif.

Most of the pages were smooth-cut on the top and bottom edges, and deckle-edged on the outer edge. Many of the books did not include a publish date. Dust jackets were not included.

US: Priority (c 2-4 days) ------------- $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c.2-6 weeks) ------- $28.50
World: 1st Class (c.2-8 weeks) -------- $42.50